Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1903-02-13

luC bdIllc, III llt uplltc, pn llAS clhtCl
corners, Charles and John Wesley, by
the power OF the pew, reused all Eng
land for Christ. And today the great
est danger OF the Methodist church Is
that she is developing too much an In
tellectual pulpit instead OF a pleading.
praying. teshfying pew. John Wesley
believed I'm that pew; John Wesley. by
the grace OF God. compelled that pew
to speak. oh, thou deaf and dumb
spirit OF the church pew, In the name
OF Christ 1 command thee TO come out
and be gone into everlasting darknessi
The caverns of the black inferno alone
are suited TO thy whitening and blast
ing and accurSed silence. Let the sill
yer tongue OF Christian testimony here
after speak from the pew. This plea,
oh. Christian women, is spoken to you
as well as TO your brother.
Would that the tongue of the dumb
spirit of Christian testimony might be
Embossed and begin to speak for Christ
In the honest / am not now abiding
to the Christian testimony which ought
to be heard among our children by our
own fireside. l am referring to the
word of gospel invitation, which should
be addressed to the sinful and goddess
homes i'm the midst of every Christian
community.
The Present Condition.
A noted southern educator some time
ago bluntly said, lit is often far easier
for man to sign thousand dollar
check for foreign missions than il is
for him to speak Christian word OF
ralr hfNx-
cleaning his shoes ON the street cor
ner." That is a very wise saying. But
carry the principle still further. 1t
is often far easier for a Christian lady
10 get up church fair in the interests
of foreign missions or to read paper
before that society upon the Filipinos
or the Chinese or Siamese than ii is to
60 TO the family which lives in the fat
above her and ask them IL they love
the Lord Jesus Christ. Ought such n
condition ever to exist? 1t Is about
time for some OF us to learn TO sing
with the right spirit Bishop Hebers
grand old gospel hymn:
II you cannot cross the ocean
And the heather lands explore,
You can find the heather nearer.
You can help them at your door.
My brother living in Chicago, do you
not know that there are within radius
of three blocks of your house scores
and scores of families who never hear
the name of Jesus spoken in their
homes except in blasphemy7 Do you
not know that within radius of six
blocks of this church. every Sunday
night while am preaching, scores and
scores of young men and women pass
in and out of the fatal doors of the sa-
looms and places OF evil resort? Some
Of us are foolish enough to think that
the haunts of Satan are open only six
days of the week; that on the seventh
day Satan rests and shuts up shop and
says to his hirelings, MY agents and
servants, let us allow God TO open his
churches on the Sabbath, and we will
rest" No. The churches may be open
ed one day OF the week. but the Satan
ic haunts are never shut Night and
day the busy fingers OF death are reach
ing, always reaching. after more vic
tins. Like the Quicksands of the far
east, this Satanic destroyer keeps swal-
lowing down the unfortunate, and he
never seems TO have enough. More,
more, morer' continually cry the evil
spirits. Give us more human blood
to Quench our unquenchable thirstr'
Now, my Christian friends, while
rejoice In foreign missions and would
not abate your interest in them 1 want
to ask you this pertinent question: Do
you think we should allow our concern
for souls 10000 miles away to monopo-
vn off 30
them do not let us overlook the danger
or those who are living in sin by our
own door. Do you think that the Sa-
means and the Australasians and the
Maoris and African negroes should be
any more precious IN Gods sight and
In ours than the man or the woman
about whose personality you never care
until you see n black Grape hanging
upon the opposite door? oh, man, II
you had the true love OF Jesus Christ
I'm your heas st you would act differently
toward your unknown neighbor You
would enter his home for Jesus sake.
with ut least the same intensity as
life insurance agent hunts up men
and women for his insurance COM
pany. You would enter the strangers
home, near TO your door, with at least
the same earnestness as II you had to
sell few books in order TO buy your
babies some bread. No man can truly
love his God with all his heart and soul
and mind unless at the same time he
loves his neighbor as himself, and no
Christian man can truly love his neigh
Dor unless he is personally interested
In his neighbours eternal salvation.
Save the Nearby Sinners.
Would that we might be willing TO
enter the homes OF our neighbors In the
service OF Jesus Christ. Such an effort
on our part not only is essential to their
salvation, but it affects our standing In
the kingdom Of Christ. Do you not re-
member that he said, Every branch
that beareth not fruit he taketh away ~
Yet how Indifferent most of us are In
reference TO the salvation OF those sin
ners who are nearest our own door
step. Some years ago an American
missionary was preaching In the streets
OF Calcutta. AS the American clergy
man was talking Mohammedan priest
stood near and began to inveigh against
the Inconsistencies of the professors of
the Christian religion. Then the Mo-
hammedan priest opened the Bible, and
while he read he pointed to drunken
English sailor near by. He read out
loud those beautiful and solemn words
or Corinthians, which we repeat at the
holy communion, and after the same
manner also he took the cup when he
had supped, saying, This cup Is the
new testament In my blood; this do We,
as oft as We drink 1t, In remembrance
OF me-" Then the Mohammedan priest
sneeringly and tauntingiy said: There
is the white mans religion. There is
the white man drunk. VIII We have
any such religion as thatT' Oh, my
brother, we rightly send forth our mis-
sionaries into foreign lands to testify
or Jesus Christ. Shall we not also try
to carry the testimony OF Jesus to the
drunken and dissipated white men at
our own doors that they may be living
witnesses Of the power OF the gospel
and not a reproach to Ii? Shall we not