Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1896-01-27

OF a Single HILL vi tHc pt'I1 u ADIm0-
lech, although [ suppose some OF the old
Israelitish heroes told Abimelech, ''You
are only going up there to be cut to
pieces.'' Yet you are willing to testify
today that by no other mode-certainly
not by ordinary mOdes-cOuld that tenn
pie so easily, SO thoroughly, have been
taken Fathers and mothers, brethren
and sisters in Jesus Christ, what the
church most wants to learn this day is
that any plan is right, is lawful, is best,
which helps to overthrow 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,
glittering steel spear of argument ex-
pecting 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
saber of sarcasm, by any glittering lances
/ of rhetoric, by any sapping and mining
OF profound disqulsitiOn, 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 Oh the part of these ecclesi-
astical foot soldiers, light hOrsemen and
grenadiers
My friends, I propose a different
style Of tactics. Let each one go to the
forest of Gods promise and invitation
and hew down branch and put it Oh
his shoulder, and let us all come around
these obstinate iniquities, and then with
this pile kindled by the fires of a holy
zeal and the flames of a consecrated life
we will burn them out. What steel can
not do. fire may. And I announce myself
in favor of any plan of religious attack
that succeeds-any plan of religious at
tack, however radical, however odd,
however unpopular, however hostile to
all conventionalities of church and state
If one style of prayer does not do the
work, let US try another style. If the
church music of today does not get the
victory, then let us make the assault
with backwoods chorus. If a prayer
meeting at half past 2 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 three authorized
heads does not do the work, then let US
have a sermon with 20 heads or no
heads at all. We want more heart in our
song, more heart in our a1msgiving,
more heart in our prayers, more heart
in our preaching.
Blood Red Fact.
Oh, for less of Abimelech's sword AMI!
more of Abimelech's confagration
had often heard
There is fountain filled with blood
sung artistical1y by four birds perched
on their Sunday rOost in the gallery un
til thought of Jenny Lind and Nilsson
and SOntag and all the other warblers,
but there came not one tear to my eye
nor one master emotion to my heart.
But one night went down to the Afri-
can Methodist meeting house in Phila-
de]phia, and ct the close of the service
black woman in the middle of the au-
dience began to sing that hymn, and all
the audience Joined in, and we were
f1Oated some three or four miles nearer |
heaven than [ have ever been since. I |
saw with my own eyes that fountain
filed with blood'-red, agonizing, sac
rifcial, redemptive-and [ heard the
crimson plash of the wave as we all |
went down under it.
For sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
Oh, my friends, the gospel is not a |
syllogism it is not casuistry; it is not |
polenlics, or the science OF squabbles. It |
is blood red fact; il is warm hearted in ,
vitation it is leaping. bounding, flying
good news; it is efflorescent with all |
light; it is rubescent with all summary
oil iS a7hOrpSf,oOt with all sweet |
shade. have seen the sun rise on Mount
Washington, and from the Tiptop House, |
but there was no beauty in that COM
pared with the dayspring from on high !
when Christ gives light to soul I have
heard Parepa sing, but there was no
music in that compared with the voice
of Christ when he said, "Thy sins are
forgiven thee; go in peace Good |
uewsi Let every one cut down branch |
of this tree Of life and wave it. Let him ,
throw it down and kindle it. Let all the
way from Mount Zalmon to Shechem be |
filled with the tossing joy Good news!
This bonfire of the gospel shall consume |
the last temple of sin, and will illumine
the sky with apocalyptic joy. that Jesus
Christ came into the world to save sin |
ners. Any new plan that makes man
quit his sin, and that prostrates wrong,
I am as much in favor of as though az
the doctors, and the bishops, and the
archbishops, and the synods, and the
academical gownsmen of Christianity
sanctioned it. The temple Of Berth |
must come down, and I do not care how
it comes.
The Power of Example.
Still further I learn from this subject |
the power Of example. If Abimelech |
had sat down on the grass and told his
men to go and get the boughs and go