The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1892-05-25
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MORALSG0 MANNERS
IT A CLERGYMAN.

Churches of all creeds and of no creed
are agreed in believing and teaching the
supreme truth OF individual responsibility.
lis impossible to over-emphasize it. 1t is
the article of standing or falling church.
For a church is not ferry-boat carrying
from the shore of time to the shore of
eternity passengers who have paid their
fare and who are therefore entitled 10 be
ferried across seated and at ease. 1t is
college racing shell. Every one of the
eight is important, and all are of equal i'm
portance. Any one may lose the race by
an Indifferent or laggsrd stroke, and
there is not one which cannot do much
to win it. Too many Christians have the
ferry-boat conception instead of the racing
shell conception of the church. A few are
left to do all the work, and the many
regard themselves as mere passen-
gers. All should pull-and must In
order to succeed.
After the battle OF Bunker Hill, courier
rode breathlessly up to Gen. Washington at
Cambridge and announced the news. The
great Virgnian asked one question-onlv
Ouc. I1G hOL WIZ
nor how many were killed, nor even
whether the British were finally repulsed.
He simply said: did the militia stand
fire?" The messenger told him they did.
"Then," was his comment, 1--WE shall win
our Independence" He recognized the
fact that the success of the struggle de-
pended not so much upon the generals as
upon the courage ard determination of the
rank and file.
just so in the church. II the members
are consecrfsed and diligent their cause
will march on conquering and TO conquer
If they are siuggardly and craven no
splen6or of generalship can achieve VIC
tory. Whether in church or state battles
are won not by staff officers, but by union
of purpose and will and effort. Each
must help all and all must help each.
st. Paul teaches this under the simile of
the Ibody Il Cor. xii, 14-3l): "For the
body is not one member, but
many II the foot shall say,
Because am not the hand / am not of
the body; is it therefore not of the body ?
And if the ear shall say, Because | am
not the eye, am not of the body; is it
therefore not of the body? If the whole
body were an eve, where were the hear
ing? If the whole were hearing, where
were the smelling? But now are they
many members, yet but one body. And
the eye cannot say unto the hand, have
no need of thee; nor again, the head to
the feet, have no need of you. Nay,
much more, these members OF the body
which seem to be moro feeble are neces-
sary."
Many Christians are sitting eat ease in
Zion" Some of them mistake n pew for a
sleeping car. "Oh," exclaimed the late
Mr. Beecher, chat a man could take mis-
pew to bed with him." Well, as that
can't be done. some people carry their
beds to their pews.
We have too much preaching, we are
preached to death and the devil. We alb
sorb preaching as a sponge does water
We need TO be squeezed and made
to give out. We should do as
the primitive believers did in Traja day.
They met in secret under the pavements
of Rome to pray and exhort one another,
and then went up and out to attack false
affairs and wicked laws. Would 1t not be
well nowadays to preach in the morning
and then adjourn to prrctice IN the alter
noon.
Christians might wisely go into the
streets on errands of evangellzation.
WAS III lDt
was born out in the open air-hence its TO
bust vitality. Wesley and Whitfield were
street preachers. John b. Cough was re-
deemed by the touch of Christian hand
upon the shoulder as he staggered along
the sidewalk after debauch, and SO was
Jerry MacAuley.
The general assembly OF the presby-
terrain church met at Portland, Ore, last
Thursday. Now, then!
There is more explosive power in the
dynamite of character than in all the
powder OF privilege and position.
Clergymen outside OF the pulpit and Of
ecclesiastical bodies are the most genial
and charitable of men.
1t is truly said that the advantages aris-
ing from the social and common life of stu
dents ct college often outweigh those OF
the instruction and discipline Of the
class room. Even the student who is
careless and shirks duty as often as he can,
is perceptibly benefited by the atmos-
phere he breathes and the molding inhu-
ences of the little commonwealth of
which he forms part. President Patton
of Princeton college once parodled the
well known couplet of Tennyson as fol-
lows:
"'Tis better TO have come and loAfed
Than never to have come at all"
This, however. is not plea for Sinking
and shirkers, but a word of consolation
to parents whose sons may have disap-
pointed their hopes and purposes.
It 10 recognized principle, remarks an
ocuta critic that a oood causa ia iniured