The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-10-21
There "a the place tina. decided those seven

There Is the place that decided those sever
earthly and immortal destinies. Behold
Behold That is the secret place Of thunder
The reason we ministers do not accom-
plj.h more is because others do not pra,
for us enough, and we do not pray for onr
selves enough. Every minister could tel
YOU thrilling story Of sermons, Sermon
hasty and impromptu. because OF funerals
aud sick beds, annoyances in the parish
vet those sermons directing man.
souls to God. And then OF ser
mons prepared with great care, ant
research and toll uninterrupted; yet those
sermons falling fat or powerless. Th'
difference was probably in the amount o
private prayer offered for the success O.
those services.
Oh! pray for US! Poor sermons In th'
pulpit are the curse Of God on prayerless
parish. People say, "What is the matter
with the ministers in our time? SO many
OF them seem dissatisfied with the Bible
and they ara trying to help Moses and Pau
and Christ out of inconsistencies and con-
tradictions by fixing up, the Bible" As
we'll let the musicians go to work to fix uE
Haydn's Creation" or HandePs "1srael In
Egypt" or let the painters go to fixing up
RspLaeps TRANSPORTATION" or architects
go to fixing Up Christopher Wren's st
Paurs. But will tell you what's the mat.
ter. There are too many unconverted
ministers. Their hearts have never been
changed by the grace of God. A mere In
tellectual ministry is the deadest iall.
ure this side of perdition. Alas
for the gosp.l OF icicles! From apol.
ogetics, and hermeneutics and dogmatics
good Lord deliver US! They are trying to
get their power from transcendental the
ology, or from profound exegesis, or from
the art OF splitting hairs between north and
northwest side, instead Of getting their
power from the secret place OF thunder.
We want the power man gets when he Is
alone, the door locked, on his knees, at
midnight. with such burden OF souls up
on him that makes him cry out, first IN
lamentation and then in raptures. We want
something Of the conservation OF John
Knox, who, when his wife heard him pray:
ing in the cold night in another room, and
said to him, Chow can you endauger your
life praying there in the cold when you
ought to be asleep?" responded, "Woman!
How can 1 sleep when my country Is not
savedf Lord God give me Scotland or
die!'
Dear brethren and sisters in Christ, our
opportunity for usefulness Will soon be
gone, and we shall have our faces uplifted
to the throne Of Judgment, before which we
must give account. That day there will be
no secret place Of thunder, for all the thun-
ders will be out. There will be the thunder
OF the tumbling rocks. Thero will be
the thunder OF the bursting graves.
There will be the thunder OF the de-
scending chariots. There will be the
thunder OF the parting heavens. Boom!
Boom! But all that din and uproar and
crash will find US anaffrighted, and will!
leave Us undismayed, II we have made
Christ our confidence, and, as after an
August shower when the whole heavens
have been an unlimbered'battery cannon
aiding the earth, the fields are more green,
and the sunrise is the more radiant, and the
waters are the more opaline, so hethun..
ders Of the last day will make the trees OF
life appear more emerald, and the jasper OF
the wall more crimson, and the sapphire
seas the more shimmerlng and the sunrise
OF eternal gladness the moro empurpled.
The thunders OF dissolving nature will be
followed by celestial psalmody, the sound
Of which iit. John on Patmos described, +,
when he said, II heard voice like voice OF
mighty thunderings!"