The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1903-04-30

spiritual power Of gospel letter writing
Is seen everywhere that it has been
tried. To what could Maltbie Bah
cocks wonderful spiritual influence be
mostly attributed? He was withous
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 th&
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 wri&
ing. One Of his old classmates and
most intimate friends told me chat Pr
Babcock never let member of HE
congregation get out of his reach. PIE
kept book filled with dates. On xhe
birthdays of his boys at college he
would drop 8lem each a short letter.
telling them to improve their oppor
tunities and how much their Rarents
and pastor were thinking and praying
for them. On the SAD anniversary Of
he death Of children he would drop d
sympathetic note toN Che broken heartf@
parents, telling them how thankful
they ought to be tlat 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.
U hen the anniversary of a young girls
advent into the church came. he woul&
drop her a letter, hoping that her year
of faith in Christ had been a happy
year. In this way DR.. Babcock reache&
out everywhere and bound his people
to him with links Of steel. BY this sys-
TEN 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 l have wasted many
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 we'll as the voice and
the sense of touch? Remember Paul's
epistles were only Paul's 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 Gen.
Oh, the infinite influence of a gospel
pen. Infinite in reference to time.
Some of us have seen the Assyrian
histories written upon the slabs OF
burnt brick by pens thousands upon
thousands of years ago. We have seen
leaves of grass upon which the Greeks
used to engrave their laws, and the
shoulder blades of a dead sleeps skel-
eton upon which the ancient Arabs
used to write poetry. The sides of the
Egyptian obelisks are covered with
hieroglyphics of the ancients. The
first pen welded by man was a chisel
and the first leaf was a sheet of solid
rock. But, though such writings may
last hundreds and thousands of years,
yet they will not last as long as the
gospel words written upon the human
heart by a gospel pen. Such words
shall last long after this earth is dead
and our souls have passed cycles of
eternity in heaven. Infinite in refer
ence to wonders accomplished! In our
national museums some Of us have
seen pens worth a thousand times
more than their weight in gold. They
are the pens that have been held i'm
the hands of presidents and kings
pens of peace or of war, pens of liberia
ton or enslavement, pens which decid-
ed the material advancement or re-
tardment Of nations. But the sacreH
pen of gospel letter writing may be
even greater in it's farreaching results.
It may be the means for the liberation
Of immortal souls from sin, for theif
corona ton in the heavenly redemption.
Thus, in closing, would impress up
on you all the influence of consecrat-
ed pen. May you learn to use for Goo
Alright that pen which as a schoolboy
you once held in your chubby dngerS
when it would sputter and twist ana
try to squirm out of your hands. Use
Alright that pen by which as young
man you used to record the secrets OF
your heart when the old, old story OF
love became a new story to you in the
springtime. Learn to use Alright foS
Christ that same pen with which yose
have again and again written name
upon a black bordered envelope. Use
Alright that pen with which you made
a last will and testament, and use
Alright that pen with which you ca1S
win immortal souls 70 Jesus Christ isS
the gospel invitation of private CORE
spondence.
copyright, 1903. bye[,ouss6 lopsch.l