The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-11-20

Iblanu Eaur0Au ye3Iu ~ c9m9 Avss ~
fact that the brakes weFp out Of order,
and when thsy vented to stop ths train
they could not stop. snd hence tho casp-
atty was terrific. In all religious dis
course we want locomotive power and
propulsion. We want at the same time
stout brakes to let down At the right In
slant. It Is a dismal thing, after hear
er has comprehended the whole subject.
to hear q man say, "Now to recapitu-
late," and "A few words by way Of ap.
pllcation," and "Once more, "and Ell
nally," and "Now to conclude"
Paul preached until midnight, and Eu-
tychus got sound asleep and fell out Of
a window and broke his neck. Some
would say, "Good for him." would
rather be sympathetic. like Paul, and re-
suscitate him. That accident Is often
quoted now in religious circles as warn
Ing against somnolence in church.
1t 10 just as much warning
to ministers against prolixity. Euty.
chus was wrong in his somnolence, but
Paul made mistake when be kept on
until midnight. He ought to have stop
ped at 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 that there Is limit to reli.
gious discourse, or ought to be, and that
In our time we have no apostolic power
of miracles. Napoleon In an address Of
seven minutes thrilled his army and
thrilled Europe. Christ's sermon on the
mount, the model sermon, was less than
IS minutes long at ordinary mode of de-
livery. 1t Ia not electricity scattered all
over the sky that strikes, but electricity
gathered into a thunderbolt and hurled,
and 1t Is not religious truth scattered
over and spread out over vast reach of
time, but religious truth projected In
compact form that flashes light upon the
soul and rives its Indifference.
The Popular Sermon.
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 ma
tons and usher in the kingdom, 1t will
be a brief discourse. Hear 1t, all theo-
logical students, all We just entering upon
religious work, all We men and women
who In Sabbath schools and other de-
partments are toiling for Christ and the
salvation Of immortals- brevity.
But / remark also that the religious
discourse Of the future Of which l speak
will be n popular discourse. There are
those in these times who speak of pop
ular sermon as though there must be
something wrong about 1t. As these
critics are dull themselves, the world
gets the impression that sermon is good
in proportion as 1t Is stupid. Christ was
the most popular preacher the world
ever saw and, considering the small num-
Der Of the worlds population, had tho
largest audience ever gathered. He never
preached anywhere without making
great sensation. People rushed out in
the wilderness to hear him reckless Of
their physical necessities. So great was
their anxiety to hear Christ that, taking
no food with them, they would have
tainted and starved had not Christ per-
formed miracle and fed them. Why
did so many people take the truth at
Christ's hands? Because they all under
stood it. He illustrated his subject by a
hen and her chickens, by bushel meas
ure, by handful of salt by birds
fight and by lily's aroma. All the peo-
pie knew what he meant, and they flock.
ed to him. And when the religious dis
be Princetonian, not Rochesterian, not
Andoverian, not Middletonian, but Oil
vetic-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 thousand
cleaning scimiters to charge on it. There
are in so many theological seminaries
professors telling young men how to
preach, themselves not knowing bow,
and am told that if young man in
some of our theological seminaries says
anything quaint or thrilling 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 it. Oh, when the future
religious discourse of the Christian
church arrives all the churches Of Christ
In our great 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 i'm
mortal and they want to hear about the
great future. l tell you, my friends. If
the people of our great cities who have
had trouble only thought they could get
practical and sympathetic help in the
Christian church, there would not be n
street in Washington or New York or
any other city which would be passable
on the Sabbath day if there were
church on it, for all the people would
press to that asylum of mercy, that great
house of comfort and consolation.
The Worlds Sorrows.
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 handful
of mustard seed from house in which
there has been no sorrow and in which
there has been no death, and will re-
store your child to lfe." So the mother
went out and she went from house to
house and from home to home looking for
4 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 fail
ure. You see haven't brought the mus
tard seed. l can't find a place where
there has been no sorrow and no DEATH
"Oh" says the god silva. Understand,
your sorrows are no worse than the sor-
rows 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 Of its own
We hear great deal Of disc zion now
all over the land about why people do not
60 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 rea-
sons. The reason is because our sermons
and cxhortations are not interesting and
practical and helpful. Some one might
as well tell the whole truth on this sub
ject, and SO will tell it. The religious
discourse Of the future, the gospel SER
mon to come forth and shake the nations
and lift people out of darkness, will be
popular sermon, Just for the simple rea-
son that il will meet the woes and the
wants and the anxieties Of the people.
There are in all our denominations &C.
clesiastical mummies sitting around to
frown upon the fresh young pulpits Of
America to try to awe them down, to cry
out. Tut, tut, tut! Sensational" They
stand today preaching in churches that