The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1900-02-10

by the enemy be recaptured for GOD
and the reporters, and the typesetters,
and the editors, and the publishers
swear allegiance to the Lord God of
truth. All, my friend, that day must
come. and if the great body of Chris
tan men have not the faith, or the
courage, or the conservation to do it.
then let some Jonathan on his busy
hands and on his praying knees climb
up on the rock of Hindrance and in
the name of the Lord God of Israel slash
to pieces these literary Philistincs! If
| these men will not be converted to God,
then they must be overthrow.
Again, l learn from the subject what
a large amount of the church's re-
cources is actually hidden and buried
and undeveloped. The Bible intimates
that that was a very rich land, this
land of Israel. 1t says: THE stones
are iron, and out of the hills thou shalt
dig Brass and yet hundreds and thou
sands of dollars worth of this metal
was kept under the hills. Well, this is
the difficulty with the church of God
at this day. Its talent is not developed.
If one-half of its energy could be
brought out, it might take the public
lniquities of the day by the throat and
make them bite the dust. If human
eloquence were consecrated to the Lord
Jesus Christ, it would in a few years
persuade this whole earth to surrender
to God. There is enough undevcloped
energy in this city to bring all the
United States to Christ-enough of I'M
developed Christian energy in the Unit
ed States TO bring the whole world to
Christ. but it is buried under strata
of Indifference and under whole noun
tains of sloth. Now, is it not time for
the mining to begin, and the pickaXes
TO plunge. and for this buried metal to
be brought out and put into the fur
paces and be turned into howitzers and
carbines for the Lords host?
The vast majority of Christians in
this day are useless. The most of the
lords battalion belong to the reserve
corps. The most of the crew are asleep
III the hammocks. The most of the
metal is under the hills. Oh, is it not
time for the church of God to rouse up
and understand that we want all the
energies, all the talent and all the
wealth enlisted for Christ's sake? l
like the nickname that the English sol
diers gave to Butcher, the commander.
They called him odd Forwards" We
have had enough retreats in the church
of Christ; let us have a glorious adj
vance. And | say to you as the general
said when his troops were affrighted-
rising up in his stirrups, his hair flying
in the wind, he lifted up his voice until
10000 troops heard him crying out:
Forward, the whole line!" We want
all the laymen enlisted. Ministers are
numerically too small. They do the
best they IAN. They are the most over
worked class on earth. Many of them
die OF dyspepsia because they cannot
get the right kind of food TO eat, or,
getting the right kind, are so worried
that they take it down in chunks. They
die from early and late exposure.
If a novelist or a historian publishes
one book a year, he is considered in
dustrious. but every faithful pastor
must originate enough thought for
three or four volumes a year. Minis
tiers receive enough calls in a year from
men who have maps and medicines and
lightning rods and pictures to sell to
exhaust their vitality. They are
bored with agents of all sorts. They
are set in drafts at funerals and pois-
oned by the unventilated rooms of in
valids and waited upon by committees
who want addresses made until life
becomes a burden to bear. 1t is not
hard study that makes ministers look
pale. 1t is the i~nfinity of interruptions
and Deliberations TO which they are
subjected. Numerically too small. II
is no more the work of the pulpit tc
convert and save the world than it is
the work of the pew. If men go to
ruin. there will be as much blood on
T,our skirts as on mine.
Let us quit this grand farce of trying
10 save the world by a few clergymen
!, and let all hands lay hold of the work
Give us, in all our churches, two OIL
; three aroused and qualified men ant
women to help. In most churches to
day five or ten men are compelled 10 dc
all the work. a vast majority o
: churches are at their wits end how t
g. carry on a prayer meeting if the minis
! ter is not there, when there ought 10 b,
enough pent up energy and religion.
force 10 make a meeting go on will
t such power that the minister would
never be missed. The church stand.
= working the pumps of a few ministerial
= c~isterns until the buckets are dry ant
} choked, while there are thousands o
fountains from which might be dipped
; up the waters of eternal life. Befor,
you and | have the sod pressing on
{ eyelids we will, under God. decid'
whether our children shall grow VI
5 amid the accursed surroundings of vic
! and shame or come TO an inheritanc,
t Of righteousness. Long, loud, bitter
will be the curse that scorches on
grave if holding within the church to
C day enough men and women to say
the city we act the coward or the drone
e Again, learn from this subject tina
vp sometimes do we'll tn tnlo advop+nr