The Maryville times. (Maryville, Tenn.) 1884-1944, 1891-08-12

only thirty-two yesrA From these
thirty-two. years you cmust subtract
al the time you take for sleep and the
taking Of food and recreation; that will
leave you about sixteen years From
those sixteen years you must subtract
all the time You are necessarily en-.
gagged in the earning OF . lvelihood;
that viii leave you about eight years.
From those eight years you must take
all the days and weeks and months--all
the length of time that l. passed In
childhood and sickness, leaving you
about one year in which to work for
God. Oh, my soul, wake upl How
darest thou sleep in harvest time, and
with SO few hours in which to reap? So
that state it as simple fact that all
the time that the vast majority Of you
will have for the exclusive service Of
God will be less than one yearl
But" says some man, II literally
support the. Gospel, and the church is
open and the Gospel is preached; all
the spiritual advantages are spread De-
fore men, and if they want to be saved,
let them come to be saved; have dis
charged all my responsibilities" All!
is that the Masters spirit? Is there
not an old book somewhere that COM
mands us to go out into the highways
and hedges and compel the people to
come in? What would have become OF
you and me if Christ had not come
down off the hills Of Heaven, and II He
had not come through the door Of the
Bethlehem caravansary, and II he had
not with the crushed hand of the cruel
fxion knocked at the iron gate of the
sepulcher Of our spiritual death, cry
ing. Lazarus, come forth?" Oh, my
Christian friends, this is no time
for inertia, when all the forces Of
darkness seem to be in full blast; when
steam printing presses are publishing
infidel tracts; when express railroad
trains are carrying messengers of sin;
when fast clippers are laden with opium
and rum; when the night air Of our
cities is polluted with the laughter that
breaks up from the 10000 saloons Of
dissipation and abandonment; when the
fires of the second death already are
kindled in the cheeks Of some who only
q 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 sleep.
The great audiences 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
blasphemies their litany, and the groans
of the lost world the organ dirge Of
their worship.
Again, If you want to be qualified ia
meet the duties which this age demands
of you, you must on the one hand avoid
reckless iconoclasm, and on the othe,
hand not stick too much to things be.
cause they are old. The air is full Of
new plans, new projects, new theories
of government, new theologies; and
am amazed to see how many Christians
want only novelty in order to recon-
mend thing to their confidence; and sc
they vacillate and swing to and fro, and
they are useless, and they are unhappy
New plans-secular, ethical, philoso
phica., religious, cisatlantic transat
lantic. All, my brother, do not adop
thing merely because it is new. Try 4
by the realities of 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 sometime,
been scoffed at. There was time
when men derided even Bible societies.
and when few young men met near {
hay.stack in Massachusetts, and organ
lied the first missionary society eve
organized in this country, there wen
laughter and ridicule all around tn,
Christian Church. They said the under
taking was preposteroua And SO alsc
the work Of Jesus Christ wa
assailed People cried out "Wht
ever heard of such theories OF ethic
and government? Who ever noticed
such style OF preaching as Jesus has?'
Ezekiel had talked Of mysterious uing
and wheels. Here came q man from
Capernaum and Gennesaret and H,
drew his illustrations from the lakes
from the sand. from the ravine, from
the lilies, from the cornstalkA How
the Pharisees scoffed! How Herod de
rided! How Caiaphas hissedl And thi
Jesus they plucked by the beard AM
they spat in His face, and they calle'
Him this fellowv' All the great en-
terprises in and out Of the church .hav
at times been scoffed at, and there hav
been great multitude who hav
thought that the chariot of Gods trutl
would fail to pieces If it once got oat @
the old rut.
And SO there are those who have n
patience with any thing like improve
ment in church architecture, or wit
any thing like good, hearty, earnes
church singing, and they deride an
form of religious discussion which goe
down walking among everyday me
rather than that which makes an e,
cursion on rhetorical stills, Oh, tina
the Church of God would wake up I
an adaptability of work. We must q
NIT the simple fact that the churches G
Jesus Christ in this day do not reac
! the great masses. There are so, 900 pee
: pie in Edinburgh who never hear tn
! Gospel. There are 1000, 900 people i
! London who never hear the Gospe
! There are at least 100000 souls in tn