The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1905-12-21

way the. kingdom Of heaven ought 20
grow. And if you keep that money
out at interest for $50 years it. will
be able to buy Manhattan Island with
all there is on it, and then there Will
be-. enough left to buy every State IN
the Union, and then there will still be
enough left to buy Great Britain. And
if left out at interest for 500 years
there would be enough to buy the Ini-
ted States, England and Germany.
And the Master said: THE kingdom
Of heaven is like that" and that is the
way it ought to grow, and that is the
way it would grow If we would simply
keep the idea Of the power and COM
pound spiritual interest Of the church
Of God. If you kept out the S24 with
interest added to interest for 600 years
it would wreck the world. Six per
cent! That Is entirely too small rate
Of gain to suit my soul. What does 1t
mean? It means this: That here Is
the church Of 100 members instrument
tai in the conversion Of six souls to
Christ in a year. would not be sat-
isfied with that rate at all. One hun
dred per: cent. is the least rate OF gain
that any Christian church ought to
think worthy Of the kingdom Of God.
The bells Of the millennium would be
ringing before we oled II we only
would keep our soul winning for few
wears. It Is not difficult to win soul.
T have been trying to work out this
problem for years-trying to be worth
something for Jesus. One night l aT-
rived at New Haven, Conn.,, and took
q hack at midnight to the house where
I was to stay. When the hackpqan
asked for his fare I dropped quarter
into his hand, and, grasping, 1t, said:
"Good night, sir! I hope to meet sou
in glory some day" He jumped on the
box. whirled his horse around, and
was gone. -
I did not expect to see him again.
Away after midnight: my host knocked
at my chamber door and said: a
hackman is here, acting Queerly. He
says he wants to see you and sas: got
to see you tonight" I said: Let
him come in" 1 arose and threw a
shawl over me, and in came great
stalwart hackman with his whip in
his hand and tears running down his
cheeks and he said: IF meet you in
glory I have got to turn around. for
am not going that way. I have come
to ask you to pray for me. l could not
keep away What Joy it was to
pray for that man! He went out COM
forted by Gods holy spirit. and I be-
lfeve, I was worth 100 per cent. to my
Master that night. The :5ossible
growth of the kingdom IS what am
talking about.
In 1865, when the war was over. I
was on train, going from Lancaster,
Ohio. and saw q drunken soldier sitting
by himself. Nobody would sit by a
drunken soldier, but that Is the very
kind of. man I like to- sit by. / sat
down by him and by and by stole my
arm gently around his neck and Wh1s-
pered to him: "Comrade, when are
you going, to give your heart to Jesus
Christ and be Chrlstian:" He
looked embarrassed and got up and
went to another part OF the train.
/ thought had, offended him. I went
that night to preach in the little town
Of Putnam. where I once was pastor,
and there sat that man and his sister
beside him. We had glorious meet
ing that. night. I did not see him
again for thirty-Ave years, but one
night I was auout to, speak to the
Grand Army In the old Dutch Church
on Fifth avenue. There were 1900
soldiers there. A splendid looking
man came down the aisle and said to
gentleman: "Who is that man:'
and he said: "That is Colonel Hadley,
the head Of the st. Bartholomew Mis-
sion. He has been instrumental IN
planting ffty-four rescue missions IN
this. country" I went down, and said:
Brother Hadley, I am glad to see
you. I have heard about your work,
but never saw you before" "Oh, yes
you have" he replied. "Thirty-fve
years ago was sitting on train and
you came and sat down by me and
wanted to know when was going to
be Christian and give my heart to
God. never got over that question.
You have seen me .efore." I believe
it Is possible for every Christian to
gain over 100 per cent. for our blessed
Lord every year.
There are souls that are worth a
thousand per cent. There was that
noble woman in the Epworth Rectory
with her nineteen children. Do you
know she adopted five orphans be-
sides-twenty-four altogether-and her
husband was a preacher. Naughter).
Surely the invested life Of Susanna
Wesley was worth more than 1000 per
cent.
The bishop then reviewed at some
length the progress Of Methodism
since the first conference in 1773, par
ticularly in Ohio. He then spoke of the
work in Russia, where there are now.
100000 converts, and liberty to wor-
ship according to conscience, and
then said: S.
There will come a time when God
Himself will get in hurry and when
He will say, "The earth has wept long
enough. There has been enough war,
enough trouble" and when He will
hasten on the kingdom and bring 1t
quickly. think He will hasten when
we hasten. Oh, brothers, let US hurry