The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1893-06-29

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Dignity il Of the devil il begins with
the same letter. Dignity is the ono
devil that Is in the way Of the success 81
hundreds OF our great city churches tn
aay. The apostle made a sensation
wherever he went. He couli not help
il. The gospel he preached was a SEN
sation. lie turned the world upside
down. He stirred men mp. They ar
rested him. they prosecuted him. they
drove him ont. He preached the truth
a. il was in Christ. and the truth in
Christ cuts the world like two edged
sword.
Jesus Christ himself was sensation
aIist. His methods were sensational,
his life most intense in its dramatic as.
poets. Never man spake rs this man.
They were struck with his word. with
his manner They We're thrilled BE
spoke not as scribe or pharisee. He
spoke with an awful emphasis as one
with authority. lie spoke as the few
prophets of the Hebrew race had spoken,
with centuries intervening between their
voices. His life was series of sensa-
tons between Cana and Calvary; his
series of sensations-the heal
ing of the lame. the halt. the blind. the
raising Of the dead He broke the ira
a;iions of the elders. He broke the Sab
bath He consorted with publicans and
sinners. He reached and stirred the
masses of the people. He was of them.
He lived with them. Even when they
deserted him he loved them, lived for
them and died for them still.
TEN SUICIDES A WEEK.
The apostolic method implies also con-
secrated common sense or the adapta-
lion of methods to the needs of men and
times. The Apostle Paul saw an awful
need. He stood in Greece and saw her
N her wretchedness and sin and help
essness. He saw a world that lay In
darkness. He heard the sad cry of the
'ick and helpless and ready to die-lost
n wild speculations about the soul ard
human life and human destiny. AS he
,azed thus into the face % "a race drift
ng without a compass there was inspi-
alton enough to kindle the great resolve
n his great soul, II wiz be all things to
III men If by all means I may save
ome." In Greece / will be a Grecian;
n Rome. a Roman: among slaves, a
lave. will preach in the market place.
will stand on the Acropolis. ! will
preach in the synagogue-anywher
that man may DO found,
nay be reached, may be saved.
The situation with which we are con-
ronted today is a situation that damns
UGH an apostolic ideal enforced in prac-
ical ways. The city lies in debauchery
nd weakness and corruption-the sa-
DON master practically of your city life;
o suicides week in the city Of New
FORK alone; one murder week; ma
growing iii power and inso-
ence; thousands gathered into the wLirl-
ool of an Indifferent and goddess life;
he great masses outside the church I'M
mindful of its very existence; the sad
ry OF the city going up before God day
nd night without ceasing; the Inuffled
oar Of its sorrow can be heard In the
istance in the deadest hour of the night;
he sick, the helpless, the lost, the de- |
pairing. the sick in body and the sick in
oul. If the church meets this situation.
must be by the adaptation of methods |
7hich the spirit will own and bless to- |
ay.
RELIC HUNTERS.
The trouble is we have disowned the
pint of God. We say the spirit is not
18th us. It's true, but it is not because
he spirit has withdrawn from the world.
!. Is simply because we have nut our.
lives out OF touch with the spirit. The
1urch must get a new baptism of the
is to say, it must open the
oors and let the spirit come in. We have
'me zeal, but it is zeal with fatal lack
sense. Now and then a man rises and
'ys. Lord, let us build three tabernacles
one for thee, one for Moses and one for
mas. Mary elous zeal, but no sensei
onderfuI structures we build TODAY.
IL they are useless catacombs-good
Tough for records, good enough for relic
lnters In the future. And we store
em with relics for the future hunters
cur1osltles, when newer and fresher
&c snail roam over our ruined cities.
Oh does not need three tabernacles to-
y any more than he needed them in
e DAY OF Christ's TRANSPORTATION. We
ed institutions for saving men and
omen in these closing DAYS of the nine.
enth century. We are not adapting
II methods to saving men. Until we do
church cannot be triumphant. The
oment we do the spirit Of God in power
aches the world through us.
Let me repeat to you part OF NV per-
nal creed on this subject: AS for me
q my house, we have more and mora
solved to abide in this faith. Irene.t
with emphasis. l had rather beat the
um In the Salvation Army to the sal
1lon or men than stand in frescoed
hple ana preach the gospel to a hand
OF ola men and women, who have {
pressed religion so long and date il so / j,
u ago that they can scarcely remember /,
date OF their conversion. and who
We heard the gospel SO long that thew s
stricken with sacred rheumatism. /
1, rather be human sandwich and
Tx on broadway and advertise the
'pel unto salvation of the passing {
wa than stand beneath Gothic arch
l preach into the soft, yielding bosom v
pew cushions the most glorious ma :.
Us at a large salary. | had ratber
III not potato, as did old John
ands OF Portsmouth, in the name of
eternal God to the salvation of man
a 10 wear the red hat of a cardinal
strut before men. had rather WELD
not potato of John Pounds of ports-
utn to the salvation of my brother
q tnan sat on the throne of st. Peters
wear the tiara of Leo XIII before
assembled pilgrims of a world.
oeileve In the triumph Of the church
'esus Christ. do not say what h.
9 ABOUT the future of the traditional
rches that in many cases cumber Ii.
and in the modern city.
Cariyie's Love For His Sister.
hav, II, / ~