Connecticut western news., 1898-02-03
hills of heaven, and if he had not come

! CruSneQ uHuu O1 tue CTuCluAlOu huOChSu at the iron gate of the sepulcher of our spiritual death, crying, Lazarus, come 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 the night air of our cities is polluted with the laughter
 that breaks up from the 10, 900 saloons <; of dissipation and abandonment, when
 the fires of the second death already are
 kindled in the cheeks of some who only
 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 a cruel, such an awful
 thing for the church to sleep. The great i audiences are not gathered in Christian | churches; the great audiences are gath ! cred in temples of sin-tears of unutter- l able woe their baptism, the blood of
 crushed hearts the awful wine of their 1 sacrament, blasphemies their litany,
 and the Rroans of the lost world the organ dirga of their worship.
 Avoid Reckless Iconoclasm.
 Again, if you want to be qualified to 1 meet the duties which this age demands i 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 l of government, new theologies, and l l am amazed to see how so many Chris l tians want only novelty in order to recommend thing to their confidence, | and so 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-
 sities to Great Salt Lake city. An, my brother, do not take hold of a thing
 merely because it is new Try 1t by the
 realities of the judgment day. But, on | the other hand, do not adhere to any | thing merely because it is old. There is not single enterprise of the church or l the world but has some time been scoffed at. There was time when men | derided even Bible societies, and when | few young men met in Massachusetts
 and organized the first missionary sccie- | 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 | h n
 style of preaching as Jesus has?" Ezek- i iel had talked of mysterious wings and wheels. Here came man from Caper-
 naum and Gennesaret, and he drew his | illustrations from the lakes, from the sand. from the mountain, from the | lilies, from the cornstalks. How the l Pharisees scoffedl How Herod derided l And this Jesus they plucked by tie
 beard. and they spat in his face, and | they called him "this fellow" All the | 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 in | 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 an excursion on rhe- | torical stilts.
 | Oh, that the church of God would wake up to an 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 | 50, 900 people in Edinburgh who never | hear the gospel. There are 1000, coo people in London who never hear the l gospel. The great majority of the in ! habitants of this capital come not un- I 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, ''the world is | going to be converted. You must be pa l tient. The kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of Christ. | Never, unless the church of Jesus | Christ puts on more speed and energy. | Instead of the church converting the world the world is converting the
 church. Here is great fortress. How
 shall it be taken? An army comes and
 sits around about 1t, cuts of the SUD- | plies and says. "Now we will just wait until from exhaustion and starvation | xx,i1 tr, s,ix nd
 months, perhaps year, pass along. and | finally the fortress surrenders through
 that starvation and exhaustion. But,
 my friends, the fortresses of sin are
 never to be taken in that way. If they
 are taken for God, it will be by storm.
 You will have to bring up the great
 siege guns of the gospel to the very
 wall and wheel the flying artillery into ! line, and when the armed infantry of
 heaven shall confront the battlements
 you will have to give the quick com
 mand: Forward Charge"
 An, my friends, there is work for you
 to do and for me to do in order to this | grand accomplishments. Ihave pulpit.
 preach in it. Your pulpit is the bank. Your pulpit is the store. Your pulpit is
 the editorial chair. Your pulpit is the
 anvil. Your pulpit is the house scaffold-
 ing. Your pulpit is the mechanics
 shop. l may stand in my place ard
 through cowardice or through self
 seeking may keep back the word I
 ought to utter, while you, with sleeve
 rolled up and brow beswcated with
 toll, may utter the word that will jar
 the foundations of heaven with the
 shout of great victory. Oh, that we
 might all feel that the Lord Almighty
 is putting upon us the hands of ordina-
 tion l tell you, every one, go forth
 and preach this gospel. You have as
 much right to preach as have or any
 man living
 Hedley Wears was wicked man in | the English army. The grace of God