Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1893-11-04

Sn1t some OF tue snveFeSe battles and the
toughest work comes before thirty. There
fore We must have orr sernons and our ex-
hortation II Player meeting all sympathetic
with tie young.
And so with these people further on In life.
What do these doctors and lawyers and mer-
chants and mechanics care about the abstrac-
tons Of religion? What they vart Il hsip 10
bear rne wnimsicaf.ies Or paIIents. tne brow
beating etietal OPPONENTS. the unfairness 81
rc-tomefs. who have plenty Of fault finding
ror every imperfection Of handiwork, but no
praise for twenty excellences. What does
that brain raeked. hand blistered man care
for Zwingie's Doctrine of Original Sim or
Augustine's ''Anthropology?" You might as
well 20 10 a man VINO ms the pieurlsy ana
put on his side q plaster made out of DIR.
parr's Treatise on Medical Jurisprudence"
Will" all OF q sermon may not be helpful
alike 10 all il il he a Christian sermon
preached BY q Christian man, there will be
heip FOR every one We 60 into
an apotheeary store. We see others being
waited On. We do not complain because We
do not Immediately get the medicine. We
nuow oat ,htn *aI como at,-r a~rIr-. Aid
20. while All parts Of d sermon smay not BE-
apic- PIRATE t. our ease, ii We wait prayer
luIi, Icfose the sermon is through we shall
haN he divine prescription. Lag to these
vo..u1 ner who csn>, here ssA9aSth by Sab
taf m / who ar going to preach the cos
re. ',"se theological ,tu leaasiI say Is
th"Ht. We want in our ermonS not more
metat,hysfcs. nor more iutasin ition. nor
more logic. nor more profuniity.
what We want IN our sermons ana ,nrls-
tian exaortations is more sympathy. When
Father Taylor preached in the Sailors Bethel
at Bot N. the jack tars felt that they had
hell, f,r their duties among the ratlines and
| the 4orecastles. When Rieharl Weaver
prra I'D to the operatives in Oldham, Eng
Ian !, I'll the workingmen felt they had more
| graz for the spindles. When Dr.. South
pr.atlri to kings and princes and prineesses
all tn. mighty men who heard him felt prep
aratiou for their high station.
| A"lin l remark that sanctuary help ough
| 10 come through the prayers OF all the peo-
pie. The door OF the eternal storchouse is
hung on one hinge 4 gold hinge, the hinge
of prayer-and when the whole audience lay
hold OF that door. II must come open. There
are mere many people spending their first
Sabbath after some great bereavement. what
will your prayer 10 for Them? How viii il
h"lP the tomb in that mans heart? ! -,
are people who have not been in churr .m-
fore for ten years. What will YOUR p-tvnr
do for them by rolling over their sou. holyr
| memories?
Here are people in crises Of awful lcnp.
tation. They are on the verge Of DESPAIR or
wild blunderinc or theft or suicide. Wat
Will your PRAYER do for them this morning
IN the way nt giving them strength to resist
VIII you be chiefly anxious about the fit ot
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 WI
feel. That prayer Is for me-" and at every
step ofthe prayer chains ought to drop Oft.
and temples Of sin ought to crush into dust;
and jubilees of deliverance ought to bran .ish
their trumpets. In most Of our churches We
have three prayers--the opening PRAYER
/ Wnat Is called the 'ICnC IRA Vpr,' and Tho
closing prayer.
There are many people who spend the first
prayer iii arranging their apparel after en-
trance, and spend the second PRAYER tho
long prayer-in wishing 1t 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 a
man talking to a man. The Scripture lesson
is God talkinrto man. Prayer is man talk
ing to God. Oh, If we understood the grand
eur and the pathos ofthis exercise of PRAYER,
instead Of being a 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, OF all the passen
gers from Albany to Buffalo by canalboat. or
to do all the battling Of the world with how
and arrow. as with the old style of churcht to
meet the e1igencies 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 resembling style. will
have no patience with Sabbath humdrur.
We have no objections to bands AMI sur
pilce and all the paraphernalia of clerical
life. but these things make no impress;ua
make no more impression on the -reat
masses of the people than the ordinary busi
ness suit that you wear in Wall street. 4
tailor cannot make a minister. Some Of the
poorest preachers wear fhe best clothes. and
many a backwoodsman has dismounted from
the saddlebags and in his linen duster
preached n sermon that shook earth and
heaven with its Christian %eloquence No new
gospel. only the old gospel in a way suited
to the time. No new church, but a church
TO he the asylum, the inspiration. the prac
ten sympathy and the eternal heiD Of the
people.
But while half of the doors of the church
ar" - ne set open toward this world the other
haI - the doors of the church must be set
open toward the next. You and Itarry here
only a brief space. We want somebody to
tea. II. how to get out of this life at the
right time and in the right way SOae
fall out of life, some go stumbling out of life,
some go groaninc out oflife, some 90 ours
ing out of life. We want to go singing rs
tAdiAttiiNr VIC "dul thall
the doors of the church set IN that direr.
ton. We want half the prayers that wav,
half the sermons that way. We want to
know how TO get ashore from the tumult OF
this world into the lane Of everlasting peace,
"" DO not want to stand doubling and shiv
erlnc when we go away from this world We
want our anticipations aroused to the high.
est pitch.
We want to have the exhilaration o. a DIV
Efnr mild IN England, the father teR.ne me
m" story. When he said to her. Is cae rath
mar y she answered The path is naI
roF I is so narrow tina, cannot walk arr
In with Christ. SO Jesus goes ahead and
II" ~. Mary, follow" Through these
Gnu 2 gates set heavenward how many o,
yen riends and mine have gone The las,
r-~~ ley were out Of the house they cam.
t. arch The earthly pilgrimage ended a,
IN" pillar of public worship, and then they
marched out to a bigger and brighter assem-.
etaSo ~n-o@s -@a-. ra-a - ,il .hax- .ontI
not v,la without 4 can. Or two 2rifrnes
NJ hey have eternal luyene. .-ncr. q,
/ Re 50 young they could not walk x
CO me maternal hantcuided them W.
sh%t aund with the hiiari,lee celestial.
asst time We saw them they ye-.
wac With maarlal OF puImonic disorder
Dat low they have no fatigue and no .ilr~
cult ~ reSplrat1on snDhe pur1 air ~ aa,-.-