Democratic messenger., 1894-12-08

Oh how much better IL would hc I "a;
hold Of the chariot Of Christ ; gospel
and help pull il on rather than 10 flin:
ourselves III front Of the wheels, tryin,
10 block their progress We will not
stop the chariot, hut we ourselves Will
b. ground to powder.
Did You ever hear that there was n
convention once held among the ice
hcrgs in the arctic: II seems that tho
summer was coming on, and the sun
was getting hotter and hotter. and there
was danger that the whole icciielh
would break up and flow away, so the
tallest and the coldeSt and the broadess
of all the icehergS, the very king Of the
arcticS. stood at the head Of the Convtn-
tion and with 4 cavel Of ice smoto Ona
table of ice, calling the convention To
order. But the sun kept growing i'll in
tenSity of heat, and the south wind
blew stronger and stronger, and soon
all the iceiicld began TO grind mp. ice
berg against iceberg, and to flow away.
The first resolution passed by the CON
vcntion was Resolved, that we abul
ish the sun.
But the sun would not be abolished,
The heat Of the sun grew greater and
greater until after awhile the very king
of the icehcrgs began to pcrspire under
tho glow, and the smaller iccbergS fell
over. and the cry was: Too much ex
citemcnt. Order, orderr Then the
whole body, the whole field. Of ice be-
gan 10 flow ont, and a thousand voices
began IL ask: Where are we going to
now: Where are we floating to: We
will all break Ia pieces" BY this time
the iccbcrgs had reached the gulf stream.
and they were melted into the bosom Of
the Atlantic ocean. Tho warm sun Is
the eternal Spirit. The iceberGS are frig
id Christians. The warm gulf stream is
a great revival. The ocean into which
everything melted is the great. wide
heart of the pardoning and sympathiz-
ing God.
4 Word About the Ministry.
But l think, after all, the greatest
obstacle to revivals throughout Chris
tendon today is an unconvcrtod minis
try We must believe that the vast ma
jority of those who officiate at sacred
altars are regenerated, but / suppose
there may float into the ministry of al
tho denominations of Christians men
whose hearts have never been changed
by the grace of God. OF course they are
all antagonistic TO revivals.
How did they get into the ministry:
Perhaps some Of them chose il as a re-
spectacle profession. Perhaps some
chose ii as 4 means of livelihood. Per-
haps some of them were sincere, hut
were mistaken. AS Thomas Chalmers
said, he had been many years preaching
the gospel before his heart had been
changed, and, as many ministers Of the
gospel declare. they were preaching and
had been ordained to sacred orders years
and years before their hearts We're re-
generated Gracious God, what n sol
emn thought for those of us who minis
ter ut the altar. With the present min
istry i'll the present temperature Of piety
the world will never be enveloped with
revivals While the pews OH one side
the altar cry for mercy the pulpits on
the other side the altar must cry for
mercy Ministers quarrcling Ministers
trying to pull each other down. Minis
ters struggling for ecclesiastical place.
Ministers lcthargic with whole congrc-
cations dying on their hand. What Il
spectacle!
Aroused pulpi;s will make aroused
pews. Pulpits aflamc will make pcwS
ahame Everybody believes i'll "a revival
in trade. everybody likes a revival i'll
literature, e. rybody likes "A revival i'll
art, yet great multitude cannot un-
4 in, sf rn1
giOn. Depend upon il, where you find 4
man antagoniStic to revivalS, whether
he be in pulpit or pew, he needs Ia hc
regenorated by the grace of God.
| could prove to demonstration that
without revivals this world will never
be converted, and that i'll 100 or 200
wears without rcvivals Christianity will
he practically extinct. 1t Is Il matter of
astounding arithmetic. In each uf our
modern generations there are ut least
/ -. geo, 600 children. Now add -. goo,
600 to the worlds population, and then
have only 100, 600 or goo, 600 converted
every year, and how long before the world
will be saved? Ncvcr-absolutcly never!
We Cannot Afford to Bc Fools.
During our war the president of the
United States made proclamation for
-, coo troops. Some Of you remember
I the big stir. But the King of the uni
/ verse today asks for 500, Oo0. 600 more
troops than are enlisted, and We want
/ it done softly, impercoptibly, gently. no
/ excitement, one by oncl
! You are u dry goods merchant On a
| large scale, and l am Il merchant on a
small scale. and / come TO you and want
/ TO buv ,OG0 yards of cloth. Do You
| say: THANK YOU; I'll sell you LOCO
yards Of cloth, but I'll sell You 20 yards
/ today, and 20 tomorrow, and 20 the next
/ day. and if it takes me six months III
/ sell YOU the whole 1000 yards; you
will want as long rs that To examine
i the goods, and I'll want as long aS that
/ TO examine the credit, and, besides that,
+ 1000 yards of cloth are too much TO oScH
/ all at once No, you do not say that.
+ Ycu take me into the counting room,
and in ten minutes the whole transac-
/ ton is consummatcd The fact i. We
cannot afford 10 he fools III anythiD.
/ but religion.
That very merchant who ON Saturday
afternoon sold me the 1000 yards Uf
cloth at ono stroke the next Sabbath III
church will stroke his beard and Won
der whether it would not be better for
1000 souls to come struggling along for
ten years. instead of boiling in NJ one
service.
We talk Il good deal about the good
times that are coming and about the
worlds redemption. How long bct"le
they will come? There is man who
says 800 years. Here Is mai who says
200 years. Here is some one more conf
dent who says in 30 years. What. 80
years: Do you propose to let two gcn'r-
ationS PASS of the stage before tho world
iS converted:
We Must Pray and Toll.
Suppose Ly some extra pro!onsation
Of human life at the next 80 years you