The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-08-15

be saved; have discharged all my respon-
sibility." Ahl is that the Masters spirit?
Is there not an old Book somewhere that
commands US to go out into the highways
and the 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 if he had not come
through the door of the Bethlehem cara
vansary, and if he had not with the crushed
hand of the crucifixion 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 print
ing presses are publishing infidel tracts;
when express railroad trains are carrying
messengers Oh sin; when fast clippers are
laden with opium and rum; when the night
air of our cites is polluted with the laugh
ter that breaks up 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 a cruel, such an awful thing
for the church to sleepi 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 itany, 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 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, cisatlantic, trans
atlantic. All, my brother, do not adopt
thing merely because it is new. Try it by
the realities of a 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 a time when men derided
even Bible societies; and when q few young
men met near a haystack in Massachusetts,
| and organized the first missionary society
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 assailed. People cried out, whoever
heard of such theories of ethics and gov
| ernment? Whoever noticed such a style
of preaching as Jesus has?" Ezekiel had
| talked of mysterious wings and wheels.
| Here came a man from Capernaum and
| Gennesaret, and he drew his illustrations
| from the lakes, from the sand, from the
| ravine from the lilies, from the constalks.
| How the Pharisees scoffedl How Herod
derided How Caiphas hissedl And this
Jesus they plucked by the beard, and they
| spat in his face, and they called him this
fellowp' ALI the great enterprises in and
out of the church have at times been
scoffed at and there have been a 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 in
! 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 ministratiols of Christ's truth
and the Church of God in this day, instead
of being a place full of living epistles, read
and known of all men, is more like a s'dead
letter" postoff1ce.
But" say the people, 1.-The world is go
ing to be converted. You must be patient
The Kingdoms of this world are to become
the kingdoms of Christi Never, unles!
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 taken7 An army come:
and sits around about it, cuts off the sup
plies and says, "Now we will just wait un
til from exhaustion and starvation the,
will have to give up" Weeks and months
and perhaps a year, pass along, and finall.
the fortress surrenders through that star
vation and exhaustion. But, my friends
the fortresses of sin are never to be takel
in that way. If they are taken for God
will be by storm. You will have to brini
up the great siege guns of the Gospel to tn
very wall, and wheel the flying artiller
into line, and when the armed infantry o
heaven shall confront the battlements yol
will have to give the quick command
Forward Charger
All, my friends, there is work for you t
do and for me to do in order to achieve thi
grand accomplishment Here is a pulpit
and a clergyman breaches in it, Your pulpi
is the bank. Your pulpit is the store. You
pulpit is the editorial chair. Your pulpi
is the anvil. Your pulpit is the hous
scaffolding. Your pulpit is the mechanic
shop. / may stand in this place an6
through cowardice or through self seeking
} may keep back the word l ought to utter
, while you, with sleeve rolled up and bro,
| besweated with toll, may utter the wor
l that will jar the foundation of heaven wit