The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-11-25

Ing ,his mother tor some years, his In
yaliA mother. when offered by a gentle
man 30 cents to get some especial pa
per. and he got It and rushed up In
his anxiety to deliver 1t. and was
crushed under the wheels OF the train,
and hay on the grass with only strength
enough to say. "Oh. what will become
Of my poor. sick mother now?"
Vioarious suffering? The world is
full Of 1t. An engineer said to me on
a locomotive In Dakota: I'VE men
seem to be coming to better apprecia-
ton than We used to. Did you see
that account the other day of an engl-
neer, who to save his passengers, stuck
to his place. and when he was found
dead in the locomotive, which was up
side down. he was found still smiling,
his hand on the air brake?' And as
the engineer said It to me he put his
hand on the air brake to illustrate his
meaning. and looked at him and
thought. you would be just as much
of hero in the same crisis"
Oh, in that coming sermon OF the
Christian church there will be living
Illustrations taken from everyday life
of vicarious suffering-illustratio
that will bring to mind the ghastller
sacrifice Of him, who. in the high plac-
es OF the field and on the cross, fought
our battle and wept our griefs and en-
dured our struggles and died our death.
A German sculptor made an image
OF Christ, and he asked his little child
2 years old. who it was, and she said,
That must be some very great man. -
The sculptor was displeased with the
criticism. So he got another block of
marble and chiseled away on it two or
three years, and then he brought in his
little child, or years OF age, and he
said to her. who do you think that
is?" She said, THAT must be the one
who took little children in his arms
and blessed them" Then the sculptor
was satisfied. Oh, my friends, what
the world wants is not cold Christ
not an intellectual Christ, not a severe
ly magisterial Christ, but a loving
Christ, spreading out his arms OF SYM
pathy to press the whole world to his
loving heart.
But remark, again. that the coming
sermon OF the Christian church will be
short sermon. Condensation Is de-
manded by the age in which we live.
No more need Of long introductions
and long applications and so many d.
visions to a discourse that 1t may be
said to be hydraheaded. In other days
men got all their information from the
pulpit. There were few books, and
there were no newspapers, and there
was little travel from place to place
and people would sit and listen two
and a half hours to a religious dis
course. and "seventeenthly" would find
them fresh and clipper. In those
times there was enough room for a
man to take an hour to warm himself
up to the subject and an hour to cool
on. But what was a necessity then Is
superauity now. Congregations are
full OF knowledge from books, from
newspapers, from rapid and continu-
ous intercommunication and long dis
quisitions Of what they know already
Will not be abided. II religious teach
er cannot compress what he wishes to
say to the people in the space OF a
minutes, better adjourn it to some 9TH
err day.
Paul preached until midnight. and
Eutychus got sound asleep and fell out
OF window and broke his neck. Some
would say. God for him." | would
rather be sympathetic, like Paul, and
resuscitate him. This accident is Oft
en- quoted now in religious circles as a
warning against somnolence in church.
II Is just as much OF warning to min
listers against prolixity Eutychus was
wrong in his somnolence, but Paul
made a mistake when he kept on until
midnight. He ought to have stopped
at II o'clock and there wouia have
been no accident. II Paul might have
gone on to too great length. let all
those OF US who are now preaching the
gospel remember that there Is a limit
to religious discourse, or ought to be,
and that in our time we have no apos-
tolic power or miracles. Napoleon. in
an address OF seven minutes. thrilled
his army and thrilled Europe. Christ's
sermon on the mount-the model SER
mon-was less than Is minutes long at
ordinary mode OF delivery. It is not
electricity scattered all over the sky
that strikes. but electricity gathered
into a thunderbolt and hurled, and it
Is not religious truth scattered all
over, spread out over a vast reach of
time, but religious truth projected in
compact form that flashes light upon
the soul and fives its Indifference.
Oh, when the coming sermon OF the
Christian church arrives, all the
churches Of Christ in our great cities
will be thronged. The world wants
spiritual help. All who have buried
their dead want comfort. All know
themselves to be mortal and to be i'm
mortal, and they want to hear about
the great future. tell you, my
Vria a., L.