The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1899-01-26
IN THE BAPTIST CHURCH.


At IL o'clock pastor Vann preached
from Psalms Ii Is: "He that winneth
souls IS acise."
The theme was "Winning Souls"
Soul winning is a mark Of CONVEX
sion, and the chief business of Chris
| tian Is to win souls to Christ. Doing
good for the bodies of men is only a
means to an end-the highest idea is
to win the souls. AS ambassadors for
Christ we are to persuade, love, draw
and help save men.
Who are soul winners? Every one
who lives the Christian life. This is
the chief end of Christian mans life
A sharp distinction was drawn be-
tween drawing and driving men. You
may drive the body but you can not
drive the mind. Gods plan for win
ming souls is by drawing them with love
The task laid upon the Christian
world is to lift humanity towards God
by winning the souls of men through
love and persuasion, and not by driving
them.
Personal influence was dwelt upon
Every human being who has become a
Christian does IN some way influence
some others towards Co.. We can not
absolutely save but we become thu hui
man agency to help others towards God.
Every Christian Is a soul-winner by
reason Of his wisdom-not by gifts, per-
haps, but by reason of the fact that be
Is himself wise unto salvation. Just
living for Christ wins.
Other powers, such as money, Chris
tian labor, Christian giving, Christian
industry, all are efficacious in winning
souls by reason of the renewed nature.
All these things, however, go for
naught unless accompanied by spirit
ual power.
AS all power of light and heat is de-
rived from the heat of the central sun,
80 is the Christians power derived from
the life of Christ, and only as we have
this inner power of Christ can we save
men.
The power of correct life: Some
Of the strongest lives are those not
gifted with speech or activity, but are
simply Ilyes consecrated to God in the
most quiet manner, but shining
lights"
An intellectual giant said he could
answer ali the arguments Of the preach
ers but he could never quite resist the
power of the quiet life of his poor sick
wife, trusting God all the time.
UNION SERVICES.
At night in the Baptist church both
the Baptist and Methodist congrega-
lions worshiped together. Rev. O.
Ryder, pastor of the Methodist church
preached.
The sermon was on temperance
Text Gen. AZ 81: "And they said one
to another, We ere verily guilty con-
corning oar brother," etc. Tim. 5 ~
"Neither be partakers Of other mems
sins" The theme was "Our Personal
Responsibility for the Liquor Traffic.
Other trades than the liquor traffic
have just foundations, for they are help
tul ; bat the liquor traffic has in 1t the
influence to destroy rather than help.
1t Is wicked to sanction crime by
legalizing it. Liquor selling is moral
wrong and should be regarded as q
crime. The speaker stated that he spoke
not personally OF any one, but on the
broad lines OF a general application to
the traffic.
Home IS supreme and Temperance is
a question OF home rights, and so the
saloon, whose influence is destructive
to the home, has no rights. Thous-
ands of parents yearly have their hopes
for sons blasted by reason Of the traffic
Here the speaker referred touchlngly
to Il home robbed OF its treasure By the
drink devil, and exclaimed "Some
one is responsible. Who? Alb, who?'
The liquor traffic is the blacklist
strongest, and greatest evil that curses
humanity. Truly, we care guilty con-
corning our brother" We can all see
why the saloon keeper does his work.
He does it for gain. But still we say
he is to blame. We ali with united
voice say that the business Is wicked
and nefarious, that It is an offense
against God and humanity. The sa
loon-keeper Is to blame, but he is not
the only one responsible. All are re-
sponslbla who in any way aid Or abe
the business While the bar-keeper i:
working to perpetuate the business
others are aiding.
The law for obtaining license wal
reci;ed The affidavit of a certain
number of men that the applican
Is proper person TO sell liquor
and the place a proper place, is al
aid "a the business. The granting
of license by the county commissioner,
is an aid to it a!so-;ndeed without
these two helps, Or either OF them, nc
one can sell liquor in this State.
The speaker made strong reference K
the liquor power in politics, quoting
the words of politician in another
State who said he would rather havs
one saloons power behind him, than
| all the churches in the city.
Statistics were given to show tbs
enormity OF the evil against the work
ing man.
Men say i: is an evil but blame thf
saloon keepers by saying If there wert
| no sellers there would be no buyers
eyes," said the speaker, "but it is
equally true that if there were no buy
ers there would be no sellers" 1t wa:
declared that the Christian people @
all denominations are neglecting thei1
duty in the matter. An appeal was made
to all for stronger and better effort t.
suppress the traffic.
Referring to the saloons power il