Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-08-23

The Bible, but you do understand and
believe enough to make you acceptable
for membership in Christ's church.
You do believe in the atonement. You
do believe that Jesus died to save you.
I Throw away your doubts. Hold to
your beliefs. The gospel church life
boat Is too fine craft to be scuttled
planks out of which its hull was built.
Come into the church lifcLont today
on the simple faith that Its keel was
made from the straight beam of the
Calvary cross.
Another Reason Answered.
well" remarks another man. Il do
not join the church because of the in
cOnsistencies OF its 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 on earth are church fights.
The elder who prays the loudest in
prayer meeting may be the farmer who
never comes out second best in horse
trade. and the gossip Of the sewing
society Is just as merciless rs the gOs.
sip at the club or In ballroom. AS
long as the church is filed with hypo-
critics do not want TO join It,"
Stop, my brother You know that
some of the very best men in every
community are members of the differ
ent Christian churches. You know, as
well as | 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 1t. | would like to
ask you question. If you were strand
ed as Il young woman in a distant
city, without money or friends, to
whom would you go for help? To the
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 DIR.
So-and-so's church, in such and such
q town. have no money. | want to
get home VIII yon help meT To
have you realize how much you respect
the church Of the Lord Jesus Christ l
would picture you stranded as Ship
wrecked sailor upon strange coast.
What would you most prefer to see
a fortress, a kings palace, an army en-
campment or the steeple of 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 and there is no excep-
ton to the rule.
What the Church Is For.
When you crlticlse the sincerity of
certain church members. you should |
not forget that the church Of Christ |
was instituted for the imperfect as |
we'll as the perfect for the moral Grip |
pies as well as for those who are spir |
itually whole. In the church there are !
to be found members like a man whom |
q friend Of mine was one evening de |
Tending. Howard Crosby came to this |
gentleman and said: Doctor how can |
you like such man? You know he Is |
not what he ought to be-" My friend |
turned and said: "Dr. Crosby. if you |
had a little child who had lost an eye |
or was deaf or who was born lame |
would you desplse him on account Of
his infrmty? Well. my friend Is a
moral cripple. | do not like him be-
cause he has lost one eye and one leg |
and one arm. but do love him be-
cause, by the grace OF God, he is try
ing to struggle against his daily temp
tations and his spiritual deformities."
SO you will find in the church Of God
today moral cripples. They are strug-
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 Christ
did not come to institute church for
perfect men. He came to heal the sick
and not the we'll. The church Of God
is the great earthly spiritual hospital,
where Christ, as the surgeon, loves to
set the crooked limbs; where Christ as
the spiritual opthalmologist. loves to
open the eyes that are blinded of sim
well" observes another hearer, "the
reason | do not Join the church is be-
cause believe a man can be just as \
good a Christian outside the church as
Inside" Now, | would not assert that
all men who are nOnchurchgoers are
men. John Newton used to
say: when | get to heaven, | shall
have three great surprises. One great
surprise will be to find so many peo-
pie there did not expect to see The
next surprise will be to find so many
people absent whom expected to see,
and the third great surprise will be to
ind that got to heaven myself" Like
John Newton, when most Of US reach
heaven-I pray we may all be there-I
believe we shall be very much sur
rrised to find there some people who I
never entered the church door and
never publicly professed their faith at 1
he church altar. Mr.. Beecher once
and poetically said: Il am
Ilad that some gospel seeds have been
blown over the church wall and that |
'ruit trees and flowers most pleasant
o the eye are springing up outside the
church garden as well as inside. and.
hough l wish they were within the