Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1899-12-07

them out OF it. We forget that every aud.
itor has so much capacity Of attention, and
when that Is exhausted He is restless. That
accident on the Long Island railroad years
ago came from the fact that the brakes
we're out OF order, and when they wanted
| to stop the train they could not stop, and
hence the casualty was terrific. In all re-
ligious discourse we want locomotive power
and propulsion. We want at the same time
stout brakes to let down at the right in
slant. 1t Is a dismal thing, after hearer
has compreh hended the whole subject, to
hear man say, Nov to recapitulate,"
and "A few words by way Of application"
and "Once MORE" and "Finaliy," aud
"Now to conclude"
Paul preached until midnight, and Euty-
chus got sound asleep and fell out OF n
WINDOW and broke his neck. Some would
say, "Good for him" would rather be
him. That accident is often quoted now in
religious circles as u warning against SOM
noence In church. 1t is just as much q
warning to ministers against prolixity.
Eutychus was wrong In his somnolence,
but Paul made a mistake when he kept on
until midnight. He ought to have stopped
Mt II o'clock, and there would have been
no accident. II Paul might have gone on
to too great length, let all those OF us who
are now preaching the gospel remember
or ought to be, and that in our time we
have no apostolic power of miracles. Ma
poleon in IN address OF seven minutes
thrilled his army and thrilled Europe.
Christ's sermon on the mount, the model
sermon. was less than eighteen minutes long
at ordinary mode OF delivery 1t is not
electricity scattered all over the sky that
strikes, but electricity gathered into q
| thunderbolt and hurled, and 1t is not relig-
ious truth scattered over and spread out
truth projected in compact form that
flashes light upon the soul and rives its
| Indifference.
When the religious discourse of the
future arrives in this land and in the
Christian church, the discourse which is to
arouse the world and startle the nations
and usher In the kingdom, 1t will be a brief
| discourse.
Hear it, all theological students, all ye
just entering upon religious work, all ye
men and women who In Sabbath schools
and other departments are toiling for
Christ and the salvation of immortals-
| brevity, brevityl
But I remark also that the religious
| discourse Of the future OF which l speak
will be popular discourse. There are
those In these times who speak of a popular
sermon as though there must be something
| wrong about 1t. AS these critics are dull
| themselves. the world gets the impression
that a sermon is good in proportion as it is
stupid. Christ was the most popular
preacher the world ever saw and, con-
!
worlds population, had the largest au-
dience ever gathered. He never preached
anywhere without making great
sensation. People rushed out in the wild
erness to hear Him reckless of their phys
teal necessities. So great waa their ankle
| ty to hear Christ that, taking no food with
them, they would have tainted and starved
| had not Christ performed Il miracle and
fed them. Why did so many people take
the truth at Christ's hands? Because they
| 1A-a Al1 In t,,nk a4nA IT, n,.k
ject by q hen and her chickens, by bushel
measure, by q handful OF salt, by birds
! Aight and by a lily's aroma. All the people
knew what He meant, and they hocked to
Him. And when the religious discourse OF
the future appears 1t will not be Prince
tonian, not Rochesterian, not Andoverian,
not Middletonian, but Olivetic--plain,
practical, unique, earnest, comprehensive
| OF all the woes, wants, sins and sorrows OF
an auditory.
But when that exhortation or discourse
| does come there will be q thousand gleam-
Ing scimiters to charge on it. There are in
80 many theological seminaries professors
| telling young men how to preach, them
selves not knowing how, and am told that
| II a young man in some OF our theological
seminarles says anything quaint or thrif>
ing or unique faculty and students fly at
him and set him right and straighten him
out and smooth him down and chop him
off until he says everything just as every
| body else says 1t. Oh, when the future re-
| ligious discourse OF the Christian church ar
cities will be thronged! The world wants
| spiritual help. All who have buried their
dead want comfort. All know themselves
to be mortal and to be immortal, and they
want to hear about the great future. Itell
you, my friends, If the people OF cur great
cities who have had trouble only thought
they could get practical and sympathetic
help in the Christian church, there would
not be q street In Washington or New York
or any other city which would be passable
on the Sabbath day II there were church
on 1t. for all the people would press to
that asylum Of mercy, that great house OF
comfort and consolation.
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 80 and get n handful OF
mustard seed from house in which there
has been no sorrow and in which there has
been no death, and I will restore your
child to lfe." So the mother went out,
and she went from house to house and
from homo to home looking for 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. l can't
find place whore there has been no sor-
row and no DEATH" "Oh!" says the god
worse than the sorrows OF others. We ali
have our griefs, and all have our heart
breaks"
"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 of its own
We hear great deal of discussion now
all over the land about why people do not
90 TO church. Some say 1t is because
Christianity Is dying out and because peo-
pie do not believe in the truth OF Gods
word, and all that They are false reasons.
The reason is because our sermons and ex-
hortations are not interesting and practi-
cal and helpful.
Some one might as we'll tell the whole
truth on this subject, and so I 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 q popular sermon, Just for the sim
ple reason that it will meet the woes and
the wants and the anxieties of the people.
There are in all our denominations &C.
clesiastical mummes sitting around to
frown upon the fresh young pulpits of