Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-01-30

U., -s .... -a44v vur vuars 10 get over to |
the golden sands, but the most of us are |
seated either in the prov or in the stern,
wrapped In our striped shawl, holding a |
big handled sunshade, while others are |
blistered In the heat and pull until the |
oarlocks groan and the blades bend till |
they snap! oh, you religioAf sleepyheads,
wake upl You have lain % long in one |
place that the ants and caterpillars have
begun to crawl over youl What do you
know, my brother, about living gospel
made to storm the vorldi Now, my idea
Of Christian Is man on fire with zeal
for God, and II your pulse ordinarily beats
90 times a minute when you think OF other
themes and talk about other themes, II
your pulse does not go up to 75 or so when
you come to talk about Christ and heaven,
1t is because you do not know the one and
have poor chance of getting to the other.
In former charge, one Sabbath, l took
into the pulpit the church records and 1
laid them on the pulpit and opened them
and said: Brethren, here are the church
records. find a great many of you whose
names are down here are off duty" Some
were afraid / would read the names, for at
that time some of them were deep in the
worst kind of oil stocks and were idle as
to Christian work. But if ministers of
Christ today should bring the church rec
ords into tho pulpit and read, oh, what
futter there would bel There would not
be fans enough in church to keep the
cheeks cool. / do not know but 1t would
be a good thing If the minister once In
awhile should bring the church records in
the pulpit and call the roll, for that is
what Iconsider every church record to be-
merely muster roll of the Lords army,
and the reading of it should reveal where
every soldier is and what he is doing.
Which Side Are You On?
Suppose In military circles on the morn
ing Of battle the roll is called, and out of
thousand men only hundred men in
the regiment answered. What excitement
there would be in the campl What would
the colonel saye What high talking there
would be among the captains, and majors
and the adjutants! Suppose word came
to headquarters that these delinquents ex-
cused themselves on the ground that they
had oversight themselves, or the morning
was damp and they were afraid Of getting
their feet wet, or that they were busy
cooking rations. My friends, this is the
morning of the day of God Almighty's
battle! Do you not see the troopsP Hear
ye not all the trumpets Of heaven and all
the drums of hellf Which side are you on?
| If you are on the right side, to what cav
airy troop, to what artillery service, to
what garrison duty do you belong? In
other words, in what Sabbath school do
you teach2 In what prayer meeting do
you exhort? To what penitentiary do you
declare eternal libertyP To what almshouse
do you announce the riches Of heavenf
What broken bone of sorrow have you ever
set2 Are you doing nothingP Is it posi-
BILE that O man or woman sworn to be a
follower of Jesus Christ is doing nothingP
| Then hide the horrible secret from the an
| gels. Keep it away from the book of judg-
ment. If you are doing nothing, do not
let the world find it out, lest they charge
your religion with being a false face. Do
not let your cowardice and treason be
heard among the martyrs about the throne,
lest they forget the sanctity of the place
and denounoe your betrayal of that cause
for which they agonized and died.
May the eternal God rouse US all to ac-
/
ashamed to die now and enter heaven I'M
til have accomplished something more
decisive for the Lord that bought me. Oh,
brethren, how swiftly the time goes by!
1t seems to me as if the years had gained
some new power of looomotion-a kind of
speed electric.
The temple of Berth is very broad, and
it is very high. 1t has been going up by
the hands of men and> devils, and no hui
man engineering can demolish it, but II
the 10000 ministers of Christ in this
country should each take branch of the
tree of life, and all their congregations
should do the same, and we should march
on and throw these branches around the
great temples of sin and worldliness and
folly, it would need no match or coal OF
torch of ours to touch off the pile, for, as
in the days of Elijah, fire would fall from
heaven and kindlo the bonfire of Christian
victory over demolished sin.
One Safe Refuge.
Still further, learn from this subject
the danger IF false refugees. As soon al
these Shechemites got into the temple they
thought they were safe. They said: 'Beritt
will take care of US. Abimelech may bat
ter down everything else. He cannot bat
liter down this temple where we are now
hid" But very soon they heard the tim
bers cracking, and they were smotheret
with smoke, and they miserably died.
suppose every person In this audience this
moment is topping into some kind o.
refuge. Here you step in the tower o.
good works. You say, i shall be safe II
this refuge" Tho battlements are adorn
ed, the steps are vanished, on the wal
are pictures of all the suffering you havt
alleviated, and all the schools you have es
tablished, and all the fine things you hay,
ever done. Up in that tower you feel yot
are safe. But hear you not the tramp d
your unpardoned sins all around the tow
err They each have match. You arr
kindling tho combustible material. Yot
feel the heat and the suffocation. Oh
may you leap in time, the gospel declar
ing, by the deeds of the law shall III
flesh living be justified p
WELL" you say, Il have been driver
out of that tower Where shall Igo?' Stel
, into this tower of Indifference. You say
s'If this tower is ae-acked, it will be
, great while before it is taken" You fee
at ease. But there is an Abimelech witt
. ruthless assault coming on. Death and hi
forces are gathering around, and they de
, mand that you surrender everything, an'
they clamor for your overthrow, and the
throw their skeleton arms in the window
and with their iron fists they beat agains
|, the door, and while you are trying to kee
i them out you see the torches Of judgmen
, kindling, and every forest Is torch, an
. o1ery mountain torch, and every sea
torch, and while the Alps and Pyrenee
and Himalayas turn into live COAL blow
/ redder and reddor by the whirlwind breat
{ of God omnipotent, what will become c
, lyour refuge of liesP
, But" saws sn.na orc st~n" a"A on
Free Pills.