Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1896-02-04

| De cut 10 pieces. Yet you are willing
to testify to-day that by no other mode
certainly not by ordinary modes
could that temple so easily, so thoroughly
have been taken. Fathers and moth
! Christ, what the Church most wants to
learn, this day, is that any plan is right,
Is lawful, is best, which helps to over
| throw the temple of sin, and capture
this world for God. We are very apt
to stick to the old modes of attack.
We put on the old-style coat of mail.
We come up with the sharp, keen, gilt
tering spear of argument, expecting in
that way to take the castle; but they
| have thousand spears where we have
| ten. And so the castle of sin stands.
| Oh, my friends, We will never capture
this world for God by any keen sabre
of sarcasm, by any glittering lances Of
rhetoric, by any sapping and mining
of profound disquisition, by any gun
powdery explosions of indignation, by
sharpshootings of wit, by howitzers Of
mental strength made to swing shell
five miles, by cavalry horses gorgeously
caparisoned paving the air. In vain
all the attempts on the part of these
ecclesiastical foot soldiers, light horse
men and grenadiers.
My friends, propose different style
of tactics. Let each one go to the for
est of Gods promise and invitation, and
hew down branch and put it on his
shoulder, and let us all come around
these obstinate iniquities, and then
with this pile, kindled by the fires of
holy zeal and the flames of a conse-
Grated life, we will burn them out
What steel cannot do, fire may. And
| announce myself in favor of any plan
of religious attack that succeeds-any
plan of religious attack, however radi-
cal, however odd, however unpopular,
however hostile to all the convention
alities of Church and State. If one
style of prayer does not do the work,
let us try another. If the Church
music of to-day does not get the vic
tory, then let US make the assault with
backwoods chorus. If a prayer-meet-
ing at half past seven in the evening
does not succeed, let us have one as
early in the morning as when the angel
found wrestling Jacob too much for
him. If a sermon with the three au-
thorized heads does not do the work,
then let us have a sermon with twenty
heads, or no heads at all. We want
more heart in our song, more heart in
our almsgiving, more heart in our
Still further, / learn from this sub
ject the power of example. If Abim-
elech had sat down on the grass, and
told his men to go and get the boughs,
and go out to the battle, they would
never have gone at all, or if they had,
it would have been without any spirit
or effective result; but when Abimelech
goes with his own axe and hews down
Il branch, and with Abimelech's arms
puts it ON Abimelech's shoulder, and
marches on, then, my text says, all
the people did the same. How natural
that was. What made Garibaldi and
Stonewall Jackson the most magnetic
commanders of the century? They al
ways rode ahead. Oh, the overwhelm-
ing power of example,! Here is father
on the wrong road; all his boys go on
the wrong road. Here is father who
enlist for Christ: his children enlist.
saw in some of the picture galleries
of Europe, that before many of the
great works of the masters--the old
masters-there would be sometimes
four or five artists taking copies of the
pictures. These copies they are going
to carry with them, perhaps to distant
lands; and / have thought that your
life and character are a masterpiece,
and it is being copied, and long after
you are gone it will bloom or blast in
the homes of those who knew you, and
be a Gorgon or a Madonna. Look out
what you say. Look out what you
do. Eternity will hear the echo. The
best sermon ever preached is holy
life. The best music ever chanted is
a consistent walk. If you want others
to serve God, serve him yourself. If
you want others to shoulder their duty,
shoulder yours. Where Abimelech
goes his troops go. Oh, start out for
heaven to-day, and your family will
come after you, and your business as
sociates will come after you, and your
social friends will join you. With one
branch of the tree of life for baton,
marshal just as many as you can to-
gether. Oh, the infinite, the semi-om-
nipotent power of good or bad exam
pie!
Still further, learn from this sub
ject the advantage of concerted action.
IL Abimelech had merely gone out with
a tree branch the work would not have
been accomplished; or if ten, twenty, or
thirty men had gone; but when all the
RXes arc lifted and all the sharp edges
fall, and all these men carry each hi:
tree-branch down and throw it about
the temple, the victory is gained-the
temple falls. My friends, where there
is one man in the Church of God at
this day shouldering his whole duty
there are great many who never lift
an axe or swing Dough. 1t seems to
me as II there were ten drones in every
hive to one busy bee; as though there
were twenty sailors sound asleep in the
Ship's hammocks to four men on the