Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-02-05
A~COMAU c. H. VA SATURDAY FEBRUARY 5 1885,


How darest thou sleep in harvest time,
and with SO few hours in which to reap?
So that I state it as simple fact that
all the time that the vast majority Of
you will have for the exclusive service
of God will be less than one year.
Sinking Responsibility.
But" says some man, II literally
support the gospel, and the church is
open, and the gospel is preached, all the
spiritual advantages are spread before
men. and if they want to be saved let
them come and be saved, 1 have dis
charged all my responsibility. All, is
that my Masters spirit2 Is there not an
old book somewhere that commands US
to go out into the highways and the
hedges and compel the people to come
in? What would become Of you and me
if Christ had not come down off the
hills Of heaven, and if he had not come
through the door of the Bethlehem car
ayansary, and if he had not with the
crushed hand of the cruciflxion knocked
at the iron gate Of the sepulcher Of our
spiritual death, crying, Lazarus, como
FORTH" Oh, my Christian friend, this
is no time for inertia when all the forces
of darkness seem to be in full blast
when steam printing presses are pub
fishing infidel tracts, when express
trains are carrying messengers of sin,
when fast clippers are laden with opium
and strong drink, when tho night air Of
our cities is polluted with the laughter
that breaks up from the 10, 600 saloons
of dissipation 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 time when it was such
an unwise, such cruel, such an awful
thing for the church to sleep. The great
audiences repot gathered in Christian
churches; the great audiences are gath
cred in temples of sin-tears of unutter-
able woo their baptism, the blood Of
crushed hearts tho awful wine of their
sacrament, blasphemies their litany,
and the groans Of the lost world the
organ dirge Of their worship.
Avoid Reckless Iconoclasm.
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 iconoclasm and on the other
hand not stick too much to things be-
cause they are old. The air is full of
new plans, new projects, new theories
of government, new tbeologies and l
am amazed to see how so many Chris
tians want only novelty in order to
recommend a thing to their confidence,
and 30 they vacillate and swing to and
fro, and they are useless and they are
unhappy. New plans-secular, ethical,
philosophical, religious, cisatlantic,
transatlantic-long enough to make
line reaching from the German univer-
stiles to Great Salt Lake city. All, my
brother, do not take hold Of thing
merely because it is new! Try it by the
realities of tho Judgment day. But, on
the other hand, do not adhere 70 any
thing merely because it is cid. There is
not single enterprise of the church or
the world but has some time been
scoffed at There was time when men
deridcd even Bible societies, and when
a few young mel met in Massachusetts
and organized the first missionary sccio-
ty ever organized in this country there
went laughter and ridicule all around
the Christian church They said the
undertaking was preposterous, and so
also the work of Jesus Christ was as
sailed. People cried out: "Who ever
heard of such theories of ethics and
government? Who ever noticed such
style of preaching as Jesus has?' Eek
iel had talked Of mysterious wings and
wheels Hero came a man from Caper-
naum and Genncsaret, and he drew his
illustrations from the lakes. from the
sand, from the mountain, from the
lilies, from tho cornstalks. How the
Pharisees scoffedl How Hcrod derided !
And this Jesus they plucked by the
beard, and they spat in bis face, and
they called him "this fellow" All tho
great enterprises In and out of the
church have at times been scoffed at,
and there have been great multitude
who have thought that the chariot Of
Gods truth would fall to pieces if it
once got out Of the old rut. And SO
there are those who have no patience
with anything like improvement III
church architecture or with anything
like good, hearty earnest church sing
ing, and they deride any form Of reli-
gious discussion which goes down walk
ing among everyday men rather than
that which makes Ell excursion Oh rhe-
torical stills.
Oh, that the church Of God would
wake up to al adaptability of work.
We must admit the simple fact that the
churches of Jesus Christ in this day do
not reach the great masses. There are
so, 900 people i'll Edinburgh who never
hear the gospel There are 1000, 600
people in London who never hear the
gospel. The great majority of the in
habitants of this capital come not un-
der the immediate ministrations of
Christ's truth, and the church of God
in this day, instead Of being place full
of living epistles, known and read OF
all men, is more like dead letter post.
Office
Work Is Needed.
But, (" say the people, 1.-The world is
going to be converted. You must he "a
tient. The kingdcms CT this weird are
to become the kingdoms Of Christ =
Never, unless the church Ct Jesus
Christ puts ca mere speed and energy.
Instead Of the church converting tie
world the world is converting the
church. Here is !. great tcr;ress How
shall it be taken: An aTiay cLiiics and
sits around about it, CUTS eff TIE srp-
plies and says. "Now we will Just wait
uni. Irun exhaustion ana starTaVlon
they will have to give up. Weeks and
months, perhaps year, pass along. and