The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-11-01

preached by Christian man, tnere Will 10
help for every one somewhere. we go INTO
an apothecary store. We see others pelnS
waited on. We do not complain because We
do NOT Immediately get the medicine. We
know our turn will come after awhile. And
so, while all parts OF sermon may not Do
appropriate to our case, If we wait prayer
fnIIv before the sermon is through we shall
have the divine prescription. say to these
Young men who come here Sabbath by Sab
bath. and who are going to preach the gos-
pel-these theological students-I say to
Them. we want in our sermons not more
metaphysics, nor more Imagination, nor
more logic, nor more profundity.
What we want In our sermons and Chris
tian exhortations is more sympathy. When
Father Taylor preached in the Sailors Betnel
at Boston, the jack tars felt that they had
help for their duties among the ratlines and
the forecastles, When Richard Weaver
preached to the operatives in Oldham, Eng
land. all the workingmen felt they had more
grace for the spindles. When DR.. South
preached to kings and princes and princesses
all the mighty men who heard him felt prep
sration for their high station.
Again remark that sanctuary help ought
to come through the prayers OF all the peo-
pie. The door Of the eternal storehouse ls
hung ON one hinge-a gold hinge, the hinge
of prayer-and when the whole audience lay
hold OF that door, il must come open. There
are here many people spending their first
Sabbath after some great bereavement. What
will your prayer do for them7 How will It
help the tomb in that mans heart? Here
are people who have not been in church be-
fore for ten years. What will your prayer
do for them by rolling over their soul holy
memories?
Here are people in crises OF awful temp
xLa ~ doc dir ~
wild laundering or theft or suicide. What
will your prayer do for them this morning
in the way OF giving them strength to resist?
Will you be chiefly anxious about the fit OF
the glove that you put to your forehead
while you prayed? Will you be chiefly
critical of the rhetoric OF the pastors
petition? No. No. A thousand people will
feel, s'That prayer is for me-" and at every
step Of the prayer chains ought to drop of,
and temples OF sin ought to crush into dust,
and Ijubilees of deliverance ought to brandish
their trumpets. In most OF our churches We
have three prayers-the opening prayer,
what is called the ''lonS prayer" and the
closing prayer.
There are many people who spend the first
prayer in arranging their apparel after en-
trance, and speed the second prayer-the
sslong prayer"-in wishing it were through.
and spend the last prayer In preparing to
start for home The most Insignificant part
OF every religious service is the sermon. The
more important parts are the Scriptural les
son and the prayer. The sermon Is only
man talking to man. The Scripture lesson
is God talking to man. Prayer Is man talk
ing to God. Oh, II we understood the grand
eur and the pathos OF this exercise OF prayer,
instead of being dull exercise, we would
imagine that the room was full OF divine and
angelic appearances.
But, my friends, the old style Of church
will not do the work. We might as we'll now
try to take all the passengers from New York
to Buffalo by stage coach, or all the passen-
gers from Albany to Buffalo by canalboat, or
to do all tho battling OF the world with bow
and arrow, as with the old style OF church to
meet the exigencies of this day. Unless the
church in our day will adapt itself to the
time it will become extinct. The people read
ing newspapers and books all the week, in
alert, picturesque and resoundinS style, Will
have no patience with Sabbath humdrum.
We have no objections to bands and sur.
plice and all the paraphernalia OF clerical
life, but these things make no impression
make no more impression on the great
masses of the people than the ordinary busl-
ness suit that you wear in Wall street. A
tailor cannot make minister. Some OF the
poorest preachers wear the best clothes, and
many backwoodsman has dismounted from
the saddlebags and in his linen duster
preached a sermon that shook earth and
heaven with its Christian eloquence. No new
gospel. only the old gospel in way suited
to the time No new church, but church
TO be the asylum, the inspiration, the prac-
tical sympathy and the eternal help Of the
people.
are to be set open toward this world the other
half Of the doors of the church must be set
open toward the next. You and Itarry here
only brief space. We want somebody to
teach us how to get out of this life at the
right time and in the right way. Some
fall out of lie, some 60 stumbling out ofife,
some go groaning out oflife, some 90 ours
ing out oflife. We want to go singing, ris-
ing, rejoicing, triunphing. We want half
the doors of the church set in that direc-
tion. We want half the prayers that way,
half the sermons that way. We want to
know how to get ashore from the tumult Of
this world into the land OF everlasting peace.
We do not want to stand doubling and shiv-
ering when we go away from this world. We
want our anticipations aroused to the high
est pitch.
We want to have the exhilaration OF a dy-
ing child in England, the father telling me
the story. When he said to her, SIS thepath
narrow" she answered THE path is mar
row. 1t is so narrow that cannot walk arm
in arm with Christ so Jesus goes ahead and
He says, MARY, follow" Through these
church gates set heayenward how many OF
your friends and mine have gone? The last
time they were out of the house they came
to church The earthly pilgrimage ended at
the pillar OF public worship, and then they
marched out to bigger and brighter assem-
blage. SoEe Of them were 80 old they could
not walk without cane or two crutches.
Now they have eternal juvenescence. Or
they were so young they could not walk ex-
cept US the maternal hand guided them Now
they bound with the hilarities celestial.
The last time We saw them they were
wasted with malarial or pulmonic disorder,
but now they have no fatigue and no diff
Guilty of respiration in the pure air OF heaven
How wonder wnen you and | will cross
over! Some III you have had about enough
Of the humping and failing OF this life. A
draft from the fountains Of heaven would DO
you good. Complete release, you could
stand very we'll. If you got on the other
side and had permission 10 come back, you
would not come. Though you were invited
10 come back and join your friends on earth,
you would say, mo, let me turry here until
they come. / shall not risk going back. II
a man reaches heaven, he had better stay
there"
on, Join hands with you this morning in
that upllited splendor!
When the shore is won at last.
Who will coaut the blIlows past?
In Freyoourg, Switzerland, there is the
trunk of u tree 400 years old. That tree was
planted TO commemorate an event. About
ten miles from the city the Swiss conquered
the Burgundians, anu i young man wanted
10 take the tidinSs to the city. He took tree