The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-05-19

which Is sharper than a two-edged sword piercing to the dividing asunder of soul Would to God we had more faith in that gospel. The humblest man in the world, If he had enough faith in 1t, could bring a hundred souls to Christ-perhaps five seems to believe less and less in 1t be- lievc more and more in 1t. What arc men about that they will not accept their own deiverance7 There is nothing proposed gospel.
 An omnipotent Weapon.
 The religion of Ralph Waldo Emerson was the philosophy of icicles; the re- ligion of Theodore Parker was a sirocco
 Srv Sr the desert covering up the soul with romance of believing almost nothing; the religion of the Huxleys and the Spencers Is merely pedestal on which human
 philosophy sits shivering in the night of the soul, looking up to the stars, offer ing no help to the nations that crouch and groan at the base. Tell me where
 there Is one man who has rejected that gospel for another who Is thoroughly sat-
 fsfied and helped and contented in his
 skepticism and I will take the car tomor-
 row and ride 500 miles to see him. The
 full power of the gospel has not yet been
 touched. As sportsman throws up his
 hand and catches the ball flying through
 the air, just so easily will this gospel
 after awhile catch this round world flying
 from Its orbit and bring 1t back to the
 heart of Christ. Give it full swing and
 1t will pardon every sin, heal every
 wound. cure every trouble, emancipate
 every slave and ransom every nation. Ne
 Christian men and women who go out
 this afternoon to do Christian work, as
 you go into the Sunday schools and the lay preaching stations and the peniten-
 tiaries and the asylums want you to feel compared with which the lightning has no speed and avalanches have no heft and the thunderbolts of heaven have no pow CT. It is the arrow of the omnipotent row clear back until the head strikes the bow! Then let 1t fly! And may the slain of the Lord be many!
 Again, If you want to be skillful in freauented and secluded places. Why does the hunter so three or four days into the Pennsylvania forests or over Ra- quette Lake into the wilds of the Adiron- deer are shy. and one bang of the gun clears the forest From the California stage you see, as you go over the plains, here and there coyote trotting along times quite within range of it. No one cares for that: 1t is worthless. The good game is hidden and secluded. Every hunter knows that So many of the Christ and of most value to the church are secluded. They do not come in your way. You will have to go where they are. .Yonder they are down in that eel lar; wonder they are up in that garrett far away from the door of any church. The gospel arrow has not been pointed at them. The tract distributor and the city missionary sometimes just catch glimpse of them, as a hunter through the trees gets momentary sight of part ridge or roebuck. The trouble Is we are waiting for the game to come to us.
 A Command and Promise.
 We are not good hunters. We are standing on some street or road, ex- pecting that the timid an antelope Hope Wlll T1a are expecting that the prairie fowl will light on our church steeple. It is not their habit. If the church should wait | s.d ssye viii the wst in 'U SaD rhe
 world u1M not come. What the church | wants n1v Is to lift its feet from da- | mask ottomans and put them in the stir cuhions as 1t wants saddle-bags and ar rows. We have got to put aside the gown l and the kid gloves and put on the hunt | ing shirt. We want pulpit on wheels. 1 brooks that run under the shadow of the church that the fish know us, and they avoid the hook and escape as soon as we come to the bank. while wonder is Upper the first swing of the gospel net would break 1t for the multitude of the fishes. There is outside work to be done. What is it that see in the backwoeds? It is a tent, The hunters have made clear tng and camped out. What do they care If they have wet feet or If they have noth- ing but a pine branch for pillow or for the northeast storm? If a moose in the
 darkness steps into the lake to drink,
 they hear 1t right away. If loon cry
 in the midnight, they hear 1t. So in the
 service of God we have exposed work
 We have got to camp out and rough it.
 We nuftinR all the n- paratively few people who go to church
 What are we doing for the millions who
 do not come? Have they no souls? Are they sinless that they need no pardon?
 Arc there no dead in their houses that
 they need no comfort? Are they cut off from God to go into eternity-no wing to
 bear them, no light to cheer them, no welcome te greet them? I hear today,
 surging up from that lower depth of our
 cities, a groan that comes through our
 Christian assemblages and through our
 beautiful churches. and 1t blots out all
 this scene from my eyes. as by the mists
 of a great Niagara, for the dash and the
 plunge of these great torrents of life
 dropping down into the fathomless and
 laundering abysm of suffering and woe.
 I sometimes think that just as God plotted out the churches of Thyatira and Corinth and Laodicea because of their sloth and stolidity he will blot out Ameri-
 can and English Christianity and raise on the ruins stalwart, wide awake mis- sionary church that can take the full meaning of that command: Go ye into all tho world and preach the gospel to
 every creature. He that beneveth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that be- Iieveth not shall be damned" a com mana. you see, punctuated with throne | of heaven and a dungeon of hell.
 More Backbone Needed.
 remark, further. if you want to suc- eeed in spiritual archery you must have | courage. If the hunter stands with trembling hand or shoulder that fiinches with fear. instead of his taking the cata- mount the catamount takes him. What would become of the Greenlander if when | out hunting for the bear he should stand | shfvering with terror on an iceberg3 l What would have become of Du Chaillu
 and Livingstone in the African thicket
 When 8 panther comes within twenty | paces of you, and it has its eye on you, | and 1t has squatted for the fearful | spring, Steady, there!" Courage, O ye l spiritual archers! There are great mon | sters of iniquity prowling all around | about the community Shall we not in
 the strength of God go forth and combat
 them? We not only need more heart. but
 more backbone. What is the church of | God that 1t should fear to look in the | eye any transgression? There is the Ben | gal tiger of drunkenness that prowls | around. and instead of attacking 1t how
 many of us hide under the church pew | much invested in 1t we are afraid to as- l sault it-millions of dollars in barrels. in vats, in spigots, in corkscrews, in gin ! palaces with marble floors and Italian | top tables, and chased ice coolers. and in l the strychnine. and the logwood, and
 the tartaric acid. and the nux Vomica l that go to make up our pure" American l fpE uuffh urOnderfn0