Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-07-27

nsrF What We want in The church ~
( God = more braHu u piefy
The century plant i wonderfully su9
gastive and EOnderfDily bea1tiful. bit
! never iook ~ ii sifllOus thinking d
~ parzimOny II iets whole genera
tions 60 b. befors IL puts forth one
biossoin. - Lave really more heart
/. feif admiration when ! 80 the dewy
fear 10 the blue eyes Of the giolets. for
tiley cotns even spring Ny Christian
friends. time b going by - nspidiy that
We cannof afford ~ be idle
A recent stafisfician says that human
iifs nov has an average Of only thirty
tsO years From these fiiirty-tEo
year, gou must subtract All the time
you take foT sleep and the taking d
I food and recreation; that will leave
yOu about sixteen yearA From those
sixteen years yOu must subtract all the
I time yOu are necessarily engaged iB the
earning Of livelihood. that viii leave
you about eight yeaB. From thoss
eight years you must take al the days
7 and weeks and mOnfiis--all the length
d time that % passed iD childhood and
sickness. Leaving you about one year
I 10 which 20 work for God Oh. my soul,
wake 1pi How darest thou sleep IN
harvest time and with 70 few hours in
I which 10 reaDS So that state IL 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 year.
THR RxcUsEs oE LAzIEgss.
"But, says some man, II Literally
support the Gospel, and the church 10
open and the Gospel IL preached; all
the spiritual advantages are spread be
fore men, and ~ they want 10 be saved
lot them come 10 be saved; have dis
charged al my responsibility. Ali IL
that tie Masters spirit1 Il there not
an old book somewhere that commands
us 70 60 out into the highways and tho
hedges and compel the people 10 come
int What would have become Of you
and me II Cbrigt had not come down
OF tho bills of heaven, and II he had
not come through the door Of the Beth
lehem carayansary. and II he had no.
with the crushed hand Of the cruciGX-
lon knocked at the iron gate Of the
sepulcheT Of ourspiFitual death. crying,
'Lazarus come fOTthp
Oh. my Christian friends, this Is no
time for inertia, when all the forces Of
darkness seem 20 be Ia full blast when
steam printing presses are publishing
/ iniidel tracts. when express railroad
trims 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 "a
looms Of dissipation and abandonment;
when the fires Of the second death al
ready are kindled In the cheeks Of some
who. only a little while ago. were in
/ corrupt
Never since the curse fell upon the
earth has there been "A time when II
was such an unwise, such "A cruel, such
an awful thing for the church 10 sleepl
The great audiences are not gathered
ia the Christian churches; the great
audiences are gathered Ia temples OF sin
tears Of unutterablo woe their bap-
tisln, tie blood OF crushed hearts the
awful wine Of their sacrament, bias
pheInies their litany, and the groans Of
the lost world the organ dirge Of their
worship.
Again. II you want 10 DO qualified 10
meet tho duties which this age de-
mands Of you, you must on the one
hand avoid reckless icOnoclasn, and
on the other hand not stick too much
10 things because they are old. Tho
air Is full Of new plans, new projects,
new theories Of government, new tho
OlOgies, and | am amazed 10 see how
30 many Christians want only novelty
Ia order 70 recommend thing 20 their
confidence, and 80 they vaclllato and
swing 10 and fro, and they are useless,
and they aro unhappy. New plans
secular, ethical, philosophical, religious,
clsatlantic, transatlantic. All, my broth.
or do not adopt a thing merely because
Il is new. Try Il by the realities Of q
judgment day.
fttpNfhno iiih LAW pF LihEs
But. on tho other hand, do not ad-
hero 10 anything merely because Il Il
old There is not a single enterprise OF
tho church or tho world but has some
times been scoffod at There was a
time when men dehded even Bible 20
cletios, aud when few young men
met near a haystack la Massachusetts,
and organized the hrst missionary 50
ciety over organized la this country,
tbere went laughter and rdicule all
around lho Christian church. They said
the undertaking was proposterous.
And ~. also, ihe work Of Jesus Christ
Nss assaiiod. People cried out, who
sYss hsasJ u smell theories ~ ethles
and government Whoever noticed
such style of preaching a. Jesus haa Y
Ezekiel had talked Of mysterious wing,
and Wbeols Here came q man from Ca
pamauau and Gcnnosafei, aud ho drew
hls Illustrations from the lakes, from thf
liiles ffom the sand inoin the raylner
fron iie cornsfulks Hos tho Phorisee,
ssoned liow llenJd derldedl How
Caiaphas hlssed And ihis Jesus tliey
plnckrd hy fho beard, aud they spat N
lls face. aud ihey called him 'flia ial
loWw Ail iAe great enterprises Ia and
oui ~ ilis ohurgh have "a iimes been
soonad ai and lhon have boen a groai
multiiHds sho hays thOnsli lVi ths
chariot " iiods truth would Ian q
ulaoas Il IA olies gli oui ~ fhe nld Fui