The Penn's Grove record., 1892-02-19

there be fifteen million persons Shded every
year to the worlds population, then there
will be thirty million added to the church,
and forty million and fifty million sky
million. How will it be donef IL VIII oe
done then the church will meet Christ on
the plain. Come down out OF ~themountain
Of eIclusiveness. Come down out OF tne
mountain OF pride. Come down. y o ths
mountain of Journalism. Come down OUT o.
the mountain OF freezing and indifference.
Old DIR. Stephen H. Tying. CREST on earth
and In heaven. once said to me: Il am I'D
favor of a change, do not know what IL
the best way of doing things In the cuurches,
but | know the way we are doing now Is NOT
the best way, or the world would be nearer
Its salvation than it seems to be-" 80 ieei;
SC we all feel, that there needs to be
change. The point at which we al CONT
short is presenting Christ on the piaan, Chris,
on the level with all the worlds woes and
wants and necessities.
The full change will have 10 come from
Che rising ministry. We now In the Held
are too set in our ways. We are numbered
up with~'technicalitiel We have 100 many
co~ncordances and dictionaries and encyclo-
pedias and systems of theology on our head
to get down on the plain. Our vocabulary
is too frosted. We are too much under the
domination of customs regnant Tor many
centuries. Come on, young men o. Ine
ministry. Take this pulpit. take all the
pulpits, and in the street, and the market
place, and the family circle preach Christ
pn the plain.
As soon as the church says by its attitude,
not necessarily by its words, "My one mis-
life to come all the people," and it proves It'd
earnestness in the matter. people, on iooe ano
on horseback and in wagons and In car
riages will come to the churches in suct
numbers that they will have to be met at thu
door by ushers, saying: you were her'
last Sunday; you cannot come to-day,
Gentlemen and ladies, you must take youi
turn
And it will be as in the Johnstown freshet
and disaster, when a government station
was opened for the supply OF bread, and II
took the officers Of the law to keep the suf'
eerers in line because of the great rush for
food. When this famine struck world real
ICES that the church is a government station
set up by the government Of the universe to
provide the bread Of eternal life for all the
people, the rush will be unprecedented and
unimaginable.
Astronomers have been busy measuring
worlds, and they have'told Us how great Il
the circumference of this world mi how
great is its diameter. yea, they have kept on
until they have weighed our planet and found
its weight to be six sextillion tons. But by
no science has the weight Of this worlds
trouble been weighed Now, Christ stand.
ing Oh the level Of our humanity stands In
sympathy with every trouble. There ars SO
many aching heads; His ached under the
thorns. There are so many weary feet; His
were worn with the long journey up and
down the land that received Him not. There
are so many prosecuted souls. Every houI
of His life was under human outrage. The
world had no better place to receive Him
than a cattle pen, and its farewell was a slap
on His cheek and a spear in His side. So in.
tensely human was He that there has not
been in all our race a grief or infrmity or
exhaustion or pang that did not touch Him
once and that does not touch Him now.
: The lepers, the p~aralytics, the imbecile,
the manic, the courtesan, the repentaut
brigand-which one did He turn of, which
one did He not pity, which one did He moi
helpf The universal trouble Of the world IL
bereavement. One may escape all the other
troubles, but that no soul escapes. Out of
bitter cup every one must take a drink.
For instance, i'll order that all might n
how He sympathiEes with those who have
lost q daughter, Christ comes to the house OF
Jarius. There is such a big crowd around
the door He and His disciples have to push
their way in. From the throng Of people l
conclude that this girl must have been very
popular. She was one Of tn ose children
whom everybody likes.
After Christ got in the house there was
such a loud weeping hat the ordinary tones
of voice could not be heard. do not won
der. The dead daughter was twelve years
Of age. 1t is about the happiest time in
most lives. Very little children suffer many
tnjustices because they are children, and
childhood ia not a desirable part of human
sxistence-they get whacked or set on. But
at twelve years of age the child has come to
self assertion and is apt to make her rights
known. And then, twelve years of age is
too early for the cares q anIiaties of life.
So this girl was, l think, the merriment of
the household. She furnished for them the
mimicry and the harmless mischief. and
reused the guffaw that often rang through
that happy home. But now she is dead, and
the grief at her departure Is as violent as her
presence had been Vivacious and inspiriting.
oh, the bereavement was so sharp, SO over
whelmingi How could they give her up.
+ I suspect that they blamed themselves for
this OF for that. Oh, if they had had some
other doctor, or taken some other medicine,
or had been more careful of her health, or il
they had not given her that reproof some
time when she had not really deserved it. II
thew had been more patient with her hilari-
tics and. instead OF hushing her play. had
participated in 1t, You know there are so
many things that parents always blame
themselves for at such times. Only twelve
years Of agei So fair, SO promising, SO full
Of life @ few days ago, and now SO still Oh,
what It is to have a daughter deadl The
room is full of folks, but yonder is the room
where the young sleeper Is. The crowd can
not 90 in there. Only six persons enter. five
besides Christ-three friends, and, of course,
he father and mother. They have the arst
right TO go in. The heaviest part Of the
grief was theirs. All eyes in that room are
on the face OF this glrl.
I. There lay the beautiful hand, white and
finely shapen, but it was not lifted in greet.
to any Of the group. Christ stepped for.
ward and took hold of that hand and said,
with q tone and accumulation charged with
Tenderness and command, "Damsel. | say
unto thee, ariseP' And without a moments
DELAY she arose, her eyes wide open, her
cheeks turning from white lily to red rose
and the parents cry; 'She livesl She livesr r.
and in the next room they taxi up the sound,
.'She livesl She lives| and the throng il
front of the doorway repeat it, ''She lives
a daughter feel that such a Christ as thai
can sympathizef
Christ on the plain. I care not from whai
and get His help. Is 1t mental depressi OF
Won suffer- Remember Him who said. an,
God. NV God, why hast Thou forsaken MeY
Is it a struggle for breadf Remember Hin
who fed the five thousand with two minnow.
and five biscuits, neither Of the biscuit
larger than your fist. Is it chronic ailmenti
Remember the woman who for eighteer
wears was bent almost double and He lifted
her face until she could look into the blu,
sky. Are YOU a sailor n spend your hf,
battling with the ,tempestsP Remember Hin
who flung the tempest Of Genessreth fat or
the crystal pavement OF a quiet sea.
. That Christ is in sympathy with all VIII
have trouble with their eyes, and that Is be
coming an almost universal tro uble througf
much reading in rail cars, and the overpres
sure of the study in the schools where chill
dren are expected to be philosophers at ten
boys and girls at fourteen with spectacles,
4 say with all such trouble Christ is In sym
natRx. Witness blind Bartimeus Witnes
the two blind men in the house. Witnes
fine two blind men near Jericho. Witnes
the man born blind. Did He not turn thei
perpetual midnight into midnoon, till the,
ran nm aud down clspping their hands AMI
saying, ~ sesl Isse|
That Christ isl sympathy with those who
stammer. or have silepcod ears, notics how
promptly He came to that man with impedi.
ment Of speech and gave him command Of
the tongue so that he could speak with ease,
and, putting His fingers into the ears, re
tuned the tympanum- Is there q lack Q,
circulation 10 your arm, think OF Him who
cured the defective circulation and the mac
tive muscles Of a patient who had lost the
use of hand and arm, by saying, "Stretch