Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1904-02-06

III ut WAS klcut AZ 'fAN -~
greater in his death!'
The Grace of God.
II the Lord God could give sufficient
grace to Ulysses s. Grant to serve him
amid such narrowing surroundings
will not God give you enough grace In
the darkest hours Of your Christian life
to be a good Christian soldier. 80 that
you shall love your fellow church mem
bers as yourself? say "in the darkest
hours of your life" because l firmly
believe that some so called Christians
are passing through a religious crisis.
You are now about to decide your
whole eternal destiny. You are to de
eide 1t not by how you profess to love
God, but by how you are willing 10
love your fellow church members. Are
you ready. here and now, as Christian
soldiers to "be kindly affectioned to one
another, with brotherly love In honor
preferring one anotherT DO not tell
me that 1t is impossible for you to live
In Christian sympathy with those who
belong to your same church family. BY
the grace Of God 1t Is possible. And II
YOU are not willing to let that divine
love have full control Of your life, then
instead Of staying In church and dis
putting and finding fault continually
with the other members 1t is far bet
ter for you to leave that church and go
back to the world and thereby play
the gospel coward, as did the $4,000
men who deserted Gideons standard
at the FIRST opportunity the Hebrew
commander gave them to skulk home.
The church should be harmoniously
organized army. 1t is not only possible
thereby to hurl q solid front against
the Satanic foe, but also by preponder-
ance of numbers, concentrated In one
move. to make, as the Bible says,
little one become a thousand and
small one strong nation" Concentra-
ton In military parlance means not
only conquest, but generally the COM
plete mystification and disorganization
OF an opposing foe. II by sure mathe-
matical calculation the military chief
tain can drive as a battering ram ten
offensive men against one man on the
defensive, the successful outcome OF the
conflict becomes an assured fact.
Power of the Prayer Meeting.
II was by the successful concentra-
tion Of forces against his enemies and
by the lightning rapidity of his move
ments that Napoleon Bonaparte won
his great victories. During all the mil
itary career Of the Little Corsican'
his armies were outnumbered by those
of his opponents. But one day we find
the brilliant military genius attacking
one wing of the Austrian army. The
next day we find him attacking another
wing of the Austrian army. One day
be is falling upon the defenseless Ital-
ian fields by boldly scaling the Alps.
. Another day we see him concentrating
his artillery fires upon separated part
of the German army. Napoleon with
his forces would have been wiped Oh
the face Of the earth ten years before
he met his fate at Waterloo had he at
tempted to battle his enemies In bulk.
He beat Austria and Italy and Ger
many and Spain by defeating his foes
by detail--piecemeal. He did 1t by the
power of military concentration. This
was the way Frederick the Great car
ried on his wars Of many years. This
was the way Washington and Nathaniel
Greene won their victories, and 1t was
In this way that "Stonewall' jackson,
! with q small force at his back, became
the terror of every northern commander
campaigning upon Virginia soil. So
my friends, as Gideon marshaied bis
three hundred, the church soldiers
should be a united band. They must
be able to hurl all their spiritual
strength against the Satanic foe In one
place and at one time.
How can this great forward move
ment of a single church against sin be
concentrated and conservedi First, by
all the church members every seven
days answering church roll at the mid
week prayer meeting. Wednesday
night prayer meeting is even more i'm
portant than the Lords day worship
1t is by the commingling of prayers
that the spiritual forces Of a church
become inlamed with the holy zeal and
all conquering gospel enthusiasm. 1t is
| to that roll call that the members OF
the church must give diligent heed
! Concentrated church membership at the
midweek prayer meeting Is OF over
whelming' Importance. I know of what
l speak. During my life have observed
the ways Of two kinds Of churches
In the one l have seen a mighty gos
pei conquest going on month In and
month out. Why7 The people attend
ed the midweek prayer meeting. II
the other kind Of church spiritual re
suits were never assured. Why? Tht
people, no matter how the pastor beg
ged and pleaded, failed to attend the
midweek prayer meeting. A church
with a full prayer meeting means
spiritually conquering church. A church
with an empty prayer meeting means
spiritually dead church. Hear 1t, "
pews! Hear 1t! The spiritual success!
Of every church is to be decided by
whether its members will regularly
assemble, as did the first church In thu
upper chamber of Jerusalem, to pray
together earnestly week by week fo
the manifestation Of the power Of thu
Holy Ghost.
Concentrate Church Forces.
The concerted forward movement Of
church, in the next place, must bt
manifested in the united voices of itl
members lifted in songs of praise ,ant
in its gospel energy. oh, yes, the very
best voices trained by our, musical col
leges are never too good to be aIlowet
to sing in the church choir. But tn
church members have no more right
in this gospel movement to, let thu
choir do all the singing than the pew
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