Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-02-04

The Grace of Cod.
If 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. so that
You shall love your fellow church mem.
bcrs as yourself? l say "in tho darkest
hours of your life" because firmly
believe that some so called Christians
are passing through Il 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 to
love your fellow church members Are
you ready, here and now. as Christian
soldiers to "bc kindly affccIioncd to one
another. with brotherly love In honor
prcforring one another" DO not tell
me that it is impossible for you to live
in Christian sympathy with those who
belong to your same church fnmily. by
the grace Of God it 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 ii is far bet
ter for You to leave that church and 70
back to the world and thereby play
the gospel coward. rs did the 22OO0
men who deserted Gideon's standard
at the first opportunity Tic Hebrew
J,>. I've, ell,
The church should he n tremendously
organized army. 1t is not only possible
thereby to hurl solid front against
the Satanic foe. but also by prepondcr
ance Of numbers, concentrated In one
move, TO make, rs the Bible says. a
little one become thousand and "a
small one strong nation" Concentra.
ton in military parlancc means not
only conquest. but generally the com.
plete mystiiicati on and Decentralization
of an opposing foe. II by sure mathe.
matical calculation the military chief
tain can drive as bnttering 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.
1t was by the successful concentra.
ton Of forces against his enemies and
by the lightning rapdity of his move.
ments that Napoleon Bonaparte won
his great victories. During all the mil.
itary career of the Little Corsican"
his armies We're Outnumbcred by those
Of his opponents. But one day We find
the brilliant military genius attack ing
one wing of the Austrian army The
next day we find him attacking another
wing of the Austrian army. One day
he is falling upon the defcnseless Ital.
ian fields by boldly scaling the Alps.
Another day We see him concentrating
his artillery fires upon Il separated part
of the German army. Napoleon with
his forces would have been wiped of
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. lie did it 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 it was
in this way that 'Stonowall" Jack son,
with Il small force at his back. became
the terror of every northern commander
campaigning upon Virginia soil. SO.
my friends. as Gideon lnarshaled hi.
three hundred. the church soldiers
should be a united band They must
De able to hurl all their spiritual
strength against tho Satanic foe in one
place and at one time.
How can this great forward move
mcnt of single church against sin he
concentrated alf. conserved: First. by
all the church members every seven
days answering church roll ut the raid
week prayer meeting. Wednesday
night prayer meeting is even more i'm
portant than the Lords day worship
1t Is by the communicating of prayers
that the spiritual forces OF Il church
become inhamcd with the holy zeal and
all conquerinc gospel enthusiasm. Ii is
to that roll call that the members of
the church must give diigent heed
Concentrated church membership at the
midwcek prayer meeting is of over.
whelming Importance. | know of what
speak. During my life have observed
the ways of two kinds oil churches.
In the one have seen mighty COS.
pei conquest going on month in and
month out. Why! The people attend
ed the midweek prayer meeting. Iii
the other kind of church spiritual re.
suits were never assured. Why? The
people, no matter how the pastor beg
ged and pleaded, failed 10 attend the
mldweek prayer meeting. a church
with full prayer meeting means Il
spiritually conquering church A church
with an empty prayer meeting means
II spiritually dead church. Hear it, We
pews. Hear it. The spiritual success
of every church is to be decided by
whether Its members will regularly
assemble, as did the first church in the
upper chamber Of Jerusalem. to pray
together earnestly week by week for
the manifesto ton of the power OF the |
Holy Ghost.
Concentrate Church Forces.
The concerted forward movement of
n church. in the next place. must be !
manifested In the united voices of it's .
members lifted in songs of praise and |
In its gospel energy oh. yes, the very |
best voices trained by our musical col |