The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1898-05-04

the masses; and woe be to those who
stand in the way! They will be tram
pied under foot by the vast population
making stampede for Heaven.
saw in some paper an account of
church in Boston in which, it is said,
there were great many plain people.
The next week the trustees of that
church came out in the paper, and said
it was not so at all; 'they were ele-
giant people, and .highly-conditioned
people that went there" Then l
laughed outright; and when l laugh,
laugh very loudly. "Those people," l
said, "are afraid of the sickly senti-
mentality of the churches" Now, my
ambition is not to preach to you so
much. 1t seems to me that you must
be faring sumptuously every day, and
the marks of comfort are all about you.
You do not need the gospel half
as much as do some who never
come here. Rather than be
priding myself on church in
front of which there shall halt fifty
splendid equipages on the Sabbath day,
| would have church up whose gates
there should come a long procession OF
the suffering, and the stricken, and the
dying, begging for admittance. You
do not need the gospel so much as
they. You have good things in this life.
Whatever may be your future destiny
you have had pleasant time here. But
those dying populations of which |
speak, by reason of their want and suf-
fering, whatever may be their future
destiny, are in perdition now; and
if there be any comfort in Christs gos-
pei, for Gods sake give it to them.
Revolution! The pride of the church
must come down. The eXclusiveness
of the church must come down. The
financial boastings of the church must
come down. If monetary success were
the chief idea in the church, then / say
that the present mode of conducting
finances is the best. If it is to see how
many dollars you can gain. then the
present mode is the BEST. But if it is
the saving of souls from sin and death,
and bringing the mighty populations
of our cities to the knowledge of God,
then l cry, Revolution! 1t is coming
fast feel it in the air. l hear the
rumbling of an earthquake that shall
shake down, in one terrific crash, the
arrogance of our modern Christianity.
The sea is covered with wrecks, and
multitudes are drowning. We come
out with the church lifeboat, and the
people begin to Chamber in, and we
shout stop! stop! You must think it
costs nothing to keep lifeboat. Those
seats at the PROV are one dollar apiece,
these in the middle fifty cents, and
those seats in the stern two shillings.
Please to pay up, or else founder on a
little longer till the mission boat, whose
work it is to save you penniless
wretches, shall come along and pick
you up. We save only first-class sim
ners in this boat"
Revolution! 1t may be that, before
the church learns its duty to the masses,
God will scourge it, and come with the
whip of omnipotent Indignation, and
drive out the money changers. 1t may
be that there is to be great day Of
upsetting before that time shall come
If it must come, o Lord God, let il
come now!
In that future day of the reconstruct
ed church of Christ, the church building
will be the most cheerful of all build
ings Instead of the light of the sur
strained through painted glass, until al
intelligent auditory looks green, ant
blue, and yellow, and copper-colored
we will have no such things. The pure
atmosphere of Heaven will sweep ou
the feted atmosphere that has beer
kept in many of our churches boxed W
from Sunday to Sunday. The day o
which l speak will be day of grea
revivals. There will be such time al
there was in the parish of Shots, where
,, five hundred souls were born to God il
one day; such times as were seen in thi
country when Edwards gave the alarm
when Tennent preached, and Whit
field thundered, and Edward Paysoi
8 prayed; such times as some of you re
! member in 1857, when the voice o
. prayer and praise was heard in theater
, and warehouse, and blacksmith shop
;. and factory, and engine house. and tn
= auctioneer's cry of "a half, and hall
!, and half" was drowned out by tn
adjoining prayer meeting, in which tn
: people cried out: Men and brethren
: what shall we do?"
+ 0 my God, let me live to see tha
day! Let there be no power in disease
:, or accident, or wave of the sea, to dis
y appoint my expectations. Let all othe
sight fail my eyes rather than that
G should miss that vision. Let all othe
: sounds fail my ears, rather than
9 should fail to hear that sound. wan
n to stand on the mountain top, to cate
q the first ray of the dawn, and with fly
o ing feet bring the news. And, oh, whe
we hear the gathering hoofs that brin
y on the kings chariot, may we all b
| ready, with arches sprung, and wit
}: hand on the rope of the bell that is t
d sound the victory, and with wreath
o all twisted for the way; and when Jesu
n dismounts, let it be amidst the huzza
e huzza! of world redeemed.
is Where and when will that nevolutio
e begin? Here, and now. In sour heai
o and mine. Sin must go down; our prid
v must go down; our worldliness must G
i down, that Christ may come up. RevC
" luton! Except man be born agaiI
If he cannot see the kingdom of God
u Why not now let the revolution begin
,e Not next Sabbath, but now! Not t.
)" morrow, when you go out into con
.e mercial circles, but now