The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-06-23

iag them strength 10 resist! VIII yor
De chiefly anxious about the ct OF tae
glove that you put to your forehead
While you prayed? VIII you be chief
( iy critical Of the rhetoric OF the pas
tors petition? No. No. A thousand
people VIII feel. THAT prayer In for
me-" and at every step of the prayer
chains ought TO drop off. and temples
; of sin ought to crash into dust and
jubilees Of deliverance ought to brand
!sh their trumpets. In most OF our
churches We have three prayers-th.
opening prayer. what is called the "long
prayer" and the closing prayer. There
are many people who spend their first
prayer in arranging their apparel after
entrance. and spend the second prayer.
the long prayer" in wishing it were
through and spend the last prayer in
preparing to start for home. The most
insignificant part Of every religious
service is the sermon. The more i'm
portant parts are the Scripture lesson
and the prayer. The sermon Is only
man talking to a man. Prayer Is
! man talking, to God. Oh. II we under
stood the grandeur and the pathos OF
this exercise of prayer, instead of
being dull exercise we would i'm
agine that the room was full Of divine
and angelic appearances.
But. my friends, the old style Of
church will not do the work. We might
a fn nj al ha
sengers from Washington to New York
by stagecoach or all the passengers
from ALBANY to Buffalo by canalboat
or do all the battling of the world with
bow and arrow as with the old style
OF church to meet the exigences OF this
day. Unless the church in our day will
adapt itself to the time 1t will become
extinct The people reading news
papers and books all the week, in
alert, picturesque and resounding style
will have no patience. with Sabbath
humdrum. We have no objection to
bands and surolice and all the para
phernalia OF clerical life, but these
things make no impression-make no
more impression on the great masses
OF the people than the ordinary busi-
ness suit that you wear on Pennsyl-
vania avenue or Wall street. A tailor
cannot make a minister Some Of the
poorest preachers wear the best
clothes, and many a backwoodsman
has dismounted from the saddlebags
and in his linen duster preached a ser
ha nth nA haa
its Christian eloouence. No new gos-
pei. only the old gospel In way suited
to the time. No new church, but a
church to be the asylum. the inspira-
tion, the practical sympathy and the
eternal help of the people.
But while half Of the doors of tie
church are to be set open toward this
world the other half Of the doors of the
church must be set open toward the
next. You and l tarry here only .
brief space. We want somebody to
teach us how to get out of this life at
the right time and in the right way
Some fall out of life. some 20 stumb-
ling out Of life, some 80 groaning out
We want to go singing, rising, rejoic-
ing. triumphing. We want half the
doors of the church set In that direc-
ton. We want half the PRAYERS that
way, half the sermons that way, We
want to know how to get ashore from
the tumult of this world into the lane
OF everlasting peace. We do not want
to stand doubling and shiverng when
we go away from this world. We
want our anticipations aroused to the
highest pitch. We want to have the
exhilaration of a dying child in Eng
land, the father telling me the story.
When ne said to her. rs the path mar
row." she answered, THE path Is mar
row; 1t is so narrow that | cannot walk
arm in arm with Christ, so Jesus goes
ahead. AMI he says. Mary, follow"
Through the church gates set heaven
ward how many of your friends and
mine have gone?
The last time they were out of the
house they came to church. The
earthly pilgrimage ended at the pillar
OF public worship, and then they
marched out to a bigger and brighter
assemblage. Some of them were SO
old they could not walk without cane
or two crutches. Now they have eter-
nal juvenescence. Or they were So
young they could not walk except as
the maternal hand guided them. Now
they bound with the hilarities celestial.
The last time we saw them they were
wasted with malarial or pulmonic dis
orders, but now they have no fatigue
and no difficulty OF respiration in the
pure air OF heaven. How l wonder
when you and will cross over. Some
OF you have had about enough Of the
humping and failing OF this life. a
draft from the fountains Of heaven
would do you good Complete release
you could stand very WELL IL you g,t
on the other side and had permission to
come back, YOU would not come
Though you were invited to come back
and Join your friends on earth, y.u
would say: mo, let me tarry here un-