The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-13


| is outside the Bible, will take the latter
| because / want 10 be like my Master,
| Looking across TO a hill, Christ saw the
| city Of Jerusalem. Talking to the people
! about the conspicuity of Christian exam
| pie, he said; THE world is looking az
| 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 children a
| bird flew past He said, Behold the raw
| ems" Then looking down into the valley.
| all covered at that season with flowers
| he said: Consider the lilies" Oh. my
| brother Christian workers, what is the use
! Of our going away off in some obscure
| part of history, or on the other side the
I earth 10 get an illustration, when the
/ earth and the heavens are full OF Illus
| trations. Why should we go away OF 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 train
| was coming; but they We're on bridge
| of trestle work and the little girl took
| her brother and let him down through the
| trestle work as gently as she could toward
! the water, very carefully and lovingly and
| cautiously, so that he might not be hurt
! in the fall, and might be picked up by
| those who were standing near by. While
doing that the train struck her, and hard
| ly enough of her body was left to gather
into a funeral casket What that?
for others. Woe for others. Suffering for
Others Death for others.
What is the use of our going away off
to find 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 a hundred miles, saw an Old man by
the roadside, dismounted helped the old
man on the horse, saying: Now whip
up and get away" The old man got
away. but the mail carrier persisted. Just
like Christ dismouuting from the glores
of heaven to put US on the way of deliv-
erance. then falling back into the flames
of sacrifice for others. Pang for others.
Woe for others. Death for others. Vica-
rious suffering.
Again I remark, that sanctuary help
ought to come through the prayers of all
the people. The door of the eternal store
house is hung on one hinge a gold hinge,
the hinge of prayer, and when the whole
! audience lay hold of that door il must
! come open. There are many people spend
| ing their first Sabbath 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 do for them
| by rolling over their soul holy memories?
| Here are people in crises of awful temp
| tation They are on the verge of des-
| pdlTs OF wiz DtunOeTlnS, or Inett, or sui
| eide. 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
! forehead while you prayed?
| viii 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 the
prayer chains ought to drop off, and tenn
! pies of sin ought to crash into dust and
| jubilees of deliverance ought to brandish
their trumpets In most of our churches
we have three prayers-the opening pray
er, what is called the long prayer" and
the closing prayer There are many peo-
! pie who spend their first prayer in ar
ranging their apparel after entrance, and
| spend the second prayer, the long pray
| err" in wishing it were through, and spend
| the last prayer in preparing to start for
| home. The most insignificant part of ev-
cry religious service is the sermon. 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 talking to God. Oh, If we understood
the grandeur and the pathos of this exer-
| else of prayer, instead of being dun eX-
ercise, we would imagine 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 as well
now try to take all the passengers from
| Washington to New York by stage-coach,
or all the passengers from Albany to Buff
falo by canal boat, or do all the battling
of the world with bow and arrow, as with
the old style of church to meet the ext
gencies of this day. Unless the church in
our day viii adapt itself to the time ii
wall become extinct. The people reading
newspapers and books all the week. in
alert, picturesque, and resoundings style
will have no patience with Sabbath hum
drum. We have no objection to bands and
surplice and all the paraphernalia of cler-
ical life; but these things make no impress
sion-mako no more impression on the
great masses of the people than the ordi-
nary business suit that you wear on Penn
sylvania avenue or Wall street. A tailor
cannot make a minister. Some of the
poorest preachers Wear-the best clothes
and many a backwoodsman has dismount.
ed from the saddle bags, and in his liner
buster preached sermon that shook eartf
and heaven with its Christian eloquence
No new gospel, only the old gospel in E
way suited to the time. No new church
but church to be the asylum, the in.
spiration the practical sympathy, and The
eternal help of the people.
But while half of the doors of the churcl
are to be set open toward this world, tn,
: other half of the doors of the church mus
be set open toward the next. You and
tarry here only brief space. We wan
somebody to teach us how 10 get out o
this life at the right time and in the righ
! way. Some fall out of life, some go stumb
ling out of life, some go grooming out o
life, some go cursing out of life. We wan
p; TO go singing, rising rejoicing, triumphing
We want half the doors of the church Sc
i'm that direction. We want half the pray
\ ers that way, half the sermons that way
, We want to know how TO get ashore from
the tumult of this world into the land o
everlasting peace We do not want to stant
doubling and shivering when we go ava,
e from this world; we want our anticipation
S aroused to the highest pitch We want t,
have the eXhilaration of dying child il
t England, the father telling me the story
+, | When he said to her: rs the path mar
= row." she answered THE path is mar
4 | row; 1t is SO narrow that l cannot wall
e arm in arm with Christ, so Jesus goe
r ahead. ana he says. Mary. follow
y Through the church gates set heaven
a ward how many of your friends and min
h have gone? The last time they were out o
t the house they came 10 church. The earth
g ly pilgrimage ended at the pillar of publ
$ worship and then they marched out 60
+ | bigger and brighter assemblage Some O