The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1896-02-28

nave TO put our knee on III OF we Will
never gather sheaves for the Lords
garner. Peter swung that sickle on
| the day of Pentecost, and 1900 sheaves
came in. Richard Baxter swung that
sickle at Kidderminster, and McCheyne
| at Dundee, and vast multitudes came
! into the llingd ON of God.
Oh, this is mighty Gospel! 1t cap
tured not only John the lamb, but
Paul the lion. Men may gnash their
| teeth at it, and clinch their fists, but
| it is the power of God and the wisdom
of God unto salvation. But, alas, it it
is only preached in pulpits and on Sab
bath days! We must go forth into our
stores, our shops, our banking houses,
our factories, and the streets, and
everywhere preach Christ. We stand
in our pulpits for two hours on the
Sabbath and commend Christ to the
people; but there are 16S hours in the
week, and what are the two hours on
the Sabbath against the 166? Oh, there
comes down the ordination of God this
day upon all the people, men who toll
with head and hand and foot-the or
dination comes upon all mer chants,
upon all mechanics, upon all toilers,
and God says to you as He says to me:
go, teach all nations. He that be-
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved,
and he that believeth not shall be
damned" Mighty Gospel, let the
whole earth hear it! The story
of Christ is to regenerate the nations,
it is to eradicate all wrong, it is to
turn the earth into paradise. An old
artist painted the Lords Supper, and
he wanted the chief attention directed
to the face of Christ. When he invited
his friends in to criticise the picture,
they did the face, and the old artist
said: This pictsre is failure and
he dashed out the picture of the cups
and said: II shall have nothing to de-
tract from the face of the Lord; Christ
is the all of this picture"
Another powerful sickle for the reap
ing of this harvest is Christian song. |
l know in many churches the whole
work is delegated to a few people
in the organ loft. But. my
friends, as others can not repent for us
and others can not die for us, we can
not delegate to others the work of
singing for us. While few drilled
artists shall take the chants and exc
cute the more skillful music, when the
hymn is given out let there be hum
1reds and thousands of voices uniting
n the acclamatia. On the way to
yrandeurs that never cease and
ylories that neve die, let us sing.
At the battle of Lutzen, a gen
raj came to the king and said: "Those
soldiers are singing as they are going
nto battle. Shall 1 stop them?"
No." said the king, men that can sing
light that can fight" Oh, the power
# Christian song! When / argue here
'ou may argue back. The argument
'ou make against religion may be
more skillful than the argument 1
make in behalf of religion. But who
an stand before pathos of some up
lfted song like that which we some
ines sing:
Show pity, Lord. Lord, forgive II
Let repenting rebel live! Ii
Are not Thy mercies large and free? !
May not a sinner trust in Thee?
Another mighty sickle for the reap J
lg of the Gospel harvest is prayer. =
What does God do with our prayers? I
'oes He go on the battlements of
[eaven and throw them off? No. 7
THAT do you do with gifts given you {
y those who love you very much? 4
GU keep them with great sa-
,edness. And do you suppose God 3
ill take our prayers. offered in I,
he sincerity and love of our hearts, 4
nd scatter them to the winds? Oh, .
0! He will answer them all in some
ay. Oh, what a mighty thing prayer s
4! 1t is not long rigmarole of "ohs," a
i'd ''ahs," and ''for ever and ever, =
1t is breathing of the heart .
ito the heart of God. Oh, what a 4
lightly thing prayer is! Elijah with it
'ached up to the clouds and shook
own the showers. With it John Knox
look Scotland. Whit Martin Luther
look the earth. And when Philip
elanchton lay sick unto death, as
any supposed, Martin Luther came Ii
and said: "Philip, we can't spare g
,u!" "Oh," said he, Martin, you ! d
ust let me go; am tired of persecution tt
nd tired of lifo. Iwant to go to be N
18th 1py1 God" "No," said Martin al
luther, you shall not go, you must
Ike this food and then will pray for
ou." mo, Martini said Melanch-
ION, you must lssk me CO." Martin
uther said: "You take this food, or
will excommunicate yoo.v He took te
lie food and Martin LutherAnelt down q,
I'D prayed as only he could pray, and $,
came and Martin Luther a,
en-. oach anu saiu 10 ms ifieD1 b.