The herald., 1893-11-27
vincent Religious Crusade.

First M. E, Church.
Vincent Religious Crusade.
The closing services of the Vincent
religious crusade campaign were held
yesterday. The preparatory services of
the morning were held in several sepa-
rate prayer meetings at 10 a. m. Mrs.
Pearl Strong led the children in the
service OF the Junior league. The Vim
cent guards of the boys' brigade held q
prayer service, Rev. Fisher leading.
Mrs. Helen Birdsall conducted the de-
votional meeting of the young ladies,
which was held in the parsonage par
lors. Inspiration for work in the other
meetings OF the day was gathered in
these services.
The main service of the morning was
held at IL o'clock. The usual musical
programme was rendered by the choir
and congregation. The scripture lesson
was read. Rev. Fretz led in PRAYER.
The pastor, Rev. F. V. Fisher, then
delivered the morning discourse. His
text was taken from Acts l., 8: "Ye
shall be witnesses unto me-" The
wordss Of the text were uttered by the
Master in the closing days of His
earthly ministry. At that time a new
religion had been inaugurated by Him,
and He had given these words of COM
mand to His disciples. They were to
spread the word to every part of the
earth and among all peoples. These
words come down through the ages to
u, of the latter part of the 10th CEN
tury. We are to testify to the men of
today. Christ did not employ the
means used by Mohammed or the
worldly governments, of force, but by
missionary work to propagate His gos-
pei. 1t was His plan to scatter His
disciples throug the earth, and wherever
there was disciple there should be a
Christian church. Today this religion
encircles the globe. 1t is by personal
work and testimony that His kingdom
is propogated. The minister alone cam
not do all. There are three sides to this
question.
First-We are representatives of the
government of Heaven and we should
not disgrace God. We should be as
proud to be consul of Heaven as the
Office. seeker is to be an ambassador of
the United States to foreign countries.
Second-We are lights in this world.
Little lights are important, and every
body can testify by their life and with
their tongue. Christians should let
their life be light through the week as
we'll as on Sunday.
Third-There are many, many people
on the earth who do not believe the
claims made by Christ. The witness
must have character back of him his
veracity must be established. Then,
like the witness in court, the witness for
Christ must know what he is talking
about. No hearsay evidence will have
weight. Personal testimony has saved
more people than logic. Personal
opinion counts for nothing without di-
rect knowledge.
The service closed with song, Ny
Father Is Rich.
Glass meeting service followed the
preaching.
EVENING SERVICES.
The opening meeting of the evening
was held in the Epworth league room
and was led by Mr.. Vogel.. A service of
song, prayer and testimony was held.
The topic discussed was The Christian
Home.
The evening service proper WAS begun
at 7 80. with the song service led by the
orchestra and chorus. Rev. Fisher
prayed.
The pastor, Rev. Fred. Fisher,
preached the sermon. The topic for
his talk was The Excuses Which the
Uncovered Give Why They Do Not
Become Christians.
The text was the parable of the We'd
ding Feast given in the fourteenth chap
ter of st. Luke.
Christ likens the religion of God as
great festal board-an eternal thanks
giving. What Jesus Chriet offers is an
invitation TO rich feast. The preacher
is the messenger sent out to deliver the
invitation. Yet there are many who
beg to be excused from this religion.
The reasons given in the parable were
false; the true reason was because they
did not want to follow Christ. Some
excuses offered in these crusade meet
ings were treated by the speaker. Some
persons have high ideal OF Christian,
and because they are afraid they cannot
hold out, refuse the trial. God will lead
you if you commit yourself completely
to Him. You are thus downing Gods
power and charging Him with being a
liar.
Another objection given is that a per-
son who is Christian has mistreated
them. or they imagine he has done so.
Personal prejudice causes them to throw
away heaven. Why refuse the invita-
ton because they do not like the mes
sengerP
Some say they will not be Christians
because there are so many hypocrites in
the church, That objector should lead
true Christian life and show the hypo-
critic his mistake.
Many object because they say they
must give up go much pleasure. The
preacher maintained that no man is
required to give up anything but what
conscience condemns. Some object be-
cause they cannot believe and do not
have the ecstatic feeling. Joy is the
result OF faith, Feeling is a result OF
facts.
Some unconverted do not like to con-
fesE that their past has been wrong, by
turning to Christian life. Some can
not forgive, they say. Many make the
excuse that tomorrow l will be a
Christian" No man is ever sure of the
appearance of tomorrow. "Act in the
living present." An after service for
beginners in the Christian life was held.
There are undelivered kilograms at the
office of the Western Union telegraph
company, at the corner of Court and
Main streets, for Mrs. Carrie Moerlein,
T.. Navas ID Oo-ko-- T1--~