The Chanute times. [volume] (Chanute, Kan.) 1897-1913, 1900-04-13

YOU may take almost any castle OF sin
| for Christ. Come up toward men with
a regular besiegement Of argument.
and you will be defeated but just wait
until the door of their hearts Is set
ajar. or they are off their guard, or
their severe caution Is away from
home, and then drop in on them from
a Christian ambuscade. There mas
been many a man up to his chin In
scientific portfolios which proved there
was no Christ and no divine revelation,
his pen scimeter flung into the heart
of theological opponents, who never
thefess has been discounted and cap
tured for God by some little 3-year-old
child who has got up and put her
snowy arms around his sinewy neck
and asked some simple question about
God.
Importance Of Good Aim.
The Importance of taking good aim.
There is Joshua, but how are those
people in ambush up yonder to know
|
how are these men around Joshua to
know when they are to stop their flight
and advance? There must be some
signal-a signal to stop the one diVi-
sion and to start the other. Joshua,
with a spear on which were ordinarily
hung the colors of cattle, points toward
the city. He stands in such conspic-
uous position, and there is so much or
the morning light dripping from that
spear tip, that all around the horizon
they see it. 1t was as much as to say:
There is the city. Take it!
God knows and we know that a
great deal of Christian attack amounts
to nothing simply because we do not
take good aim. Nobody knows and we
do not know ourselves which point we
want to take when we ought to make
up our minds what God will have us
to do and point our spear in that d.
rection and then hurl our body, mind,
soul, time, eternity at that one tar
| get.
The Need OF Courage.
have heard it said: Look out for a
man who has only one idea; he is If
resistible" I say look out for the
man who has one idea, and that de-
termination for soul saving. believe
God would strike me dead If | dared
to point the spear in any other dlrec-
ton. Oh. for some of the courage
and enthusiasm Of joshua He flung
two armies from the tip of that spear.
1t is sinful for us to rest unless it is
to get stronger muscle and fresher
brain and purer heart for Gods work.
| feel on my head the hands of Christ
in a new ordination. Do you not feel
the same omnipotent pressure? There
is work for all of us. Oh, that we
might stand up side by side and point
the spear toward the city! 1t ought
to be taken. 1t will be taken. Our
cities are drifting off toward loose
religion or what is called liberal
Christianity" which is so liberal that
it gives up all the cardinal doctrines
of the Bible so liberal that it surren-
ders the rectitude of the throne of the
Almighty. That is liberality with a
vengeance. Let us decide upon the
work which we as Christian men have
to do and in the strength of God go
to work and do it.
A Year OF Mercies.
believe that the next year will be
the most stupendous year that HEAVIER.
ever saw. The nations are quaking
now with the coming of God. 1t will
be a year of success for the men Of
Joshua, but of doom for the men of
All. You put your ear to the rail
track, and you can hear the train COM
ing miles away. So put my ear to
the ground, and hear the thunder
ing on of the lightning train of Gods
mercies and judgments. The mercy
of God is first to be tried upon this
nation. 1t will be preached in the pull
pits, in theaters, on the streets ev-
erywhere People will be invited to
accept the mercy of the gospel and the
story and the song and the prayer will
be mercy" But suppose they do not
accept the offer of mercy-what then?
Then God will come with his judg-
ments, and the grasshoppers will eat
the crops, and the freshets will devas-
tate the valleys, and the defalcations
will swallow the money markets, and
the fires will burn the cities. and the
earth will quake from pole to pole.
Year of mercies and of judgments;
year of invitation and of warning;
year of jubilee and of woe. Which
side are you going to be on-with the
men of All or the men of Joshua? Pass
over this Sabbath into the ranks of Is
rael. l would clap my hands at the
Joy of your coming. You will have a
poor chance for this world and the
world to come without Jesus. You
cannot stand what is to come upon
you and upon the world unless you
have the pardon and the comfort and
the help of Christ. Come over, On
this side are your happiness and safe
ty; on tie other side are disquietude
oDd dacnair Eternal defeat m rho mon