Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-08-21

lllp IDiDlt, Dut you w uuuNi uhu
believe enough TO make you acceptable
for membership in Christs church.
You do believe iN the atonement You
do believe that Jesus died to save you.
Throw away your doubts! Hold to
| your beliefs The gospel church life
boat Is too fine n craft to be scutted
merely because we know not oil the
pla nks out of which it's hull was built.
Come into the church llfeboat today
on the simple faith that its keel was
made from the straight beam Of the
Calvary cross.
Another Reason Answered.
"Woll," remarks another man, II do
not join the church because OF the in
constituencies of It's members. Some
profess one thing and practice another
! They say Christians ought to be kind
and loving and gentle and helpful TO
their fellow church members. Then
they demonstrate That some Of the
worst fights Oh earth are church fights.
The elder who prays the loudest In
prayer meeting may he the farmer who
never comes out SECOND best In horse
trade. and the gossip Of the sewing
!
society is Just MS merclcss as the Cos
sip at the club or in a ballroom. AS
long MS the church is filed with hypo-
critics | do not want TO join It,"
Stop, my brotheri You know that
some of the very hest men in every
community are members of the differ
emit Christian churches. You know, as
we'll ms | know that though some of
the church members may be hypo-
critics the vast majority are men and
women who have banded themselves
together for the purpose OF prayer and
communion with God and of trying to
| make their fellowship better and purer
and truer and more Christlike. There
are thousands and tens OF thousands
| Of church members who are no more
hypocrites than your Christian father
and mother. who were also members
of a Christian church, were hypocrites.
To demonstrate how much you really
respect the Christian church, though
you may not know it, / would like to
ask You a question. If you were strand
cd as young woman in a distant
city, without money or friends, to
whom would you go for help? To tho
saloon keeper? To the rich brewer?
No, no! Without doubt you would go
straight TO some Christian minister's
home. You would go to him. just as
many young men and women have
come TO me, and you would say, my
father and mother are members of DR..
So-and-so's church, in such and such
q town | have no money. | want to
got home. VIII YOU help mGT" To
have YOU realize how much you respect
The church of the Lord Jesus Christ
would picture you stranded as ship
wrecked sailor upon n strange coast.
What would you most prefer to sec
n fortress, kings palace. an army en-
Campuput or the steeple of a Christian
church: You know as well as every
Intelligent man or woman knows that
the community which lives under the
shadow Of the church spire Is a God
fearing community. The community
which does not protect the Christian
church is an unsafe community In
which to dwell, aud there is no excep-
ton to the rule.
When you criticlsc the sincerity OF
certain church members, you should
not forget that the church of Christ
WAS Instituted for the imperfect as
well as the perfect, for the moral Grip
pies as well as for those who are spir-
itually whole. In the church there are
to he found members like a man whom
fria - - Ia.
fonding. Howard Crosby came to this
gentleman and said: Doctor. how can
you like such a man? You know he is
not what be ought to be" My friend
turned and said: "Dr. Crosby, IL you
had a little child who had lost an eye
or was deaf or who was born lame
would You despise him on account OF
his inirmjty? Well, my friend is .
moral cripple I do not like him be
cause he has lost one eye and one lee
and one arm, but | do love him be
cause by the grace Of God, he is try
lng to struggle against his daily temp
tNtions and his spiritual deformities
so you viii find in the church Of Goo
today moral cripples. They are strur
Cling every day of their lives against
sinful temptations; they keep on strug
Cling; keep on praying; keep on reach
ing up TO God; keep on staying in the
church because they know that Chris
did not come to institute a church fol
perfect mon. He came to heal the siCl
and not tho well. The church of Coo
is the great earthly spiritual hospital
where Christ, rs the surgeon, loves t
set the crooked limbs; where Christ, a
the spiritual opthalmologist loves t
open the eyes that are blinded of sin.
well" observes another hearer, 9Th
reason | DO not join the church is be
, cause ! believe n man can be just q
!, good n Christian outside the church a
inside Now, l would not assert thu
all men who are nonchurchgoers ar
uuchristan men. John Newton used t.
, say: when J get to heaven, ! shal
= have three great surprises. one grca
surprise will be to find so many pee
pie there ! did not expect to sec, I'll
next surprise will be to find so man
. people absent whom ] expected to sec
ana the third great surprise will be t
find that I got to heaven myself" Lik
Iohn Newton, when most of US reacl
, heaven-I pray we may all be there,
believe we shall be very much sur
, prised to find there some people wh'
+ never entered the church door ant