The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1891-07-31


of time that is passed in childhood and
sickness, leaving you about one year
In which 60 work for God Oh, my soul
wake upl How darest thou sleep in
harvest time and with so few hours in
which to reap2 So that | state It as a
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
THE EXCUSES OF LA2INEsS,
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 be
fore men, and if they want to be saved
let them come to be saved; have dis
charged all my responsibility" Ali is
that the Masters spiritl Is there not
an old book somewhere that commands
us to go ont into the highways and the
hedges and compel the people to come
in2 What would have become of you
and me if Christ had not come down
off the hills of heaven, and if he had
not come through the door of the Beth.
lehem caravansary, and if he had no,
with the crushed hand of the crucifix
ion knocked at the iron gate of the
sepulcher Of our spiritual death, crying,
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
| infldel 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 ten thousand sa-
looms of dissipation and abandonment;
when the fires of the second death al
ready are kindled in the cheeks of some
who only little Willie ago, were iii
corrupt
Never since the curse fell upon the
earth has there been a time when il
was such an unwise, such a cruel, such
an awful thing for the church TO sleepl
The great audiences are not gathered
in the Christian churches; the great
audiences are gathered in temples of sin
tears of unutterable woe their bap-
tism, the blood Of crushed hearts the
awful wine of their sacrament, bias
phemies their lltany, and the groans OF
the lost world the organ dirge of their
worship.
Again, if you want to be qualified to
meet the duties which this age de
mands Of you, you must on the one
hand avoid reckless 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 the
ologies, and | am amazed to see how
SO many Christians want only novelty
in order to recommend a thing to their
confidence; and 50 they vacillate and
swing to and fro, and they are useless,
and they are unhappy. New plans
secular ethical, philosophical religious,
cisatlantic, transatlantic. All, my broth.
er, do not adopt a thing merely because
it is new. Try it by the realities of a
Judgment day.
PROGRESS THE LAW OF LIFE.
But, on the other hand do not ad,
here to anything merely because it is
old. There is not single enterprise OF
the church or the world but has some
times been scofed at. There was a
time when men derided even Bible so
cieties; and when few young men
met near haystack in Massachusetts
and organized the first missionary so
ciety ever organized in this country
there went laughter and ridicule al
around the Christian church. They sale
the undertaking was preposterous.
And so, also, the work of Jesus Chris
was assailed. People cried out, who
ever heard of such theories of ethics
and governments Whoever noticed
such style of preaching as Jesus has3'
Ezekiel had talked of mysterious wing
and wheels. Here came man from Ca
pernaum and Gennesaret, and he drew
his illustrations from the lakes, from the
J lilies, from the sand, from the ravine
from the cornstalks. How the Pharisee.
scoffedl How Herod deridedl How
: Caiaphas Kissed And this Jesus they
plucked by the beard, and they spat il
J his face, and they called him this fel
lOwr All the great enterprises in ant
} out OF the church have at times beer
scoffed at and there have been grea
multitude who have thought that thu
chariot of Gods truth would fall t.
pieces if it once got out of the old rut
And so there are those who have ~
patience with anything ike improve
, manr in church architecture or will
anything like good, hearty, earnes
church singing, and they derde an.
9 form OF religious discussion which goe
down walking among everyday mer
rather than that which makes an eX
cursion on rhetorical stills. Oh, tina
the Church of God would wake up tx
an adapGability of work. We must ad
init the simple fact that the churche
of Jesus Christ in this day do not reaci
the great masses. There are fifty thou
sand people in Edinburgh who neve
hear the Gospel. There are one mil
lion people in London who never hea
t the Gospel There are at least tire
hundred thousand souls in the city o
Brooklyn who come not under the i'm
mediate ministrations Of Christ,s truth
and the Church of God in this day, in
stead of being place full Of livini
epistfes, read and known of all men, i
more like dead letter postofice.
! But, say the people, the world i
going to be converted; you must b
:, patient; the kingdoms of this worl,
! are to become the kingdoms Of Christ.
Never, unless the church Of Jesus Chris
puts on more speed and energy In
stead Of the church converting tn
J, world, the world is converting tn
church. Here is great fortress. Ho,