Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1892-02-20
ACCOMAC C. H. VA. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 90 1853

ter the church and reach heaven
have no more to do with bis saliva
ton. than the question, How many
volcanoes are there in the moon2 or,
How far apart from each other are
the rings of Siiturnf Ol, How many
teeth there were III the jlwbone with
which Samson snlote the Philistincs'
i believe ten thousand things, but
noneof them have anything to do
with.ny salvation except these two
i am SINNER and Christ came to
savesme
Musicians tell us that the octave
consists only of five tones and two
ssemitones, and all the Hantlels and
Haydns and Mozarts and Wagners
and Schunlanns;o Of allzagges must do
ztheirSwo DIE the rang of1those
five: tom s And two senite So |
ten Soii that al the Theology
that will be of practical use IN our
world is made ont of the two facts
of human sinfnlness and divine
atonement. Within that octave
swing The Song of Moses and the
Lamb" the Christmas chant above
Bethlehem and the Eallelniah of all
the choils standing on seas of glass.
Is there not some mode of getting
ont of the way these nonessentials,
these supertluities, these tlivergen.
cies from the main issllet Is there
not some way of bringinaae church
down ont of the mountain of con
trovelsy and convcntionalism and to
put it on the plain where Christ
stands9 The present attitude of
things is like this: In a famine struck
district table has been provided
and it is loaded with food enough for
all The odols OF tie nts.ts Till the
air. Everything is ready. The plat
tels are full. The challces are full
The baskets of fruit are full. Why
not let the people lnl The door is
open. Yes, but there * /; cluster of
wise men blocking up the door, dis
cussing the contents of the caster
standing mi(lt2ble. They are shak
ing their fists at each other.
One says there is too much vinegar
in that caster. and one says there IL
too much sweet oil. and another says
there is not tie proper proportion Of
red pepper say, Get ont of the
way and let the hungry people come
in. Now our blessed Lord has pro
vided a great supper, and the oxen
and the fatlings have been killed, and
fruits from all the vineyards ana
orchards of heaven crown the table
The world has been invited to come,
and they look in, and they are hun
g1y. and people would pour III by the
millions to this worldwide table, but
the door is blocked up by contl'oycr
sizes, and men with whole Libraries
on their backs are (lisputing us to
what proportion of sweet oil and
cayenne pepper should make up the
creed. cry. Get out of the way
and let the hungry world come i'll. "
LOOK OUT FOR TIE ROCKS.
Tho Christian church will hive to
change its tack or it will run on the
rocks of demolition The worlds
population annually increases fifteen
millions. No one prctends that half
that number of people are converted
to God. There are more than twice
as many BlllIllists as Plotestants;
more than twice as many Gudlhists
as Roman Catholics. Protestants
la. oCo. coo; Catholics. la5, ooo, 900;
Bua,lhists, 4OO, Uno,000. There arc
IT'S, 600. COO Mehammedans and 220.
0OO. 600 Brahmans.
Meanwhile, many of the churches
are only religious cluhholises. Where
few people Soon Sunday morning,
averaging enc person to Il pew OF
one person to u half dozen peNvs, and
leaving the minister at night to sweat
through sermon with here and
there lone traveller, unless. by a
Sunday evening sacred concert. be
can get out an audience of respectl
BILE size.
The vast majority of the church
membership around the world put
forth no direct effort for the saliva
ton of men. Did say there would
have to be Il changer | correct that
and say. There will be a change. If
there he fifteen million persons added
every year to the worlds population.
then there will be thirty million add
ed to the church, and forty million
and fifty million and sixty million.
How will it be donei 1t will ho done
when the church will meet Christ on
the plain. Come down out of the
mountain of exclusiveness. Come
down out of the mountain of pride.
Come down out of the mountain of
Journalism. Come down out Of the
mountain of freezing Indifference.
Old DR.. Stephen H. Tying, great on
earth and in heaven, once said to
me: II AIN i'll favor of change. |
do not know what is the best way OF
doing things in the churches, but !
know the way we are doing now is
not the best way, Or the world would
be nearer its salvation than it seems
tofbe." So feel; so we all feel, that
there needs to be Il change. The
point at which we all como short is
presenting Christ on the plain. Christ
on the level with all the worlds
woes and wants and necessities.
The full change will have to come
from, the rising ministry. We now
In the field are too set in our ways
We are lum bered up with technicali-
ties. We have too many concord
ances aud dictionaries and encyclOt,