The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1896-02-05

and caterpillars have begun to crawl
over you What do you know, NY
brother, about a living gospel made to
storm the world? Now. my idea OF a
Christian is man on fire with zeal
for God, and Il Your pulse ordinarily
beats 50 times a minute when YOU
think OF other themes and talk about
other themes. if your pulse does not
90 up 10 - or 50 when vou come to
talk about Christ and heaven, ii is be-
cause you do not know the one and
have a poor chance OF getting to the
other
In u former charge, one Sabbath, |
took iuto hepul pit the church records,
and laid them on ihe pulpit and OPP
ened them and said: Brethren,
here are the church records. find a
great many Of you whose names are
down here are off duty" Some We're
afraid | would read the names, for at
that time some Of them were deep in
the worst kind Of oil stocks and We're
idleas to Christian work. Butif min
listers OF Christ today should bring the
church records into the pulpit and
read, oh, what flutter there would
be. There would not be fans enough
IN the church to keep the cheeks cool:
do not know but it would be good
thing if the minister once in awhile
should bring the church records IN the
pulpit and call the roll, for that IS
what l consider every church record
to be-merelv muster roll of the
Lords army, and the reading OF 1t
should reveal where every soldier IS
and what he is doing.
Suppose in military circles on the
morning OF battle the roll Is called,
and ont of thousand men only a
hundred men in the regiment answer
ed. What excitement there would be
in the camp, What would the colo
mel say? What high talking there
would be among the captains, and the
majors and the adjutants. Suppose
word came to headquarters that these
delinquents excused themselves on the
ground that they had oversight them.
selves, or the morning was damp and
thev were afraid of getting their feet
wet, or that they were busy cooking
! rations. Ny friends, this is the morn
inc of the day Of God Almightys bat
ties. Do YOU not see the troops:
Hear We not all the trumpets of heav-
en- and all the drums of hell2 Which
side are YOU on? If you are on
| the right side, to what cavalry troop,
to what artillery service, to what gar
rison duty do you belong: In other
words. in what Sabbath school do you
teach2 In what prayermeeting do you
exhort2 To what penitentiary do you
declare eternal liberty? To what
almshouse do you announce the rich
es of heaven? What broken bone OF
sorrow have you ever set: Are you
doing nothing? Is it possible that a
man or woman sworn to De a follower
of Jesus Christ is doing nothing:
Then hide the horrible secret from the
angels. Keep it away from the book
of Judgment. Ii you are doing moth
Ing, do not let the world find it out,
lest they charge your religion with
being 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 denounce your betrayal of that
cause for which they agonlzed and
died.
Nav the eternal God rouse us all to
action. As for myself, feel would
be ashamed to die now and enter
heaven until l have accomplished
something more decisive for the Lord
that bought me. Oh, brethren, how
swiftly the time goes by. It seems to
me as if the years had gained some
new power of locomotion.
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 human engineering can de-
molish it, but if the 20, GOO 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
or torch Of ours to touch off the pile,
for, as in the days Of Elijah, fire
would fall from heaven and klndle
the bonfire of Christian victory over
demolished sin.
Still further, learn from this sub
ject the danger of false refugees. AS
soon as these Schechemites get into
the temple they thought they We're
safe. They said: BERTH will take
care of US. Abimelech may batter
down everything else. He cannot
batter down this temple where we are
now hid" But very soon they heard
the timbers cracking, and they were
smothered with smoke, and they mis-
erably died. l suppose every person
in this audience this moment IS step
ping into some kind Of refuge. Here
you step in the tower of good works.
You say, 81 shall be safe in this ref
uge." The battlements are adorned.
the steps are vanished, on the wall
are pictures Of all the suffering you
have alleviated. and all the schools
YOU have established, and all the fine
| things you have ever done. Up IN
that tower you feel you are safe. Bat
hear you not the tramp OF your un-
pardoned sins all around the tower:
They each have a match. You are
kindling the combustible material.
You feel the heat and the sutfocation:
| Oh, may you leap in time, the gospel
declaring. by the deeds of the law
shall no flesh living be justified. :.
WELL" you say, Il have been
driven out of that tower. Where shall
I go2' Step into this tower Of lndlf-
ference. You say, IF this tower is
attacked, it will be a grea. while be-
| fore it is taken You feel at ease.
But there is an Abimelech with ruth
less assault coming on. Death and his
forces are gathering around, and they
demand that you surrender everything
and they clamor for your overthrow,
and they throw their skeleton arms
- +l,o ,r;,,5or op5 will, their iron