The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-06-17

1890 49, ~
are the men who give forlorn stalls
tics about church ~decadence. Frogs
croak in running water, always
in stagnant. But I say TO all Chris
tian workers, to all Sunday school
teachers, TO all evangelists, to all min
listers OF the gospel. If we want our
Sunday schools, and our prayer meet
ings and our churches to gather the
| people we must freshen up. The SIM
pie fact is the people are tired Of the
humdrum Of re1igionists. Religious
Is the worst OF all hum
drum. You say G and over again,
Come to Jesus" until the phrase
| means absolutely nothing. Why do you
| not tell them a story which will make
them come I o Jesus in five minutes?
You say that all Sunday school teach
ers and all evangelfsts and all minis
| tiers must bring their illustrations from
| the Bible. Christ did not when he
| preached. The most Of the Bible was
| written before Christ's time, but where
| did he get his illustrations? He drew
them from the lilies, from the ravens,
| from salt, from a candle from a
| bushel, from long faced hypocrites,
from gnats, from moths, from large
| gates and small gates, from a camel,
from the needles eye, from yeast in
the dough Of bread, from a mustard
| seed, from a fishing net, from debtors
| n creditors. That is the reason null
titudes followed Christ. His illustra-
J ion were SO easy and SO understand
able. Therefore, my brother Christian
worker, if you and I find two illustra-
lions for a religious subject, and the
one is a Bible illustration and the 9TH
er is outside the Bible, 1 will take the
latter because I want TO be like my
master. Looking across to a hill Christ
saw the city of Jerusalem.
Talking to the people about the con-
| spicuity of Christian example, he
said: The world is looking at you. Be
careful. A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid" While he was speak
ing of the divine care Of Gods chill
dren a bird flew past. He said, Be
hold the ravens" Then looking down
the valley, all covered at that season
with fowrs he said, Consider the ILL
lies Oh, my brother Christian work.
ers, what is the use of u going away
off in some obscure part of history or
on the other side of the earth to get
an illustration when the earth and
the heavens are full of Illustrations?
Why should we e. away off to get
an illustration of the vicarious suffer-
ing of Jesus Christ when as near US as
Bloomfield, N. j., two little children
were walking on the rail track, and a
train was coming, but they were on
d. UIluSc VI lItStlSWOIh n, LII liz IllLle
girl took her brother and let him
down through the trestlework as gent
| ly as she could toward the water, very
carefully and lovingly and c%autiusly,
so that he might not be hurt in the
fall and might be picked up by those
who were standing near him.? While
doing that the train struck her, and
hardly enough of body was left to
gather into a funeral casket. What
was that? Vicarious suffering. Like
Christ. Pang for others. Woe for 9TH
ers. Suffering for others. Death for
others.
HELP IN PRAYER.
What is the use of our going away
off to find an illustration in past age
when during the great forest fires in
Michigan a mail carrier on horseback,
riding on, pursued by those flames
which had swept over 100 miles, saw
an old man by the roadside, dismount-
ed, helped the old man on the horse,
saying, Now whip and get away"
The old man got away, but the mail
carrier persisted. Just like Christ dis
mounting from the glories of heaven
to put us on the way of de~liverance,
then falling back into the flames of
sacrifice for others. Pang for others.
Woe for others. Death for others. vi
carious suffering.
Again, 1 remark that sanctuary help
ought to come through the prayers of
all the people. The door Of the eternal
storehouse is hung On one hinge, a gold
hinge, the hinge Of prayer and when
the whole audience lay hold of that
door it must come open. There are
many people spending their first Sab
bath after some great bereavement.
What will your prayer do for them?
How will it help the tomb in that
mans heart? Here are people who
have not been in church before for
ten years. What will your prayer d.
for them by rolling over their soul
holy memories? Here are people in
crisis of awful temptation. They are
on the verge of despair or wild blum
dering or theft or suicide. What will
your prayer do for them in the way of
giving them strength to resist? Will
you be chiefly anxious about the fit
of the glove that you put to your fore
head while you prayed? Will you be
chiefly critical of the rhetoric of the
pastors petition? No, no. A thousand
people will feel, That prayer is for
me-" and at every step of h prayer
chains ought to drop off, and temples
of sir ought to crash into dust, and
jubilees of ~deliverance ought to bran
dish their trumpets. In me of our
churches we have three prayers-the
opening prayer, what is called the
"long rave" 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 significant part of ev-
cry religious service is the ermo
The more important parts are the
Scripture lesson and the prayer The
sermon is only a man talking to a
man. The Scripture lesson is God
talking to man. Prayer is man talk
ing to, God. Oh, if we understood the
grandeur and the pathos of this exer-
else of prayer. instead of being a dull
exercise, we would imagine that the
room was full of divine and angelic
appearances .
CHURCH MUST PROGRESS.
But, my friends, the old style of
ah,,~4 I'LL M 10 <h1 x-D~ly W. &