The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-03-20

liquids. The great Roman armies nevef
drank anything stronger than water tinge6
with vinegar, but under our northern climates
tie temptation to heating stimulants is mos4
mighty. and millions succumb. When ~
mans habits 80 wrong, the church drops
him; the social circle drops him; good I'M
fluence drops him; we all drop him. OF allf
the men who get off track, but few ever ged
on again. Near my summer residence there
is life saving station on the beach,
There are all the ropes and rockets, thu
boats, the machinery for getting people on
shipwrecks. One summerI saw there fifteen
or twenty men who were breakfasting after
having Just escaped with their lives and
nothing more. UP and down our coasts are
built these useful structures, and the mari
ners know 1t, and they feel that If they are
driven into the breakers there will be apt
from shore to come a rescue. Thes
churches Of God ought to be 80 many lifef
saving stations. not 30 much to help thosef
who are in smooth waters. but those who
have been shipwrecked. Come, let us run
out the lifeboatsI And who will man thema{
We do not preach enough to such men.
We have not enough faith in their release.(
Alas, If when they come to hear us we are la-t
boriously trying to show the difference bel
tween sublapsarianism and supralapsarian-
Ism, while they have thousand vpers OF rel
mortal spirits!
The church is not chiefly for goodish sortt
of men whose p,oclivities are all right, andl
who could get to heaven praying and sin9-l
ing in their own homes. It Is on the beachl
to help the drowning. Those bad cases aret
the cases that God likes to take hold OF. Hei
can save a big sinner as we'll as small Gn-f
ner, and when man calls earnestly to God
for help he will go out to deliver such a one.
2 nn1 Iorv rvrr,l
from the sky, followed by all the artillery Of
heaven and million angels with drawnl
swords. Get 100 such redeemed men in each,
OF your churches, and nothing could stand
before them, for such men are generallyT
warm-hearted and enthusiastic.
Furthermore, the destitute children OF thet
streets offer a field Of work comparatively
unoccupied. The uncared for children aret
In the majority In most OF our cities. Theirf
condition was we'll illustrated by what a boyl
in this city said when he was found under Al
cart gnawing bone and some one said tot
him, "Where do you Hve?" and be answered,
Don't live nowhere sir" Seventy thousand
Of the children Of New York City can neither
read nor write. When they grow up, II UNI
reformed. they will outvote your children,
and they will govern your children. Thel
whisky ring will hatch out other whisky
rings, and grogshops will kill with their hor-l
Llu osOnCn puUhO oOuIAOtyJ uAtooo tuO OuuiSht
Of God rises up with outstretched arms andl
infolds this dying population in her bosom.
Public schools cannot do 1t. Art galleries.
cannot do 1t. Blackwell's Island cannot dor
1t. Almshouses cannot do it. New Yord
Tombs cannot do 1t. Sing Sing cannot do 1t. !
People Of God, wake up to your magnificent
mission! You can do 1t. Get somewhere,
somehow, to work!
The Prussian cavalry mount by putting
their right foot into the stirrup, while thsi
American cavalry mount by putting their LETT
foot into the stirrup. don't care how you;
mount your war charger II you only get intot
this battle for God, and get there soon, right
stirrup, or left stirrup, or no stirrup at all
The unoccupied fields are all around us, andf
why should we build on another maa's foun-
dation?
have heard Of what was called the
thunder legion" 1t was In 179, q part OF
the Roman army to which some Christians
belonged, and their prayers, it was said, were
answered by thunder and lightning aud hall
and tempest, which overthrow an invading
army and saved the Empire. And would to-
God that you could be 80 mighty In prayer
and work that you would become thunder
ing legion before which the forces OF stps
might be routed and the gates Of hell made
to tramble. All aboard now on the gospeg
ship! II you cannot be captain or first
mate, be stoker or deckhand. or ready at
command to climb the ratlnes. Heaye away
now, lads! Shake out the reefs In the fore
topsail! Come, heavenly wind, and I'LL
the canvas! Jesus aboard will assure our
safety. Jesus on the sea will beckon us for
ward Jesus on the shining shore will wei
come us into harbor. ''And 80 it came to
pass that they all escaped safe to land" - !