Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-05-18

world If he had enough faith in 1t
could bring n hundred souls to Chris
perhaps five hundred. Just In pro
portion as this age seems to believe
less and less In 1t | believe more and
more in 1t. What are men about that
they will not accept their own deliver
ance? There is nothing proposed by
men that can do anything like this
gospel.
An Omnipotent Weapon.
The religion of Ralph Waldo Emer-
son was the philosophy of Iclcles; the
religion Of Theodore Parker was a ST.
rocco Of the desert, covering up the
soul with dry sand; the religion of Re-
nan was the romance of believing al
most nothing; the religion of the Hux-
leys and the Spencers Is merely a ped
estal on which human philosophy sits
shivering In the night of the soul. look
Ing up to the stars, offering 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 satisfied and
helped and contented in his skepticlsm
and | will take the car tomorrow and
ride 500 miles to see him. The full
power Of the gospel has not yet been
touched. AS a 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 It's 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 trou-
bic, emancipate every slave and ran
som every nation. Ye Christian men
and women who go out this afternoon
to do Christian work, as you go into
the Sunday schools and the lay preach
ing stations and the penitentlarles and
the asylums | want you to feel that
you bear In your hand a weapon COM
pared with which the lightning has no
speed and avalanches have no heft and
the thunderbolts of heaven have no
power 1t is the arrow of the omnipo-
tent gospel. Take careful aim! Pull
the arrow clear back until the head
strikes the bow! Then let 1t fly! And
may the slain OF the Lord be many!
Again, II you want to be sklllful in
spiritual archery. you must hunt In
and secluded places. Why
does the hunter go three or four days
into the Pennsylvania forests or over
Raquette lake Into the wilds of the
Adirondacks? 1t Is the only way to
do. The 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 a coy
ote trotting along almost within range
Of the gun-sometimes quite within
range of 1t. No one cares for that: it
Is worthless. The good game is hidden
and secluded. Every hunter knows
that. So many of the souls that will
be Of most worth for 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. Yon-
der they are down In that cellar; yon-
der they are up In that garret-far |
AWAY from the door Of any church. The |
gospel arrow has not been pointed at |
hem. The tract distributor and the |
,ity missionary sometimes just catch
l glimpse of them. as hunter through |
he trees gets momentary sight of q
or roebuck The trouble Is
We are waiting for the game to come
% us.
A Command and a Promise,
We are not good bunters. We are
standing on some street or road. ex-
)ecting that the timid antelope will
,ome up and eat out Of our hand. We
Ire expecting that the prairie fowl will
light on our church steeple. 1t Is not
heir habit. If the church should wait
100000 years for the world to come
n and be saved, II will wait In vain
rhe world will not come. What the
,hurch wants now Is to lift Its feet
rom damask ottomans and put them
n the stirrups. The church wants not
o much cushions as II wants saddle.
'ags and arrows. We have got to put
side the gown and the kid gloves and
ut on the hunting shirt. We want a
ulpit on wheels. We have been fish
ng so long In the brooks that run un
er the shadow of the church that the
sh know US. and they avoid the hook
nd escape as soon as we come to the
ank, while yonder Is Upper Saranac
nd Big Tupper's lake. where the first
wing Of the gospel net would break 1t
or the multitude Of the fishes. There
] outside work to be done. What is II
hat see in the backwt DDS? 1t is a
ent. The hunters have made a clear.
lg and camped out. What do they
are If they have wet feet or If they
ave nothing but a pine branch for q
illow or for the northeast storm? 1T
loose In the darkness steps into the
Ike to drink. they hear II right away
loon cry In the midnight, they
ear it. So in the service OF God we
ave exposed work We have got to
amp out and rough It We are put.
ng all our care on the comparatively
wv people who go to church What
re we doing for the millions who do
OF come? Have they no souls! Are
ley sinless that they need no pardonf
re there no dead In their houses that
ley need no comfort? Are they cut
r from God to go into eternity-no
ing to bear them. no light to cheer
lem. no welcome to greet them? |
ear today. surging up from that lower
apth Of our cities. groan that comes
trough our Christian assemblages and
trough our beautiful churches. and it
lots out all this scene from my eyes,
, by the mists Of great Niagara, for
lie dash and the plunge OF these great
rrents of life dropping down into the
lthomless and laundering abysm of
lffering and woe. / sometimes think ,
lat Just as God blotted out the church