The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1895-03-15

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 inclosure, but the
field is the world. That means North
and South America, Europe, Asia and
Africa. and all the islands of the sea.
1t is as though after a great battle
there were left fifty thousand wound
ed and dying on the field, and three
surgeons gave 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 fifty thousand dying for
lack of surgical attendance" mo, y
say the three doctors, standing there
and tanning their patients, 1--WE have
three important cases here and we are
attending them, and when we are not
positively busy with their wounds it
takes all our 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 a few
people, and when the command comes,
'Go into the world" say practically:
mo, can not 60; / have here few
choice casts, and / am busy keeping off
the flies" There are multitudes to-
day who have never had any Christian
worker look them IN the eye and, with
earnestneB5 In the accentuation, say:
"Comel" or they would long ago have
been in the kingdom. My friends, re-
ligion is either a sham or tremendous
reality. IL 1t be sham, let US cease
to have anything to do with Christian
association. II It be a reality, then
great populations are on their way to
and what are we dOing2
In order to reach the multitude of
outsiders we must drop all technical
ties out of our religion. When we talk
to people about the hypostatic union
and the French Encyclopedianism, and
Erastinianism, and Complutensianism
we are as impolitic and little under
stood as if a physician should talk to
an ordinary patient about the pericar-
dium, and intercostal muscle, and scor-
butte symptoms. Many of us come out
of the theological seminaries SO loaded
up that we take the first ten years to
show our people how much we know,
and the next ten years get our people
ia know as much as we know, and at
the end find that neither of us know
Here arc hundreds of thousands
of SHINING, struggling and dying
people who need to realize just
one thing-that Jesus Christ came to
safe them, and will save them now.
But we go into profound and elabor-
ate definition of what justification is,
and after all the work there are not,
outside of the learned professions, FIVE
thousand people in the United States
who can tell what justification 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, reckons 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
full remission of their SINS"
Now, what is justification? l will
tell you what Justification is: When q
sinner believes, God lets him off. One
summer in Connecticut l went to a
large factory, and / saw over the door
written the words: mo Admittance. -
/ entered and saw over the next door:
mo Admittance. OF course l en-
tered. Igot inside and found it pin
factory, and they were making pins,
very serviceable, fine and useful
pins. So the spirit of exclusive
ness has practically written over
the outside door of many a church,
mo Admittance. And if the stranger
enter he finds practically written over
the second, mo Admittance," and if
he goes in over all the pew doors seems
written, mo Admittance," while the
minister stands in the pulpit, hammer
ing on his little niceties of belief,
pounding out the technicalities of re-
ligion, making pins. In the most
practical, commOn-sense way, and lay
ing aside the non-eSsentials and the
hard definitions of religion, go out on
the God given mission, telling the peo-
pie what they need and when and how
they can get it.
Comparatively little effort as yet has
been made 10 save that large class OF
persons in our midst called skeptics,
and he who goes to work here will not
be building upon another mans
foundation. There is great multi
tide of them. They are afraid of us
and our churches, for the reason that
we do not know how to treat them.
One of this class met Christ, and hear
with what tenderness, and pathos,
and beauty, and success Christ dealt
with him: Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, and with
all thy soul, and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength. This
is the first commandment, and
the second is like to this, namely:
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
tkyself. There is no other command
ment greater than this" And the
scribe said to Him: well, Master,
Thou hast said the truth, for there is
one God, and to love Him with all the
heart. and all the understanding, and
all the soul, and all the strength, is
more than whole burnt offerings and
sacrifices" And when Jesus saw that
he answered discreetly, lie said unto
him: Thou art not far from the king
dom of God" So skeptic was saved
in one interview. But few Christian
people treat the skeptic in that way.
Instead of taking hold of him with the
gentle hand of love. we are apt to take
him with the iron pincers of ecclesi-
asticism-
You would not be SO rough on that
man if you knew by what process he