Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1900-02-09

burden to beer. 1t Is not hard STUDY tnat
makes ministers look pale. 1t Is tne IN
finity of Interruptions and Dotneratl0ns 10
which they are subjected. Numerically TOO
small! II is no more the WORK Oh the puipit
to convert and save the world than IL Is
the work OF the pew. LII men go 10 rum,
there will be as much blood on your skirts
as on mine.
Let us Quit this grand farce of trying
to save the world by few clergymen'
and let all hands lay hold OF the WORK.
Give US in all our churcnes TWO or
three aroused and qualified men and
women to help. In most churches to-
dav five or ten men are compelled to do
all the work. vast majority OF churcnes
are at their wits end how to carry on
PRAYER meeting IL the minister Is notthere,
when there ought to be enough pent up
energy and religious force to make meet
ing 90 on with such power that the minis.
ter would never be missed. The church
stands working the pumps or lew
ministerial cisterns until! the buckets
arc dry and choked, while there are
thousands OF fountains from which
might be dipped up the waters OF eter-
nal life. BofoIe you and l have the
sod pressing our eyeids we will under
God decide whether our children shall grow
up amid the accursed surroundings OF vice
and shame or come to an inheritance OF
righteousness. Long, loud, bitter Will be
the curse that scorches our grave II, hold
ing within the church to-day enough mon
and women to save the city, VIC act the
coward or the droDe. l wish L could put
enough moral explosives under the con-
ventionalities and majestic stupidities OF
the day to blow them to atoms and that
then, with SO, 900 men and women from all
tho churches knowing nothing but Christ
and a desire to bring all the world to Him,
we might move upon tue enemy's works.
For lttlc while heaven would not have
trumpets enough to celebrate the victories.
Again. learn from this subject that we
sometimes do we'll to take advantage OF the
worlds grindstones. These Israelites were
reduced to file, and so they went over to
the garrison OF the Philistines to get their
axes and their goads and their plows
sharpened. The Bible distinctly states 1t -
the text which read at the beginning OF
the servicc-that they had no other instru-
ments now with which TO do this work, and
the Isrnelites did right when they went over
to the Pblistnos to use their grindstones.
My friends, is 1t not right for us to employ
the worlds grndstones? II there DO art,
il there be logic, if there be business facul-
ty on tho other side, lot us go over and en-
ploy it for Cbrst's sake. Tho fact Is We
light with too dull Instruments. We hack
and wo maui when we ought 10 mako Il
clean stroke. Let us go over among sharp
business meE and among sharp literary
men and find out what their tact IS and
transfer it to the cause OF Christ. II they
have science and art 1t will do US good to
rub against 1t.
In other words let US employ the wor Id
grindstones. We will listen to their music,
and we will watch their acumen, and we
will use their grindstones, and will borrow
their philosophical apparatus to make our
experiments, and we will borrow their
printing presses to publish our Bibles, and
we will borrow their rail trains to carry
our Christian literature, and we will borrow
their ships to transport our missionaries.
That was what made Paul such master in
his day. He not only got all the learning
he could get Of Dr.. Gamaliel, but alter
ward, standing on Mars hill and in crowd
ed thoroughfare, quoted their poetry, and
grasped their logic, and welded thoir elo-
Quepce, and employed their mythology un-
til Dionysius, the Areopaglte, learned. i'll
the schools of Athens and Heiopois, went
down under his tremendous powers.
That was what gave Thomas Chalmers
his power in his day. He conquered the
worlds astronomy and compelled 1t to ring
out the wisdom and greatness Of the Lord
until, for the second time, tho morning
stars sang together and all the sons of God
shouted for Joy. That was what gave to
Jonathan Edwards his influence in his day.
He conquered the worlds metaphysics and
forced it into the service OF God until not
only the old meeting house at Northamp-
ton, Mass, but all Christendom, felt thrilled
by his Christian power. Well, now, my
friends, we all have tools OF Christian
power. Do not let them lose their edges.
We want no rusty blades IN this fight. We
want no coulter tAaf cannot rip up the
glebe. We want no axe that cannot fell
the trees. We want no goad that cannot
start the lazy team. Let us get the very
best grindstones we can find, Though they
DO in possession Of the Philistines, compel
ling them to turn the crank while we bear
down with all our might on the swift re,
volving wheel until all our energies and
faculties shall be brought up to bright,
keen, sharp, glittering edge. -
Again, my subject teaches us on what
a small allowance Phlistine iniquity puts
man. Yes, these Philistines shut up the
mines, and then they took the spears ana
the swords; then they took the blacksmiths;
then they took the grindstones, and they
took everything but file. Oh, that Is the
way sin works! 1t grabs everything. Ii
begins with robbery and ends with rob-
berry. 1t despoils this faculty and that
faculty and keeps on until the whole nature
is gone. Was the man eloquent before, IL
generally thickens his tongue, Was ne line
in personal appearance, 1t mars his vlsase;,
Was he aff1uent, 1t sends the sheri1 10 sell
him out. Was he influential. IL drtroys
his popularity. Was he placid ana genlai
and loving, it makes him spicnetic and
cross. and so utterly is he changed that
YOU can see he Is sarcastic and rasping and
that the Philistines have left him nothing
but a file.
l learn from this subject what sad thing
1t is when the church OF God loses It's
metal! These Philistines saw that IL they
could only get all the metallic weapons
out Of the hands of the Israelites all would
be we'll and therefore they took the swords
and the spears. They did not want them
to have single metallic weapon. When
the metal of the IsraeliteH was gone, their
with the church of God to-day. 1t Is sur
rendering it's courage. 1t has not enough
metal.
Oh, Is 1t not high timo that we awake
out OF sleep? Church OF God. lift up your
head at the coming victory! The Philist ines
will 90 down, and the Israelites will go up.
We are on the winning iii l think just
now the Kings horses are being hooked up
to the chariot, and when lie does ride down
the sky there will bo such hosanna
among His friends and such wailing
among His enemies as will make the earth
tremble and the heaven sing. | see now
the plumes OF the Lords cavalrymen
tossing in the air. The archangei be.
fore the throne has already FURNISHED
his trumpet, and then he will put its gold
en- Inns to his own, and he will blow the
long. loud blast that will mako all the ma
lions free. Clap your hands, all ye PEG.
plel Hank! lear the falling thrones and
the dashihg down of demolished iniquities.
'Hallelul uh, the Lord God omnipotent
reignethe Halleluiah, the Kingdoms oil