Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-07-27

ter that breaks mp from the ten thousand
saloons Of dissipation and abandonment
when the fires of the second death already
are kindled In the cheeks of some who
only little while ago were incorrupt
Never since the curse fell upon the earth
has there been time when it was such an
unwise, such cruel, such an awful thing
for the church to sleepl The great audi.
ences are not gathered in the Christian
churches; the great audiences are gathered
in temples Of sin-tears of unutterable woe
their baptism, the blood Of crushed hearts
the awful wine of their sacrament, bias
phemies their litany, and the groans OF the
lost world the organ dirge Of their worship.
Again, II you want to be qualified to
meet the duties which this age demands OF
you, you must on the one hand avoid reck-
less iconoclasm, and on the other hand not
stick too much to things because they are
old. The air is full of new plans, new
projects, new theories of government, new
theologies, and | am amazed to see how so
many Christians want only novelty in
order to recommend thing to their conf
dence; and so they vacillate and swing to
and fro, and they are useless and they are
unhappy. New plans-secular, ethical,
philosophical, religious, cisatiantic, trans
atlantic, All, my brother do not adopt n
thing merely because it is new Try. it by
the realities of Il judgment day.
But, on the other hand, do not adhere to
anything merely because it is old. There
is not single enterprise Of the church or
the world but has sometimes been scoffed
at There was time when men derided
even Bible c'eties; and when few young
nN
and organize the first missionary societ 2
ever organized in this country, there went
laughter and ridicule all around the Chris
tian church. They said the undertaking
was preposterOus.
And so also the work of Jesus Christ
was assaied People cried out, "Whoever
heard of such theories of ethics and gov
eminent? Whoever noticed such style
of preaching as Jesus hasS" Ezekiel had
talked of mysterious wings and wheels
Here came a man from Ca?ernaum and
Gennesaret, and he drew his illustrations
from tho lakes, from the sand, from the
ravine, from the lilies, from the constalks.
How the Pharisees scoffe1 How Herod
deridedl How Caiphas hissedl And this
Jesus they plucked by the beard, and they
spat in his face, and they called him this
fellow" All the great enterprises in and
out of the church have at times been
scoffed at, and there have been great
multitude who have thought that the
chariot of Gods truth would fall to pieces
If it once got out of the old rut.
MILLIONS NEVER HEAR THE GOSPEL,
And so there are those who have no pa
thence with anything like improvement il
church architecture or with anything like
good, hearty, earnest church singing, and
they deride any form of religious discussion
which goes down walking among everyday
men rather than that which makes an ex
cursion on rhetorical stills. Oh, that the
Church of God would wake up to an adapt
ability of work. We must admit the sim
pie fact that the churches of Jesus Christ
in this day do not reach the great masses
There are fifty thousand people in Edin
burgh who never hear the Gospel. There
are one million people in London who
never hear the Gospel. There are at least
three hundred thousand souls in the city
of Brooklyn who come not under the i'm
mediate ministrations of Christ's truth,
and the Church of God in this day, instead
of being place full of living epistles, read
and known of all men, is more like "dead
letter" postoflice.
"But," say the people, "the world is go
ing to be converted You must be patient.
The kingdoms of this world are to become
the kingdoms of Christ" Never, unless
the church of Jesus Christ puts on more
speed and energy Instead of the church
converting the world, the world is convert.
ing the church Here is great fortress.
How shall it be takenP An army comes
and sits around about It, cuts Off the sup.
plies and says, Now we will just wait un
til from exhaustion and starvation they
will have to give up" Weeks and months,
and perhaps n year, pass along, and finally
the fortress surrenders through that star
walton and exhaustion. But, my friends,
the fortresses of sin are never to be taken
in that way, If they are taken for God 1t
will be by storm. You will have to bring
up the great siege guns of the Gospel to the
very wall, and wheel the flying artillery
into line, and when the armed infantry of
heaven shall confront the battlements you
will have to give the quick command: |
Forward Charger
All, my friends, there Is work for you to
do and for me to do in order to achieve this
grand accomplishment Here is a pulpit, |
and Il clergyman breaches in it, Your pulpit
is the bank. Your pulpit is the store. Your
pulpit is the editorial chair. Your pulpit |
is the anvil. Your pulpit is the house
scaifoding. Your pulpit is the mechanics
shop may stand in this place and,
through cowardice orthrOugh self seeking,
may keep back the word | ought to utter; |
while you, with sleeve rolled up and brow
besweated with toll, may utter the word
that will jar the foundation of heaven with |
the shout of great victory, Oh, that to
day this whole audience might feel that |
the Lord Almighty is putting upon them
the hands OF ordination, Every one, 90
forth and preach this gospel. You have
as much right to preach as ! have, or as
any man has Only find out the pulpit |
where God will have you preach, and there |
preach.
lledley Wears was wicked man in the
English army. The grace Of God came to
him. He became an earnest and eminent |
Christian. They scoffed at him and said, |
you are n hypocrite; you are rs bad as
ever you were" Still he kept his faith in !
Christ, and after awhile, finding that they |
could not turn him aside by calling him 4 |
hypocritc, they said to him, "Oh, you are |
nothing but fanatic" That did not dis
turb him He went on performing his |
Christian duty until he had formed all his |
troop into Bible class, and the whole en-
was shaken with the presence of |
God, SO Havelock went into the heather |
temple in India while the English army |
was there, aud put candle into the hand |
of each of The heather gods that stood |
around in the heather temple, aud by the |
light of those candles, held up by the idols,
General Havelock preached righteousness,
IA importance and Judgment to come. And |
who will say on earth or in heaven, that |
had not the right to preachP
THE MOVING PRAYER OF FAITH.