Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-07-28


emit is not developed. Ifone-half of its
energy could be hr ught out it mig hit
take the public iniquities of the day
by the throat and make them bite the
dust. II human clio ,uence were con-
secrated To the Lord Jesus Christ, it
could in few years persuade this
whole earth to surrender TO God.
There is enough Hndeveloped Christian
energy in the United States to bring
the whole worlI to Chr st but it is
buried un er strata of indif-
ference and under whole noun
talns of sloth. Now is il not
me for the mining TO begin, and
the piclaXes to plume, and for this
buried metal to be brought out aud
put into the furnaces, and be turned
into howitZers and carbines for the
Lords host? The vast majority OF
Christians in this day are useless.
The most of the Lord battalion be-
long TO the reserve corps. I he most
of the crew are asleep in the ham
mocks. The most of the metal is
under the hills. Oh, is it not time for
the church of God TO rouse up and I'M
derstand thai we want all the ener-
gies, all the talent, and all the wealth
enlisted for Christ's sake? l Like tne
nickname that the English soldiers
gave to luch r, the commander.
They called him so d Forwards
We have had enough retreats in the
church of Christ; let us have a glorious
advance. And / say To you now, as
the general said when his troops were
affrighted. Rising up in his stirrups
his hair flying in the wind, he lifted
up his voice until 10000 90 IS heard
him, crying out: Forward, the whole
line"
Again learn from this subject, that
we sometimes do well TO take adv n
tage of the world sharpening instru-
ments. These lsraelites were reduced
10 file, and so they went over to the
garri, on of the Philistines to ge their
axes and goads, and their pho sharp
ened. The Dible d stinctly states IN
the conteNt-that tn y ha no o her
instruments now with which to do
This work, and the lsraelites did right
when they went over to the Phllis-
tines to use their grindstones. My
friends, is il not r ghb for us to en-
ploy the world or 'nds ones? here
b. art, if there be 10 gic, If there he
| business faculty on he other side. let
us go over and employ IL for Chri'ts
sake. The fact is, we fight wi too
| dull weapons, and w. work wi h toe
| dull implements. We ha k and we
maui when we ought TO make a clean
stroke. Let us go over among sharp
| business men, and among sharp liter
airy men. and lind ont what the tact
| is, and then transfer H. to the cause oil
Christ. If they have science and
art il will do Us good 10 rub against
| IT, In 9th + words, let us employ the
WORLDS grindstones We will / stem tC
| their music, and will watch their acu
men, and we w IL use their grin stones
and we will borrow their philosophical
apparatus to make our experiments
and we will borrow their printing
presses to publish our biOles, and we
will borrow their rail trains TO carry
our Chr stan literature, and we will
| borrow their ships to ansport our
missionaries. I hat was what made
| Paul such master in his day. He moi
only got all the learning he coul / get
of DIR. Gamaliel, but terwdrd, stand
| ing on Mars Hill, an in ,rovde / thor
oughfare, quoted their poetry, and
grasped their logic, and welded their
eloqurnce, and employed their my
thology, until Dionisius the Areopa
CITE, learned in the schools # Athens
and Hell iopolis, went down under his
| tremendous powers. That was what
| gave Thomas Chalmers his powe in
| his day. He ,ont, uered the world S as
| tire nomy AMI compelled it To ring
| out the w sdom and greatness OF
the Lord, until for tue second time the
morning stars sang to geth and al
the sons of God shouted for JOY. That
was what gave TO Jonathan Edward
| his influence in his day. lie conque eo
the wo Ids mrtaphys cs and TO ced 4
into the service of bod, u til not lily
the old meeting house in Northamp-
| ton, Massachusetts,, but all Chr sten-
dom felt thrilled by his Christian
power. Well, now, my friend-, we
all have toola of thristIan Usefulness
| 10 not let them lose their edges. We
want no rusty blades in this fight
| We want no coulter that cannot RIP
| up the glebe. We want no axe that
cannot fell the trees. We want ne
goad that cannot start the lazy team
| Let us get the very b So grindst)nes
we can find, thou IN they be in Tn
| possession of tue philistines, COMPEL
| ing them to turn the crank whi,e ",
| bear down with all our might on the
swiftly revolving wheel untll oul
energies an facu ties shall be b. bought
up to bright, keen, sharp, gl.tterinl
edge.
Again: my subject teaches us or
what "a small allowance Philistin,
iniquity puts m m. Yes; these Phil
istines smut up the mines, and ther
they took the SIP ars end the swords
then they tOoi the grindstones, ano
they took everything but a file. Oh
that is the way SIN works; it grab:
everything. 1t begins with robbery
and it ends with robbery. 1t despoil:
this faculty and that faculty, anc
keeps on until the whole nature i,
| gone. Was the man elo iuent before
it generally thickens his tongue. Wa:
he fine in persona, appearance, it mar:
his visage. Was he anluent, it send
the sheriff to sell him out. Was h,
influential, it destro his popul arily
| " as he pla id, and genial, and loving
It makes him splene tic and cross; ano
so utterly Is he changed that you car
see he is sarcastic and rasping, and
That the Philistines have left him moth
| ing but a file Oh, 1.-THE way of tnt
tran>gressor is ha d." His cup is bit
ter. His night is dark. Ills pang'
are deep. Ills end is terrific. Philis
| 20