The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-30


! Christian to stay very long. He is want
/ ed at the front. He is needed in the des-
I perate charge of taking the parapets The
! last great battle for God is not to be
| fought on the campus of college or the
! lawn of a church 1t is to be fought at
Missionary Ridge. Before this century
quits US let US establish the habit of CIV
ing the forenoon of the Sabbath to the
churches and the afternoon and the even
ing of the Sabbath to gospel work in the
halls, and theaters, and streets, and helds,
and slums. and widernesses of sin and
sorrow Why do Christians who
have stuffed themselves with THE
strong meat of the word,' and all
gospel viands on Sabbath forenoons
want to come up to a second service ana
stuff themselves again? These old gor-
handlers at the gospel feast need TO get
into outdoor work with the outdoor gospel
that was preached on the banks of the
Jordan, and on the fishing-smacks of Lake
Galilee, and in the bleak air of Assyrian
mountains I am told that throughout all
our American cities the second SaDbath
service in the majority of churches Is
sparsely yea, disgracefully attended, and
is the distress Of the consecrated and elo-
quent pastors who bring their learning
and piety before pews CHASTITY for their
inoccupancy. What is the providential
meaning? The greatest of all evangelists
since Bible times recently suggested that
the evening services in all the churcnes
be turned into the most popular style of
evangestic meetings for outsiders sure
ly that is an experiment worth making.
If that does not succeed, then it does
seem to me all the churches which cannot
secure sufficient evening audiences, ought
to shut up their buildings at night and 90
where the people are, and invite them to
come to the gospel banquet.
Let the Christian souls, bountifuly fed
in the morning, go forth in the afternoon
and evening to feed the multitudes of out
siders starving for the bread of which if
man eat he shall never again hunger.
Among those clear down the Gospel would
make more rapid conquest than among
those who know so much and have so much
that God cannot teach or help them. In
those lower depths splendid fellows in the
rough, like the shoe-black, that reporter
saw near New York city hall. He asked
a boy to black his boots The boy came up
to his work provokingly slow, and had
just begun when a large boy showed him
aside and began the work, and the reporter
reproved him as being a bully, and the
boy replied: ooh, that's all right. ! am go
ing to do it for i'm. lou see he's been sick
i'm the hospital moren a month; so us boys
turn in and give i'm a lift" DO all the
boys help him?" asked the reporter. Yes,
sir; when they amt go no job themselves,
and Jim gets one, they turn in and help
i'm, for he amt strong. yet, you see"
How ~ much zen, .. percentage ss5d tbe 0T pes
porter. The boy replied, 81 don't keep
none of it. l amt no such sneak as that.
All the boys give up what they git on his
job. I'd like to catch any Teller sneaking
on a sick boy, I would" The reporter
gave him a 25-cent piece, and said, You
keep 10 cents for yourself, and give the
rest to jim" Cant do it, sir; it's his
customer. Here. Jim" Such big souls as
that strew all the lower depths of the
| cities, and get them converted to God, this
would be the last full century of the
worlds sin, and but little work of evan
gelization would be left for the
next century. Before this century eX-
| pires let there be a combined effort to
/ save the great cities of America and Great
/ Britain, and of all Christendom. What an
awful thing it would be for you, o Dying
/ Century! to bequeath to the coming CEN
| fury, as yet innocent and unscarred with
single sin or burdened with a single
sorrow, the blasphemy, the law
I lessness, the atheism, the prohigacy and
! the woes of great cities still unevangel-
! lied. What we ought to see, o dying CEN
turyl is a revival of religion that would
| wrap the continents in CONGREGATIONS of
/ religious awakening, and that would make
legislation, and merchandise, and all
styles of worldly business wait awhile at
| the telegraph offices and the telephone
| offices because they are occupied with tell
ing the story of cities and nations born
in a day. Nearly all the centuries closed
with something tremendous. Why may
not this century close in the salvation OF
| America? | do not know whether our
theological friends, who have studied the
subject more than l have, are right OF
! wrong when they say Christ will come in
| person to set up his kingdom in this
world; but though we would be over
| whelmed with our unworthiness. l would
like to see Christ descend from heaven in
one of the clouds of this morning, anc
planting his feet on this earth, which he
came centuries ago to save, declare his
reign of love, and mercy, and salvation
on earth begun. And what more appro
pirate place. say it reverentially-fol
such divine landing than the
capital of a continent never cursed by the
tyrannies and superstitons of the ole
world?
What has this dying Nineteenth Century
to tell us before he goes? We all love t.
hear septuagenarians, octogenarians
nonagenarians, and centenarians talk
We gather around the arm chair and lis
ten till 1t is far on into the night, anC
never weary of hearing their experiences
But Lord Lyndhurst, at So years of age
| pouring into the ears of the House o
Lords, in a four hours address, the ex
periences of a lifetime, and Apollonius, a
100 years of age, recounting his travels t
thrilled listeners, and Charles Macklin
at 1917 years of age, absorbing the atten
ton of his hearers, and Ralph Farnham
of our country, at 107 years. telling thu
Prince of Wales the story of Bunker Hill
can create no such interest as this dying
centenarian, if he will only speak.
Tell us, o Nineteenth Century! befor
you go, in a score of sentences, some o
! the things you have heard and seen. TIL
, veteran turns upon us. and says: 81 saw
, Thomas jefferson riding in unattended
! from Monticello, only a few steps from
! where you stand, dismount from his hors
and hitch the bride to post, and on yon
, der hill take the oath of the presidential
! office / saw yonder capitol abaze witt
wars incendiarism. ] saw the puff of tn
, first steam engine in America. l hear
, the thunders of Waterloo, of Sebastopol
, and Sedan, and Gettysburg. l was pres
ent at all the coronations of the kings an
! queens, and emperors and empresse
{ now in the worlds palaces
/ 1 have seen two pillows ro
4 across this continent and from ocean L
r ocean; a billow of revival JOY in 1857 an
H.. gNN