Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1893-08-02

Grafton 10 do il. then let some Jonathan
on his busy hands and on his praying
knees. climb up on the rock of hind
rance, and in the name Of the Lord God
of Israel slash to pieces those literary
PhiIistines- II these men viii not be
converted to God, then they must be
destroyed
Again. learn from this subject what
a large amount of the churchs re-
sources is actually hidden. and undo
veloped- The Bible intimates that that
was very rich land-this land of Is
rael- II says: the stones are iron and
out of the hills thou shalt dig brass. -
and yet hundreds of thousands of dol
lars worth of this metal was kept uu-
der the hills Well, that is the 3ifficul-
ty with the Church of God as this day.
Its talent is not developed. II oue-ha.s
of it's energy could be brought out. it
might take the public impurities of the
day by the throat and make them bite
the dust. II human elOqucnee were
consecratcd 10 the Lord Jesus Christ, il
/ could in n few years persuade this whole
earth to surrender TO God. There is
enough undeveloped Christian energy
in the United States TO bring the whole
world TO Christ; but il is buried under
strata of Indifference and under whole
mountains of sloth.
Now, is il not time for the mining to
begin, and the piclSaxes TO plunge. and
for this buried metal to be brought ont
and put into the furnaces and be turned
into howitzers and caibines for the
Lords host? The vast ma Toritv of
Christians in this day are useless The
most of the Lords battalion belong 20
the reserve corps The most Of the
crew are asleep in the hainmocbs. The
most of the metal is under the hills.
Oh, is IL not time for the church Of God
20 rouse up and understand that we
want all the energies, all the talent,
and all the wealth enlisted for Christ's
sake? / like the nickname that the
English soldiers gave to Butcher. the
commander They called him "Old
Forward" We have had enough re-
treats in the church of Christ; let us
have glorious advance. And say to
you now, as the general said when his
troops were affrighted. Rising up in
his stirrups, his hair flying in the wind,
he lifted up his voice until twenty
thousand troops heard him, crying out,
Forward the whole line!'
Again, learn from this subject that
we sometimes do well TO take advan-
tage of the worlds sharpening instru-
ments These Israelites were reduced
to a file. and so they went over to the
garrison of the Philistines to get their
axes and their goads and their ploys
Sharpencd. The Bible distinctly states
in the context that they had no other
instruments now with which TO do this
work, and the Israelites did right when
they went over TO the Philistines to use
their grindstones My friends, is il not
right for rs 10 employ the worlds grind
stones? If there be art. if there be
logic, II there be business faculty on
the other side, let us go over and en-
ploy IT for Christ's sake. The fact is we
fight with too dull weapons. and we
work with too dull implements We
hack and we maui when we ought
TO make clean stroke. Let us
go over among sharp business
men and among sharp literary
men and find out what their tact is
and then transfer it to- the cause of
Christ. If they have a science and art
1t will do us good to rub against it. In
other words, let us employ the worlds
grindstones. We will listen TO their
music and we will watch their acumen
and viii borrow their philosophical
apparatus to make our experiments
and we win borrow their printing
presses TO publish our Bibles and we
will borrow their rail-trains TO carry
our Christian literature and we will
borrow their ships to transport our
missionaries That was what made
Paul such a master in his day He not
al l,a lao Il.
of Dir. Gamaliel, but afterward, stand
ing on Mars Hill. and in crowded thor
oughfare, quoted their poetry. and
grasped their logic, and welded their
eloquence, and employed their myth
ology, until Dionysius the Areopagite
learned in the SCHOOLS of Athens and
Heliopolis, went down under his ire
mendous powers. That was what gave
Thomas Chalmers his power in his day
He conquered the worlds astronomy
and compelled it TO ring ont the wis
dom and greatness ct the Lord, until.
for the second time, the morning stars
sang together and all the sons of God
shouted for JOY. That was what gave
TO Jonathan Edwards his Influence in
his day. lie conquered The worlds
metaphysics and forced it into the SER
VIC VI you. unlll not only the old
Westinghouse in Northampton. Mass
but all Christcndom felt thrilled by his
Christian power. Well now. my friends,
we all have tools of Chrirtian useful
ness. Do not let them lose their edges.
/ We want no rusty blades in this fight
We want no coulter that can not rip
up the glebc. We want no AK that can
not fell the trees We want no Road
that can not start the lazy team. Let
us get the very best grindstones we
find, though they be in the possession
of the Philistines compelling them TO
turn the crank while we bear down
all our might ON the swift revolving
wheel until all our energies and facul-
ties shall be brought up 20 a bright,
keen, sharp, glittcring edge.
Again, my subjects teaches US on
what small allowance Philistine in
iquity puts % man. Yes: these Philis-
tines shut mp mines and they took the
spears and the swords. then they took
the blackaniths, then they took the
grindstones, and then they took every
thing but 70 file Oh, that is tlpe vav
sin works; IL grabs everything. II be-
gins with robbery, and IL ends with
robbery. It despoils this faculty and
that faculty. and keeps on until the
whole uufurc Is uono Xne tho r,,. r.,