Connecticut western news., 1901-03-28


some chose 1t as means of livelihood;
perhaps some Of them were sincere,
but were mistaken. AS Thomas Chal-
mers said, he had been many years
preaching the gospel before his heart
had been changed, and as many minis
tiers of the gospel declare they were
preaching and had been ordained to sa-
cred orders years and years before
their hearts were regenerated. Ora
cious God, what a solemn thought for
those of us who minister at the altar!
With the present ministry in the pres
ent temperature of piety this land will
never be enveloped with revivals.
While the pews on one side the altar
cry for mercy the pulpits on the other
side the altar must cry for mercy. Min
listers quarreling, ministers trying to
pull each other down, ministers strug-
Cling for ecclesiastical place, ministers
lethargic with whole congregations dy-
ing on their hands! What spectacle!
Aroused pulpits will make aroused
pews; pulpits afame will make pews
afiame. Everybody believes In reviv-
al In trade, everybody likes revival
in literature, everybody likes a revival
In art, yet great multitude cannot I'M
derstand a revival in matters Of reli-
gion. Depend upon it, where you find
a man antagonistic to revivals, wheth-
er ,he be in pulpit or pew, he needs to
be regenerated by the grace of God.
1 could prove to demonstration that
without reviyals this world will never
be converted and that In 100 or 200
years without revivals Christianity will
be practically extinct. 1t Is matter
of astounding arithmetic. In each Of
our modern generations there are ut
least 32,0OO,0O children. Now add 3d.
100000 to the worlds population and
then have only 100000 or 100000 con-
verted every year, and how long before
the world will be saved? Never-abso-
lutely neverl
The King Calls For Recruits.
During our civil war the president Of
the United States made proclamation
for $4,000 troops. Some Of you remem-
Der the big stir. But the King of the
universe today asks for 1,20O,000,0O0
more troops than are enlisted, and we
want 1t done softly, imperceptibly, no
excitement, one by one. You are dry
goods merchant on large scale, and
am merchant on small scale, and
come to you and want to buy a thousand
yards of cloth. Do you say: THANK
you. I'll sell you thousand yards of
cloth, but I'll sell you 20 yards to-
day and 20 tomorrow and 20 the next
day, and If it takes me six months III
~ .,1..
will want as long as that to examine
the goods, and I'll want as long as that
to examine the credit, and, besides
that, thousand yards of cloth are too
much to sell all at onceT No, you do
not say that. You take me into the
counting room, and in ten minutes the
whole transaction is consummated. The
fact is, we cannot afford to be fools In
anything but religion.
That very merchant who on Saturday
afternoon sold me the thousand yards
of cloth at one stroke the next Sabbath
In church will stroke his beard and
wonder whether 1t would not be better
for a thousand souls to come struggling
along for ten years instead of boiling
In at one service.
We talk good deal about the good
times that are coming and about the
worlds redemption. How long before
they VIII conner There is q man who
says 500 years; here Is a man who says
200 years; here is some one more conf
dent who says In so years. What, 80
years? Do you propose to let two gen.
erations pass of the stage before the
world is converted? Suppose by pro-
longation Of human life at the end Of
the next so years you should walk the
length of Pennsylvania avenue Wash
ington, or the length of Broadway,
New York in all those walks you
would not find one person that you rec
ognize. Why? All dead or so changed
you would not know them. In other
words, IL you postpone the redemption
of this world for 80 years you admit
that the majority Of the two whole
generations shall 60 off the stage I'M
blessed and unsaved. 1 tell you, the
church of Jesus Christ cannot consent
to it. We must pray and toll and have
the revival spirit, and we must struggle
to have the whole world saved before
the men and women now In middle life
part.
"Oh," you say, at is too vast an en-
terprise to be conducted In so short a
timer Do you know how long 1t
would take to save the whole world IL
each man would bring another? 1t
would take ten years. BY a calcula-
ton In compound interest each man
bringing another, and that one another,
and that one another, In ten years the
whole earth would be saved-1911. Be-
fore the organs In our churches are
worn out they ought to sound the
grand march Of the whole earth saved.
If the world is not saved In the next
ten years. 1t Will be the fault of the
church of Christ. But it will all de-
pend upon the revival spirit. The hook
and line fishing will not do 1t.
Universal Christianity.
1t seems to me as If God is preparing
the world for some quick and universal
movement. A celebrated electrician
gave me telegraph chart of the world.
On that chart the wires crossing the
| continents and the cables under the sea
looked like veins red with blood. On
that chart see that the headquarters
or the lightnings are in Great Britain
| and the United States. In London and
New York the lightnings are stabbed,
waiting to be harnessed for some quick
dispatch. That shows you that the tel
egraph is in the possession of Christi
| anity.
1t Is significant fact that the man
who invented the telegraph was an old
fashioned Christian, Professor Morse,
and that the man who put the tele-
| graph under the sea was an old fash
Toned Christian, Cyrus w. Field, and
that the president Of the most famous
OF the telegraph companies of this
country was an old fashioned Chris
tian, William Orion, going from the
communion table. on earth straight to