The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1901-05-24
accept thoiE own eliveranoe2 = ,,hste 8is5
nothing proposed By mo hat oAn do IS
ANYTHING like thu Qospal. sSi# # rs 81

accept thoiE own deliveranee2 ,I!heresis
nothing proposed By $ae !. q hat cangdo,
anything likethis gos pal
u The roligious Of Ralph Waldo Hmer-
aon was the philosophy OF isieles;i s. tho
religion Of Theodore Parkor was 6
eiroooo Of tho desert, covering up tho
soul with dry aand; the religion Of
Roman was tho romance of believing
almost nothing; the religion Of tho
Huxleys and tho Spenoors is merely a
pedestal on which human philosophy
sits shiyeripg Id the night of tho soul
looking up to tho stars, sffering no holp
to- the nations that crouch and groan al
tho base. Tell mo whore thoro is ono
man who has rejeotod that go' pei for
another who IS thorogbly gt atlsfsd and
helped and coutonted in his skcptioism
and will take tho car tomorrow and
ride 500 miles to SEQ him Tho full
power Of the gospel has not yet boon
touched. AS o Bpo'tman throwl up
his hand and catches tho ball flying
through tho air, Just 30 easily will this
gospel after aahilo catch this round
world flying from its orbit aud bring it
back to tho heart Of Uhrist. Give it
full swing, and it wilt pardon every sin,
heal ovory wound, curo every trouble,
emanoipato every slave and ransom
every nation. Ye Christian mon aud
women who 60 out this afternoon to do
Christian work, rs SOU go into the Sun
day schools, and the lay preaohing sta
tions, and tho ponitentiaries, and tho
asylums, / want you to foel that you
boar in your hand weapon compared
with which tho lightning has no speed
and avalsnches havo no hoft and tho
thundorbolts of heaven have no powor;
it is tho arrow Of the omuipotent gospel.
Take careful aiml Pull the arrow oloar
back until tho head strikes tho bowl
Then let it fly. And msy tho slain Of
the Lord be many.
| Again, if you want to bo skillful in
spiritual archery you must hunt ia uu
frtqIented and ssol1d placos. Why
does tho hunter 60 throe or four days in
] tho Popnsylvania forests or over Ra
quetto lako into tho wilds Of f,hs Adiron.
dscks? 1t is tho only way to do. Tho
deer arc shy, and ono bang" Of tho gun
clears the forest. From tho California
stage you sec, as you go over tho plains,
here aud there coyote trotting along
almost within range Of the guu--aomo.
times quite within range Of it. N, ono
cares for that. 1t is worthless. The
good geme il hidden and secluded.
Every huntor knows that SO many Of
the souls that will bo Of most worth ,r
Christ and of most valuo to tho church
are secluded. They do not como in our
way. You will have to 60 where thoy
arc. Yonder they arc down in that Gel
lar. Yonder they are up in that garrot
far away from tho door of any chutoh.
Tho gospel arrow has not boon pointed
at them. The tla,t distributor and tho
city missionary sometimes just catch q
| glimpse ofsthem, as hunter through
the treos gets momeDtary sight Of a
partridge or roebuok. The trouble is
wo arc willing for the game to como to
US. We are not good hunters. We are
standing on some street or road expect
ing that tho timid antelope will como
up and oat out Of our hand. We are
expecting that The prairio fowl will
light on our oburoh stoeple. 1t is not
their habit, Ii the church should wait
10000, 600 Of years for the world to
como il and be saved, it will wait in
v.in The world will not como.
| What tho church wants now ia to lift
it's feet from damask ottomans and put
them in tho stirrups. The church wants
not 80 much cushions as it wants sad
dlebags and arrows. We haYs got to
put aside the gown and tho kid klovos
and put on the hunting shirt. We want
| a pulpit on wheels. We have boen,ash
| ing 80 long in tho brooks that ru a under
| the shadow Of tho church that the tfisb
know us, and they avoid the hook }and
escape as soon as We come to t'io bank,
while yonder is Upper Saranao and Biz
Tupper's lake, where the first swing Of
the. gospel not would break it for the
multitude of tho fishos. There IS out
| side work to be done. What is that
see in the baokwoods2 It is a tent
The hunters have mado olearirg and
campod out. What do they care If they
have wet foet or if they have nothing
but pine branch for pillow or for the
northeast storm? II moose in the
darkness steps into tho lake to drink,
they hear it right away. IF loon cry
in the midnight, thoy hear it. So in
the service Of God we have exposed
work. We have. got to camp out and
rough it. We arc putting all our care on
the comparatively few people who 20 to
church. What are we doing for the mil.
lions who do not como? Have they no
souls? Are thoy sinloss that they noed
no pardon2 Arc thero no dead in their
houses that they noed no conf ort2 Are
'thoy cut off from God to 90 into eternity
no wing to boar them, no light to cheer
them, no woloome to greet them hear
today surging up from that lower depth
OF our citios groan that comes through
our Christian assomblagcs and through
our beautiful churches, and 1t blots out
ell this aceno from my owes today, az BY
the mists of great Niagara, for the
dash and the plunge of these great tor
rents Of life dropping down into tho
fathomless and thundering abysm Of
suffering and woo. sometimes think
thnt just as God blotted out,tho chuYohoa
OF Thyatira and Oorinth aud Laod!cea
because ofitheir sloth and stolidity he
will blot out American and English
Christianity and raise on the ruins o
| stalwart, wide awake missionary church
that can take tho full meaning of that
command: "God 70 into ali world and
preach the gospel to every creature. Ho
that believoth and is baptized shall bo
saved, but he that beliovoth not shall
20 damnod"--a command, you 500,
Dunotuato6 with n tbropo of hoaron