Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1899-11-25

about the great future. j tell you, my
friends, If the people of our great cities
who have had trouble only thought
they could get practical and sympa-
thetlc help in the Christian church,
there would not be n street In Wash
ington or New York or any other city
which would be passable on the Sab
bath day if there were church on 1t,
for oil the people would press to that
asylum of mercy, that great house Of
comfort and consolation.
EccIesiaxticnI nrummies.
A mother with dead babe In her
arms came to the god silva and asked
to have her child restored to life. The
god silva said to her, "You go and get
n handful Of mustard seed from q
house In which there has been no
sorrow and In which there has been no
death, and will restore your child to
life" SO the mother went out, and she
went from house to house and from
home to home looking for n place
where there had been no sorrow and
where there had been no death, but she
found none. She went back to the god
silva and said: "My mission Is failure.
You see, haven't brought the mustard
seed. I can't find place where there
has been no sorrow and no death"
"Oh!" says the god silva. Understand,
your SORROWS are no worse than the
sorrows Of others. We all have our
griefs, and all have our heartbreaks."
Laugh, and the world laughs With you;
Weep, and you weep alone;
For the sad old earth must borrow Its mirth,
But has trouble enough o! its own.
We hear Il great deal Of discussion
now all over the land about Why peo-
pie do not go to church. Some say 1t ID
because Christianity is dying out and
because people do not believe in the
truth of Gods word, and all that.
They are false reasons. The reason is
because our sermons and eYhOrtatlOns
are not interesting and practical and
helpful. Some one might as well tell
the whole truth on this subject. and so
l will tell 1t. The religious discourse
Of the future. the gospel sermon to
come forth and shake the nations and
lift people out of darkness, will be a
popular sermon, just for the simple
reason that it will meet the woes and
the wants and the anXieties Of the peo-
pie.
There are in all our denominations
ecclesiastical mummies sitting around
to frown upon the fresh young pulpits
of America to try to awe them down,
to cry out: "Tut, tut, tut! Sensation
alp They stand today preaching In
churches that hold thousand people,
and there are hundred persons pres
ent, and if they cannot have the world
saved in their way it seems as If they
do not want it saved at all.
do not know but the old way Of
making ministers of the gospel Is bet
ter-a collegiate education and an ap-
premiership under the care and home
attention OF some earnest, aged Chris
tan mlnistt.'. the young man getting
the patriarch's spirit and assisting him
In his religious service. Young law
yers study with old lawyers. young
physicians with old physicians, and l
believe it would be great help If ev-
cry young man studying for the gospel
ministry could put himself in the home
and heart and sympathy and under the
benediction and perpetual presence OF
a Christian minister
Religious Awakening.
But, / remark again. the religious
discourse Of the future will be an
awakening sermon. From altar rail to
the front doorstep. under that sermon.
an audience will get up and start for
heaven. There will be In 1t many a
staccato passage. 1t will not be lul-
laby. 1t will be battle charge. Men
will drop their sins, for they will feel
the hot breath of pursuing retrlbution
on the back Of their necks. 1t will be
sympathtic with all the physical dis
tresses as we'll as the spiritual dis
tresses of the world. Christ not only
preached, but he healed paralysis. and
he healed epilepsy, and he healed the
dumb and the blind and the lepers.
That religious discourse Of the future
will be an everyday sermon. going
right down into every mans life, and. 1t
will teach him how to vote, how to bar
gain. how to pillow, how to do any work
he Is called to do. how to WELD trowel
and pen and pencil and yardstick and
plane, and 1t will teach women how to
preside over their households and how
to educate their children and how to
initiate Miriam and Esther and Vashti
and Eunice. the mother Of Timothy,
and Mary. the mother Of Christ. and
those women who on northern and
southern battlefields were mistaken by
the wounded for angels Of mercy, fresh
from the throne Of God.
Yes. have to tell you. the religious
discourse of the future will be re-
ported sermon. If you have any idea
that printing was invented simply to
print secular books, and stenography
and photography were contrlyed mere
" to set forth secular ideas, you are
mistaken. The printing press Is to he
the great agency of gospel proclama-
ton. 1t is high time that good men,
instead OF denouncing the press, en-
plov it to scatter forth the gospel OF
Jesus Christ The vast majority OF
people in our cities do not come to
church, and nothing but the printed
sermon can reach them and call them
to pardon and life and peace and
heaven.
So | cannot understand the nervous
ness Of some of my brethren Of the
ministry. When they see newspaper
man coming in. they say, ALIAS, there
is a reporter" Every added reporter
is 10000, $4,000, 100000 immortal souls
added to the auditory. The time Will
come when all the village, town ana