Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-05-09

commons, "All these men have their
price" What Robert Walpole in state
craft could not win by fair means he
won by foul But Methodism came
into the world to do a greater work
than merely to protest against govern
mental depravity. 1t came, as Josiah
Strong has said, as a protest against
an Established church, which believed
at that time more in outward ceremo-
MES than in spiritual truths. Isaac
Taylor" so records the author~of The
Next Great Awakening" calls the
church of this period "A fair carcass
and Blackstone says that he went to
hear every preacher of note in London
and that there was not one whose dis
course indicated whether he was fol-
lower of Confucius or Mohammed or
of Christ. The Established church of
that time believed in carrying the ply
lacteries upon the forehead, but not
in practicing Christ's spiritual lessons
in the life. 1t was so given over to
Journalism and rites and ceremonies.
that it had no warning TO give even to
men in its pulpits who, like the Phari-
sees of old, were whited sepulchers,
fair to the eye, but within harboring
decaying corpses and whose private
lives were a repulsive stencil. 1T is
the inward witness, son, the inward
Witness" spake the dying father, Sam
uel Wesley, to his son John-''this is
the strongest proof of Christianity"
So John Wesley and his followers res
olutely set their faces against the prev
alent sins of that day. They vehe-
mently declared that the Christian
church should not only have pure
creed, but that its members should be
men of pure private lives. In the high
spiritual standard set before the indi-
vidual church members we find the
chief cause of the marvellous develop
ment of the Methodist church.
No Compromise With Sin.
My brother, it is of vital Importance
that all Protestant churches realize
that they are making a fatal error
when they in any way compromise
their high spiritual standards by al
lance with sin. The higher the stand
ard of the Christian church the great
er will be its success. We do not need
today churches that honor winebib-
bing ministers. We do not need
churches which, when they have
church sociable, tell their young peo-
pie they may dance and play cards. We
do not desire churches whose members
In their everyday actions are nowise
different from the people of the world
One of the reasons why the Christian
EndeavOr society, Of which Francis E.
Clark is the president, is numbering
its members by the hundreds of thou
sands and the millions is because Of
its ironclad pledge. John Willis Baer,
who for so many years was secretary
of that young peoples Christian or
ganization, was right when in my
presence some years ago he declared,
THE high standard of the character
of the Endeavorers is due to the high
standard of the sOciety's pledge" You
can never raise q sin struck world if
you are wallowing in the sinful mud
of the world yourself. Like John Yves
ley and the Methodist church, lift the
world out of sin by making your
Christian standard as high as heaven
and as pure as Christ himself. 1T is
the inward witness, son, the inward
witness-this is the strongest proof of
Christianity" 1t is the inward wit
ness of the purity of its members
which accounts for the multiplying
powers Of the Methodist church of to-
day. Methodism came into the world
as a protest against prevalent sin.
This fact alone does not tell all the
story of its marvellous multiplying
power. There are many other reasons
for the growth of NIethodism. One of
the chief of these is the fact that John
Wesley was the emancipation of the
laymen, as Martin Luther was the
emancipator Of the Bible. The English
ecclesiastic opened the dumb lips Of
the pew. The German reformer broke
the iron clasps holding together the
lids of the word of God, which barred
to all but ordained priests access to
the life giving message that God sent
for the deliverance of all his sinful
children. John Wesley said to the
blacksmith at his forge and the cob
bier on his bench and the wife in her
kitchen: go forth and be my. evangel-
! lists. You may not be graduates of
! theological seminaries, but you can
| testify of Christ's love. Martin Luz
| ther said: There, laymen, is the open
Bible. Read it. Ponder it. Study it.
Read it with your own eyes and kiss it
with your own lips" Do you wonder
that when John Wesley built the Meth
odist church upon an open Bible and
| then in public meeting set all his peo-
pie testifying of Gods word and love
he became one of the greatest gospel
reformers Of the ages?
Sneers For Wesley.
John Wesley because he sent forth
the common people preaching and
praying everywhere was in derision
called a Methodist" He was sneered
at because in his day custom dictated
that no man should pray in public I'M
less he read his prayer out of a printed