Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1903-04-27

spiritual power of gospel letter writing
is seen everywhere that ii has l-een
tried. To what could Maltbie Bah
cocks wonderful spiritual influence be
mostly attributed? He was without
doubt one of the most successful min
listers in the American pulpit at the
time of his death. To his marvellous
and yet simple eloQuence, which Sun
day after Sunday crowded the famous
Brick church of New York city to the
doors? No, not chiefly. To his sweet
and winsome personality in personal
contact? No, not principally. The
greatest part of his influence was won
/ by the power of personal letter writ
ing. One of his old classmates and
:! most intimate friends told me that DR..
Babcock never let member of his
congregation get out of his reach. He
kept a book filled with dates. On the
birthdays of his boys at college he
would drop them each a short letter,
telling them to improve their oppor-
| tunities and how much their parents
and pastor were thinking and praying
for them On the sad anniversary OF
the death of children he would drop
| sympathetic note to the broken hearted
parents, telling them how thankful
they ought to be that their little ones
have now been able to spend one or
two years In heaven, telling them how
happy they ought to be that the part
ings would not now be very long.
When the anniversary of young girls
advent into the church came, he would
drop her a letter, hoping that her year
of faith in Christ had been a happy
year. In this way DR.. Babcock reached
| out everywhere and bound his people
to him with links Of steel. By this sys-
tenn of simple gospel letter writing the
late pastor of the Brick church was
able to make his Christian influence
felt all over America. My brother and
sister. you and have wasted many a
glorious opportunity for gospel letter
writing. Will you not here and now
consecrate your pen to do for Jesus
what you can! Will you not conse-
crate the pen as well as the voice and
the sense of touch? Remember, Paufs
| epistles were only Pauls gospel letters,
| written to his absent friends. We by
, | the power Of gospel letter writing can
, accomplish on a smaller scale what the
tired travelling missionary by his pen
did on a hemisphere scale.
, influence of . Gospel Pen.
. Oh, the infinite influence Of a gospe
!, pen! Infinite In reference to time
, Some of us have seen the Assyr1ar
, histories written upon the slabs OF
? burnt brick by pens thousands upor
, thousands of years ago. We have seer
; leaves of grass upon which the Greeks
q used to engrave their laws, and TIT
q shoulder blades of a dead sleeps skel
. eton upon which the ancient Arabs
: used to write poetry. The sides of thu
Q Egyptian obelisks are covered witt
q hieroglyphics of the ancients. III
. first pen welded by man was chlsel
and the first leaf was a sheet of SOLE
; rock. But, though such writings ma,
last hundreds and thousands of years
:, yet they will not last as long as tn
, gospel words written upon the human
g heart by a gospel pen. Such word
~ shall last long after this earth is dea
. and our souls have passed cycles o
= eternity in heaven. Infinite in refer
ence to wonders accomplished! In on
- national museums some OF US hav
. seen pens worth a thousand time
. more than their weight in gold. The
=, are the pens that have been held
=. the hands of presidents and kings
=. pens of peace or of war. pens of liber;
., ton or enslavement, pens which decit
- ed the material advancement or r
- tardment of nations. But the sacre
:! pen of gospel letter writing may
even greater in it's farreaching result
% 1t may be the means for the liberatio
- of immortal souls from sin. for the
coronation in the heavenly redempto
ce Thus, in closing. l would impress u
&C. on you all the influence of consecra
er ed pen May you learn to use for Gt
al Alright that pen which as a schOolbt
en- YOU once held in your chubby fnge
OF when it would sputter and twist al
ny try to suuirm out of your hands. q
Alright that pen by which as a your
he man you used to record the secrets
en- your heart when the old, old story
EFT love became new story to you in t
TO springtime Learn to use Alright f
an Christ that same pen with which y
Id have again and again written mar
ur upon a black bordered envelope. e
gu Alright that pen with which you ma
a last will and testament. and U
ley Alright that pen with which you G.
we win immortal souls to Jesus Christ
me the gospel invitation of private corr
gh spondence.
ION copyright. 1903 by Louis Klopsch.l