Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1893-04-29

thy! Men and women are signing for
sympathy, grooming for sympathy, dy-
ing for sympathy, tumbling off into un'
cleanliness and crime and perdition for
lack of sympathy. May God give it to
us! Fill all this pulpit with it, from
step to step. Let the sweep of these
galleries suggest its encircling arms.
Fill all the house with it, from door to
door. and from floor to ceiling, until
there is no more room for it, and 1t shall
overflow into the street, and passers-by
on foot and in carriage shall feel the
throb of its magnificent benediction.
Let that be our new departure as n
church. Let that be my new departure
as a pastor. Sympathy! Gratitude to
God demands that this morning l men
ton the fact that during all these twen-
ty-four years l have missed but one
service through sickness.
/ must. in gratitude to God. also
mention the multitudcs to whom have
been permitted to preach. 1t is simply
miraculous, the attendance morning
by morning night by night, and
year by year, and long after it has
got to be an old story. know some
people are dainty and exclusive in their
tastes. As for myself, l like n big
crowd. i would like to see IN audience
large enough to scare me. If this Cos
pei is good, the more that get it the
better.
Profiting by the mistakes of the past,
/ must do better work for you and bet.
ter work for God. Lest might, through
some sudden illness or casualty, be
snatched away before have the oppor
tunity of doing so, l take this occa.
sion to declare my love for you as peo
pie. 1t is different work if u pastor is
placed in church already built up.
and he is surrounded by established
circumstances. There are not ten
people in this church who have not been
brought in the church through my min.
istry. You are my family. l feel as
much ut home here as do in my home
on Oxford street.
During these twenty-four years there
is hardly family that has not been in
vaded by sorrow or death. Where are
those grand old men, those glorious
Christian women who used to worship
with us? Why, they went away into
the next world so gradually that they
had concluded the second stanza or the
third stanza in Heaven before you
knew they were gone. They had on
the crown before you thought they had
dropped the staff Of the earthly pill.
grimage.
And then the dear children. o. how
many have gone out of this church.
You could not keep them. You folded
them in your arms and said: 20. God,
l cannot give them up Take all else,
take my property, take my reputation,
but let me keep this treasure. Lord, /
cannot bear this"
Oh. if we could all die together. II
we could keep all the sheep and the
lambs of the family fold together until
some bright spring day, the birds
achant and the waters aglitter, and
then we could all together hear
the voice of the good Shepherd,
and hand in hand pass through
the flood.
play you three tunes on the gospel
harp of comfort. Weeping may en-
dure for night, but joy cometh in the
morning." That is one. 'All things
work together for good to those who
love God" That is the second. And
the lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall lead them to living foun-
tains of water, and God shall wipe all
tears from their eyes" That is the
third. During these twenty-four years
| have tried as far as could, by argu-
ment, by illustration and by carica-
ture. to fill you with disgust with
much of this modern religion
which people are trying now to
substitute for the religion of Jesus
Christ and the religion of the apostles.
have tried to persuade you that the
worst of all cant is the cant of skepti-
cism, and instead of your apologizing
for Christianity, it was high time that
those who do not believe in Christian
ity should apologize to you, and / have
tried to show that the biggest villains
in the universe are those who would
try to rob us of this Bible, and that the
grandest mission of the church OF
Jesus Christ is that of bringing souls to
the Lord-a soul-saving church.
But now those years are gone. II you
have neglected your duty, if l have neg
lected my duty, it is neglected forever.
Each year has its work. If the work is
performed within the twelve months,
it Is done forever. If neglected, it il
neglected forever.
When great battle was raging,
messenger came up and said to the gen.
eral, who was talking with an officer:
General, we have taken standard
from the enemy" The general kept
right on conversing with his fell
low-officer. and the messenger
said again, General, we have
.A.-lo-l F,.o,x, A.