The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-03-06

better by and by, and by that dying
couch where she looked so pale and
talked so slowly, catching her breath
between the words, and you felt an
awful loneliness coming over your soul;
by all that | beg you to come back
and take the same religion. 1t was
good enough for her. Its good enough
for you Nay, / have a better plea
than that. I will plead by all the
wounds, and tears, and blood and
groans, and agonies, and death-throes
of the Son of God, who approaches you
this moment with torn brow, and
lacerated hand, and whipped back, and
saying: Come unto me, all We who
are weary and heavy laden, and | will
give you rest"
Again, there is field of usefulness
but little touched occupied by those
who are astray in their habits. All
northern nations, like those of North
America, and England, and Scotland,
that is, in the colder climates, are de-
vastated by alcoholism. They take
the fire to keep up the warmth. In
southern countries, like Arabia and
Spain, the blood is so warm they are
not tempted to fiery liquids. The great
Roman armies never drank anything
stronger than water tinged with vine
gar, but under our northern climate
the temptation to heating stimulants
is most mighty, and millions succumb.
When mans habits go wrong the
church drops him, good influence drops
him, we all drop him. OF all the men
who get OFF track, but few ever get on
again.
Near my summer residence there is
life saving station on the beach.
There are all the ropes and rockets,
the boats, the machinery for getting
people IF shipwrecl,s. One summer
saw there fifteen or twenty men who
were breallfasting, after having just
escaped with their lives and nothing
more. Up and down our coasts are
built these useful structures, and the
mariners know it, and they feel that
if they are driven into the breakers,
there will be apt from shore to come
rescue. The churches of God ought
to be so many life saving stations, not
so much to help those who are in
smooth waters, but those who have
been shipwrcclled. Come, let us run
out the life boats! And who will man
them? 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 laboriously trying to
show the difference between sublap
sarjanism and supralapsarianism while
they have thousand vipers of remorse
and despair coiling around and biting
their immortal spirits. The church is
not chiefly for goodish sort of men
whose pcoc!iyities are all right and
who could get to Heaven praying and
singing in their own homes 1t is on
the beach to help the drowning. Those
bad cases are the cases that God likes
to take hold of. He can save a big
sinner as well as q small sinner, and
when man calls earnestly to God for
help he will go out to deliver such
one. If it were necessary, God would
c.ic CG"G trGn tas r!;y, lollowed by
all the artillery of Heaven and a mil
lion angels with drawn swords. Get
one hundred sucl redeemed men in
each of yonr churches, and nothing
could stand before them, for such men
are generally warm-hearted and en-
thusastic. No formal prayers then.
No heartless singing then. No cold
conventionalism then.
Furthermore, the destitute children
of the streets offer field of work com
paratively unoccupied. The uncared-
for children are in the majority in most
cf or cites. Their cu1 ,it;oA was vel
illustrated by what boy in this city
said when he was found under u cart
gnawing bone, and some one said to
him: Where do you live?" and he
answered.: Don't live nowhere, STRIP
Seventy thousand of the children of
New York City can neither read nor
write When they grow up, if unre-
formed, they will outvote your chill
dren and they will govern your chill.
dren. The whisky ring will hatch out
other whisky rings, and grog shops
will kill with their horrid stencil pub
lie sobriety, unless the church of God
rises up with outstretched arms and
enfolds this dying population in her
bosom. Public schools cannot do it.
Almshouses cannot do it. New York
Tombs cannot do it. Sing Sing cannot
do it. People of God, wake up to your
magnificent mission! You can do it.
Get somewhere, some how, to work.
Tho Prussian cavalry mount by put
ting their right foot into the stiriup
while the American cavalry mount by
putting their left foot into the stirrup
don't care how you mount your war
charger, if you only get into this battle
for God, and get there soon, right stir
rup, or left stirrup, or no stirrup at all
The unoccupied fields are all around
us, and why should we build on another
mans foundation?
have heard of what was called the
"thundering legion" 1t was in 179 a
part Of the Roman army to which some
Christians belonged, and their prayers,
it was said, were answered by thunder
and lightning and hail and tempest,
which overthrew an invading army and
saved the empire. And would to
God that you could be SO mighty in
prayer and work that you would be-
come a laundering legion, before which
the forces of sin might be routed, and
the gates of hell made to tremble. All
aboard now on the gospel shipl If
you cannot be captain or first mate,