Mower County transcript., 1890-02-05
AMONG THE oHuR oAEs. !.
PREsBYTE|RIAN.

fNG60 1VGkt1ANE
a fair congregation was present at the
morning hour Of service. Influenza still
declmates. An organist was present,
but no organ. An organ that would
meet the demand and that can he rent
ed has not yet been discovered In the CITY.
It is feared Il new one will be necessity,
though the congregation prefers to meet
all standing liabilities before purchasing.
There was q temporary supply of hymn
books, however, which advantage was
plainly felt and enjoyed. T.. The singing
OF the congregation, morning, and even
ing, made up the loss of the organ.
The text OF the morning sermon by the
pastor was from Rev 22-l7. "''The spirit
and the bride say come" &c. The theme,
Invited to come,'' The invitation is to
salvation. given under the figure of q
beautiful city and the journey thither.
With the city and its beauties and glory
we have to do by and by. What is our
present concern? TO induce men and
women to make this Journey has been
and is the object of rearing this temple
in which we worship. You are invited
hereby to journey with US to that beauti-.
ful city and eternal home. First the
Holy Spirit invites you to live the Chris.
tian life and make the Christian Journey,
and thus the invitation comes officially.
II invites by the accompaniment Of the
Scriptures YOU read aud through its in.
huence upon the conscience. But this
invitation is coupled with that of the
church, the Bride" as in the text. 1t
is not safe to say 'the Spirit leads me to
40 this, The Spirits utterances and
the declaration Of common conscience,
beilevers organized, these two united
have enforced the invitations to under
take the Christian journey. The Bride
the church invites through the ministry,
through the ordinances of the church and
through the lives Of its consistant mem
bers. This invitation of the Spirit and
the Bride combined is further confirmed
by the invitation OF the individual church
member who has made progress in the
journey. He has tried it and confident.
ly invites you to make this Journey.
Let him that heareth say come" This
threefold invitation is given to the sick,
TO the helpless, to the failures in world.
illness. The world says bring me men
who succeed in what they undertake.
These we will employ. Christ SAYS
Bring me the man who is sick of the
world. have joy for him" ''Let him
that is athirst come" This invitation is
also to the indifferent. Whether men
are anxious about their salvation or not,
it is our privilege and duty to invite them
to undertake and make the Christian
journey. If they are not anxious it is in
our commission from the great Master
the author of salvatiOn-to make them
anxious. ''Whosoever will. let HIM
come"
Announcements were made for pre-
paratory service in the lecture room next
Sunday. Feb. 8. in the morning. and for
congregational meeting on Thursday
evening, Feb. 10, at 7:3O. Announce
ment was also made of meeting for
sewing of the Ladies Aid Society. Fri
day afternoon, at the residence of Mrs
James O'Brien.
At p. m, the pastor held services at
Oakland.
In the evening every seat was occu
pied. The pastor announced some of the
wants, large and small. of the congrega-
ton in the way Of furnishing the church.
He asked for the donation of chairs for
the temporary seating of the lecture room.
The sermon was from John iv. 80 40.
Theme-"Invited, but what then?" Ii
we make the attempt to invite we are
our appeals are not needed Well, if we
could preach like Jonathan Edwards
or Finnev we would expect the results
of an Edwards or Finney's preachings.
Then surely we would be disappointed.
Give simple, heartfelt invitation and
eaye the result with Christ. If we direct
men to Christ he will direct them to
Heaven. The end is not to have people
accept us but to have them accept Christ.
Now we believe not because of their
saving, for we have heard Him ourselves
and know" etc.