The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-03-08

| Give us for treatment moderate sinners,
velvet coated sinners and sinners with
a gloss ON. 1t is as though man had a
farm of 5000 acres and put all his
work on one acre. He may raise never
so large ears of corn, never so big heads
of wheat, he would remain poor. The
church of God has bestowed its chief
care on one acre and has raised splendid
men and women in that small inclo-
sure. but the field is the world. That
means North and South America, Eu-
rope, Asia and Africa and all the is
lands of the sea-
Something to Know.
1t is as though after great battle
there were left 80, 600 wounded and dy-
ing on the field and three surgeons cave
all their time to three patients Under
their charge. The major general comes
in and says to the doctors, Come out
here and look at the nearly so, 600 dy-
ing for lack of surgical attendance. "
"No,' say the three doctors, standing
there and tanning their patients; I'VE
have three important cases here, and
we are attending them, and when we
are not positively busy with their
wounds it takes all CIR time to keep the
flies off. " In this awful battle of sin
and sorrow, where millions have fallen
on millions, do not let us spend all our
time in taking care of few people, and
when the command comes, go into the
world" say practically: "No; | cannot
go. have here few choice cases, and
I am busy keeping off the flies. " There
are multitudes today who have never
had any Christian worker look them in
the eye, and with earnestness in the ac-
centuation say, Gomez or they would
long ago have been in the kingdom. Ny
friends, religion is either a sham or
tremendous reality If it be a sham, let
us cease to have anything to do with
Christian association. If it be reality,
then great populations are on their way
to the bar of God untitled for the or
deal, and what are we doing?
In order to teach the multitude of out
siders we must drop all technicalities
out of our religion. When we talk to
people about the hypostatio union and
French encyclopedianism and erasti-
anism and omplutensianism, we are as
impolitic and little understood as if
physician should talk to an ordinary
patient about the perioardium and in
tercostal muscle and scorbutic symp-
TOMS Many of us come out of the theo-
logical seminaries so loaded up that we
take the first ten years to show our peo-
pie how much we know, and the next
ten years get our people to know as
m uch as we know, and at the end find
that neither of us knows anything as we
ought to know. Here are hundreds of
thousands of SHINING, struggling and dy-
ing people who need to realize just one
Jesus Christ came to save
them and will save them now. But we
go into q profound and elaborate defni-
ton of what justification is, and after
all the work there are not outside of the
learned professions 5000 people in the
United States who can tell what justifi-
cation is. ] will read you the definition:
justification is purely forensic act
the act of a judge sitting in the forum,
In which the Supreme Ruler and Judge,
who is accountable to none, and who
alone knows the manner in which the
ends of his universal government can
best be attained, reokons that which
was done by the substitute, and not on
account Of anything done by them, but
purely upon account Of this gracious
method of reckoning, grants them the
Ful1 romiceiop of thoir Gins ~
The Multitude OF Skeptics.
Now, what is justificat ton? Twill tell
you what justification is. When sin.
1er believes, God lets him off. One sum-
mer in Connecticut went to large |
factory, and l saw over the door writ |
zen the words, mo admittance. |
entered and saw over the next door,
No admittance. OF course / en-
ered got inside and found it a
,in factory, and they were making
bins, very serviceable, fine and useful
bins. So the spirit of exclusiveness has
written over the outside door
# many a church, "No admittance. -
And if the stranger enter he finds prac-
ically written over the second door,
No admittance, and if he goes in
'ver all the pew doors seems written,
No admittance, while the minister
lands in the pulpit, hammering out his
title niceties of belief, pounding out the
of religion, making pins.
n the most practical, common sense
vay, and laying aside the nonessentials
nd the hard definitions of religion, go
nut on the God given mission, telling
he people what they need and when
nd how they can get it.
Comparatively little effort as yet has
een made to save that large class of
ersons in our midst called skeptics, and
10 who goes to work here will not be
uilding upon another mans founda-
ion. There is great multitude Of
hem. They are afraid of us and our
hurches, for the reason we do not
now how to treat them. One of this
lass met Christ, and hear with what
enderness and pathos and beauty and
uccess Christ dealt with him: Thou
halt love che Lord thy God with all thy
cart, and with all thy soul. and with
II thy mind, and with all thy strength.
his is the first commandment, and the
econd is like TO this-namely, thou
halt love thy neighbor as thyself.
here is no other commandment greater
han this. And the scribe said to him,