The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-31

Bethlehem caravansary; and IL he had not
with the crushed hand of the crucifxion
Knocked at the iron gate of the sepulchre
Of our spiritual death, crying: Lazarus,
come forth?" Oh, my Christian friend
TINS rs no time for inertia when all the
forces of darkness seem to be in fun blast
when steam printing presses are publish
ing infdel tracts, when express trains are
carrying messengers of sin, when fast
clippers are laden with opium and strong
drink when the night air of our cities Is
polluted with the laughter that breaks up
from the ten thousand saloons of dissipa-
ton and abandonment, when the fires of
the second death already are kindled In the
cheeks of some who only a little while
ago, were incorrupt. Oh never since the
curse fell upon the earth has there been
a time when it was such an unwse, Gudh
a cruel, such an awful thing for the
church to sleep. The great audiences are
not gathered in Christian churches; the
great audiences are gathered In temples
of Sln-tearS of unutterable woe their bap-
tism, the blood of crushed hearts the
awful wine Of their sacrament blasphe-
mics their litany, and the groans of the
lost world the organ dirge of their wor-
ship.
Again, If you want to be qualified to meet
the duties which this age demands of you,
you must. on the one hand, avoid reckless
conoclaSm and on the other hand, not
stick too much to things because they are
old. The air is full of new plans, new pro-
jects, new theories of government new
theolOgies and / am amazed 10 see how so
many Christians want only novelty in or
der to recommend a thing to their conf
dence; and so they vacilate and swing to
and fro, and they are useless and they are
| unhappy. New plans-secular, ethical,
philosophical, religious, cis-Atlantic, trans
Atlantc-long enough to make a line
reaching from the German universities to
Great Salt Lake City. All! my brother do
not take hold of a thing merely because it
is newt Try it by the realities of the judg
ment day. But, on the other hand, do not
adhere to anything merely because it is
old There is not single enterprise of the
church or the world but has sometime
been scoffed. at There was a time when
| men derided even Bible societies. and when
a few young men met in Massachusetts
and organized the first missionary society
| ever organized in this country there went
| laughter and ridicule all around the Chris
| tian church. They said the undertaking
was preposterous. And so also the work of
| Jesus Christ was assailed. People cried OUT
| Who ever heard of such theories of ethics
and government? Who ever noticed such
| style of preaching as Jesus has?' Ezekiel
| had talked of mysterious wings and
wheels. Here came a man from Capernaum
and Gennessaret. and He drew His illus
| trations from the lakes from the sand,
| from the mountain, from the lilies, from
| the corn-stalks. How the Pharisees scott
| ed! How Herod derldedl And this Jesus
| they plueked by the beard and they spat in
| His face, and they called Him this fell
low!' All the great enterprises in and out
of the church have at times been scoffed
at, and there have been a great multitude
who have thought that the chariot of
| Gods truth would fall to pieces If 1T once
| got out of the old rut. And so there are
those who have no patience with anything
| like Improvement in church
architecture, or with anything like
| good, hearty, earnest church singing. and
| they deride any form of Religious discus
sion which goes down walking among ev-
eryday men, rather than that which makes
an excursion on rhetorical stills Oh
| that the Church of God would wake up
| to an adaptability of work! We must adj
| init the simple fact that the churches of
| Jesus Christ in this day do not reach the
| great masses There are fifty thousand
| people in Edinburgh who never hear the
| Gospel. There are one million people in
| London who never hear the Gospel. The
great majority of the tnha bitants of this
| capital come not under the immediate min
istrations of Christs truth, and the
| Church of God in this day, instead of be-
ing place full of living epistles, known
| and read of all men, is more like a dead
| letter postoffice.
! But" say the people, 1.-The world is go
| ing to be converted; you must be patient;
| the kingdoms of this world are to become
| the kingdoms of Christ" Never, unless
| the Church of Jesus Christ puts on more
| speed ana energy. Instead of the church
| converting the world, the world is con-
verting the church. Here is a great fort
ress. How shall it be taken? An army
| comes and sits around about il. cut off the
supplies. and says: 'Now we will Just
walt until from exhaustion and starvation
| they will have to give up" Weeks and
months, and perhaps a year pass along,
| and finally the fortress surrenders
! through that starvation and exhaustion.
| But my friends, the fortresses of sin are
| never to be taken in that way. If they
! are taken for God it will be by storm; you
| will have to bring up the great siege guns
| of the gospel to the very wall and wheel
| the flying artillery into line, and when the
| armed infantry of heaven shall confront
| the battlements you will have to give the
! quick commando Forward! Charged!
All, my friends. there is work for you
| to do and for me to do in order to this
| grand accomplishment. l have a pulpit.
| | preach in it. Your pulpit is the bank.
! Your pulpit is the store. Your pulpit is
| the editorial chair. Your pulpit Is the
| anvil. Your pulpit is the house scaffold-
ing Your pulpit is the mechanics shop.
1 may stand in my place, and, through
cowardice or through self-seekihg, may
| keep back the word 1 ought to utter;
while you, with sleeve rolled up and brow
DeSWeateu Win tOii, may utter tne WOru
that will jar the foundations of heaven
with the shout of great victory. Oh.
that we might all feel that the Lord AL
mighty is putting upon us the hands Of
ordination! l tell you. every one, go forth
! and preach this Gospel. You have as
much right to preach as l have or any
| man living.
| Hedley Wears was wicked man In the
| English army. The grace of God came
| to him. He became an earnest and emil
nent Christian. They scoffed at him
and said: You are a hypocrite. you
are as bad as ever you were" Still he
| kept his faith in Christ, and after while.
finding that they could not turn him aside
by calling him a hypocrite, they said to
him: ''Oh, you are nothing but Meth
odist!" This did not disturb him He
went on performing his Christian duty I'M
I'll he had formed all his troops into a
Bible class, and the whole encampTnent
was shaken with the presence of God. So
Havelock went into the heather temole
In India while the English army was
there, aud put a candle into the hand o.
each of the heather gods that stood
around in the heather temple. and by the
light of those candles held up by the idols