Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1894-05-18

clear the trNcK IOf JIldJ man, put your
wings over his head; with your golden
sces.ers strike for his defense; throw
around him all the defenses of eter-
nityg' What is the consequence? That
business man is strengthened. He
goes TO the store next day feeling that
God is with him and ready to deliver.
That same Sunday there is poor
old woman in the church hearing the
Gospel OH how shrunken sns is!
She wears the same dress she wore
twenty years ago. How faded it is
and how out of datel She sits and
listens as well as she can Her eyes
are so dim she can not see halfway
across the church. Her ear is SO inn
perfect that she can only catch uoc-
casionally a note of the psalm or
word of the preacher. Some one Sit
ting next TO her gives her book and
finds the place for her. She says,
THANK you, miss, thank you'll" She
holds the book close up to her eyes, and
with voice all full of tremors, sings:
Jesus, lover of my soul,
Let me to thy bosom fly,
While the pillows near me roll,
While the tempest still is high;
Hide me. o, my Savior hide,
Till the storm OF life is past.
Safe into the haven guide
Oh receive my soul at last.
And Jesus says to her. Mother, are
you weary?" And she says Yes,
Jesus, l am very tired" Jesus says,
Mother, are you poor?" And she
says, "Yes, am very poor. l can not
sew any more; l can not knit any
more. 1 am very poor" Jesus says
to her, Mother. would you like
to rest?" She says, "Yes, Lord,
that is what 1 want rest"
Courage, mother" says Jesus, 81
will see thee through" She goes
home The next morning, in the tene-
ment house, some one dwelling on
another floor comes TO her room and
knocks. No answer. The door is
opened. She is dead The night be-
fore, the chariots of God halted at
hat pillow of straw, and Jesus kept
his promise. lie said that he would
give her rest, and he has given
her rest Glory be to God for
the height the depth, the length,
and the breadth of such Christian
comfort! Oh! that we might have
such Joy as that which inspired the
men at the battle of Leuthen. They
were singing Christian song as they
went in TO battle. A general said to
the king. ''Shall l stop those people
singing?" No" said the king; linen
that can sing like that can fight"
/ would that we had singing
church, joyful church, jubilant
church, comforting church; for then
we would have a triumphant church.
/ remark, further, that we have
here tried to build church abreast of
the times 1t is all folly for us to try
to do things the way they did fifty or
a hundred years ago. We might as
well be blowing with Elijah's
crooked stick, or go into battle
with Sauls armor, or prefer a
canal boat to an express train, as
to be clinging TO old things What
we most need now is n wide-awake
church. People who are out in the
world all the week, jostling against
this lightning-footed century, come
into the church on the Sabbath, and
go right TO sleep unless they have a
spirited service. Men engaged in lit
erary callings all the week, reading
pungent, sharp writings, can not be
expected to come and hear our
ecclesiastical humdrum. If a man
stays at home on Sundays and
reads the newspapers, it is because
the newspapers are more interesting
We need, my brethren, TO rouse up
and stop hunting with blank cart
ridges The Church of God ought to
be the leader, the interpreter the in
| spirer of the age 1t is all folly for
us to be discussing old issues-ar-
raigning Nero, hanging Absalom,
striking the Philistines with sham
CARS ox-goad-when all around about
us are iniquities to be slain.
Did / say that the church ought TO
| be abreast of the times? / take that
back. The Church of God ought to
be ahead of the times-as far in adj
vance as the Cross of Christ is ahead of
all human invention. Paul was
thousand years ahead of the day
in which he lived. The swift-footed
years that have passed since Luther
died have not yet come up to Luther's
grave. Give iniquity four thousand
years the start, and the feet of Chris
tianity are so nimble that if you will
but give it full swing, it will catch up
and pass it in two bounds. The
Church of God ought to be ahead OF
| the times