The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1897-12-04

Il
what will become of my poor sick
mother now?'
Oh. in that coming sermon of the
Christian church there will be living
| illustrations taken from everyday life
of vicarious NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
that will bring to mind the ghastlier
of Him who, in the high places of the
field and on the cross, fought our bat
ties and wept our griefs and endured
our struggles and died our death.
A German sculptor maze an image of
| Christ, and he asked his little child,
two 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
il two or three years, and then he
brought in his little child, four or five
years of age, and he said to her: "Who
do you think that is?" She said: THAT
must be the one who took little chill
dren in His arms and blessed them"
! Then the scul ptor was satisfied. Oh.
my friends, what the world wants is
not a cold Christ, not an intellectual
Christ, not a severely magisterial
Christ, but a loving Christ, spreading
out His arms of sympathy to press the
whole world to His loving heart.
Paul preached until midnight, and
Eutychus got sound asleep, and fell
out of window and broke his neck.
Some would say: Good for him." l
would rather be sympathetic like Paul.
and resuscitate him. That accident is
often quoted now in religious circles
as warning against somnolence in
church. 1t is just as much warning
to ministers against prolixity. Euty-
chus was wrong in his somnolence, but
Paul made mistake when he kept on
until midnight. He ought to have
stopped at o'clock, and there would
have been no accident. If Paul might
have gone on to too great length, let
all those of us who are now preaching
the Gospel remember that there is
limit to religious discourse or
ought to be, and that in our time we
have no apostolic power or miracles.
Napoleon, in an address of seven
minutes thrilled his army and thrilled
Europe. Christs sermon on the mount
the model serInon-was less than IS
minutes long ut ordinary mode OF de-
! livery. 1t is not electricity scattered
| all over the sky that strikes, but cleo
| tricity gathered into a thunderbolt
and hurled, and it is not religious
! truth scattered over, spread out over
vast reach of time, but religious
truth projected in compact form that
flashes light upon the soul and rives
| its indifference.
When the coming sermon arrives in
this land and in the Christian church
the sermon which is to arouse the
world apd startlc the nations and usher
in the kingdom-it will be brcf SER
mon. Hear it, all theological students,
all we just entering upon religious
work, all We men and women who in
| Sabbath chools and other depart
ments are toiling for Christ and the
salvation of immortals. Brevity! Brew
ity.
But l remark also that the coming
sermon OF which speak will be pop.
ular sermon. There are those in these
times who speak of populas sermon
as though there must be something
wrong about it. AS these critics are
dull themselves, the world gets the i'm
preston that q sermon is good in pro-
! portion as IL is stupid. Christ was the
most popular preacher the world ever
saw, and considering the small number
of the wold's population, lie had the
( largest audiences ever gathered lie
never preached anywhere without max
ing great sensation. People rushed out
in the wilderness to hear Him, reckless
of their physical necessities. Sogreat
was their anxiety to hear Christ that,
taking no food with them, they would
have tainted and starved had not
Christ performed a miracle and fed
them. Why did SO many people take
the truth at Christs hands? Because
they all understood it, He illustrated
His subject by a hen and her chickens,
by bushel measure, by a handful OF
salt, by birds flight and by lily's
aroma. All the people knew what lie
meant, and they ilocked to Him. AnC
when the coming sermon of the Chris
I tian church appears, it will not b,
, Prince tonian, not Rochesterian, no
Andoverian, not rMiddletonian, bu
, Olivetic - plain, practical, uniqu,
euTncSl, COunpTeleISlFcO u all the WOES
wants, sins, sorrows and necessities o
) an auditory.
But when that sermon does come
there will be thousand cleaning
scimiters to charge on it. There ar
30 many theological seminaries profes
+ sors telling young men how to preach
themselves not knowing how; and
: am told If young man in some of on
a theological seminaries says anythin
.. quaint, or thrilling, or unique. facult
1 and students fly at him, and set hir
r right, and strengthen him out, an
e smooth him down, and chop him o.
9 until he says everything just as every
n body else says it. Oh, when the con
!. ing sermon of the Christian church a
d rives, all the churches of Christ in on
c great cities will be thronged. Th
i world wants spiritual help. A
i who have buried their dead want con
Il fort. All know themselves TO be mo
G tai and To be immortal, and they wal
Il to hear about the great future. l te
n you, my friends, il the people of thes
s great cities who have had trouble onl