The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-05-14

soldiers Of Jesus Christ are cooking
rations, or asleep in their tents, while
only one man here and there goes out
to do battle for the Lord.
"But," says some one, 1--WE are estab-
fishing q great many missions, and
think they will save the masses" No;
they will not. Five hundred thousand
of them will not do it. They are doing
a magnificent work; but every mission
chapel is a confession Of the disease and
weakness of the church. 1t Is saying
to the rich and the well-conditioned:
IF you can pay yolr pew rent, come
to the main audience room" 1t is say
ing to the poor man: "Your coat is too
bad, and your shoes are not good
enough. If you want to get to Heaven,
you will have to go by way of the mis-
sion chapel" The mission chapel has
become the kitchen, where the church
does its sloppy work. There are hum
dreds and thousands of churches in this
country--gorgeously built and sup
ported-that, even on bright and sun
shiny days, are not half full of wor-
shippers; and yet they are building mis-
sion chapels, because, by some ex-
pressed or implied regulation, the great
masses of the people are kept out of the
main audience room.
Now, say that any place of wor-
ship which is appropriate for one class
is appropriate for all classes. Let the
rich and the poor meet together, the
Lord the maker of them all. Mind you
that l say that mission chapels are
necessity, the way churches are now
conducted; but may God speed the time
when they shall cease to be necessity.
God will rise up and break down the
gates of the church that have kept
back the masses; and woe be to those
who stand in the way! They will be
trampled under foot by the vast popu-
lations making stampede for Heaven.
l 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 elegant
people, and highly-conditioned people
that went there" Then l laughed
outright; and when l laugh, l laugh
very loudly. "Those people," said,
'are afraid of the sickly sentimental
ty of the churches" Now, my ambi-
ton 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 a church in
front of which there shall halt so
splendid equipages on the Sabbath day,
l would have church by whose gates
there should come 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 a pleasant time
here. But those dying populations of
which speak. by reason of their want
and suffering, whatever may be their
future destiny, are in perdition now
and if there be any comfort in Christ's
Gospel, for Gods sake give it to themi
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. l feel it in the air. hear the
rumbling of an earthquake that shall
shake down, in one terrific crash. the
arrogance of our modern Chri stianity.
The sea is covered with wrecks, and
mIltitudes are drowning. We come out
with the church lifeboat, and the peo-
pie 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
seats in the middle so cents, and those
seats in the stern two shillings. Please
to pay up, or else founder on little
longer till the mission boat, whose
work is to save you penniless wretches,
shall come along and pick you up. We
save only frst-class sinners in this
boat"
The talk is whether Protestant
churches or Roman Catholic churches
are coming out ahead. tell you,
Protestants, this truth plainly: That
until your churches are as free as are
the Roman Catholic cathedrals, they
will beat you. In their cathedrals the
millionaire and the beggar kneel side
by side. And, until that time comes
in our churches, we can not expect the
favor of God, or permanent spiritual
prosperity.
Revolution! 1t may be that, before
the church learns its duty to the masses,
God will scourge it, and come with the
whippf omnipotent Indignation, and
drive out the money changers 1t may
be that there is to be a great day of up
setting before that time shall come. Ii
it must come, o Lord God, let it come
now!
Archias, the magistrate of Thebias,
was sitting with many mighty men
drinking wine. A messenger came in
bringing letter informing him of
conspiracy to end his life and warning
him to flee. Archias took the letter,
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