The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-10-17

Then life is, to wake not sleep,
 Rise, and not rest, but press
 From earth's level where blindly creer l Things perfected, more or less
 To the heavens height far and steep
 Prince Albert, a king in every thing save name, said: Find out Gods plan for the regulation of your life, and fit yourself to it.
 Carlyle said that "The meaning of life ] here on earth might be defined as con- sisting in this: To unfold yourself to work for what thing you have the fac ulty for
 My brothers. have we not a decided faculty to work for God in some way? Seems to me, this faculty is very gen. eral, not special
 Carlyle called Cromwell the inartic- ulate prophet-and yet there came a day when as Carlyle said England had parliament. when from the lips of Oliver Cromwell proceeded great, rug ged words of earnestness. 1 My friends. I'm talking to some one I this morning who can, if he will speak great rugged words of earnestnees. | Will you? An, With many of us there | have been ravages in our soul life. | George Eliot, in the Mill on the Floss says Mature repairs her ravages-re- | pairs them with her sunshine and with | human labor"
 | Spiritual ravages can be repaired by Gods sublime sunshine, the power and influence of His Spirit and by human effort.
 The outcome of Gods sunshine in 1,n,,r baop+ tl,ic, ,,,nrpinp p,y bpotbarc must, I believe, be your determination to help the Twentieth Century Wesley an league by your efforts and by mon- ey. Wipe out the offense to Almighty God, which to-day exists in this city the mortgages and indebtedness on the Methodist Episcopal churches. It's principal, friends, we are to pay. Our effort is to destroy, not keep alive, a cancer, parasite. God grant that an era of Christian surgery may com mence, until in this city and land, all our church cancers are removed. Once exterminated there is no reason for their reappearance.
 The man in this congregation who begs or borroWs money to pay interest on loan, must ultimately come to grief The church that begs or borroWs money to pay interest on it's indebted ness must ultimately go to the wall. Summerfield and Epworth have come to the end of the rope.
 Would to God I could relieve myself of my duty but as I value Christianity, I must as far as one man can see, see to it that the devils dance of delight over the sale and loss of two Methodist churches is definitely postponed.
 Brothers, it's an hour of great activ- ity in every world, except the spiritual.
 Strange, is it not. that the transient should engross our attention and the permanent be ignored? Last night you did not light yourself to bed with the light of a fickering candle-and yet it's candle-light with us spiritually, is it not?
 Althought a flickering candle indi cates light and life, yet it does not force and power. It betokens doubt, not assurance.
 Brothers, let us use in our spiritual life all the lights which illumne the staircase I've talked about. Will we not energize our religious activity by the electric lights of prayer and of the Bible and the other lights of social duty and wide spread Christian benev- olence. If we do, our church six mil lion strong in the loving custody of Almight God will advance to great vic tories. The message of it's ministry will be forceful and fruitful and the church of our fathers will be the her itage of our children and children's children.
 Friends I thank you for your patience this morning. May I close this address with the following beautiful words of Lowell?
 ."Once to every man and nation,
 Comes the moment to decide. In the strife of truth with falsehood,
 For the good or evil side. Some great cause Gods new Messiah,
 Offering each the bloom or blight Parts the goats upon the left hand
 And the sheep upon the Night; And the choice goes by forever
 'Twixt that darkness and that light