Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-22
FULL Of
UNBOUND FORCE
VAST MATERIAL ENERGIES LIE
IDLE TO-DAY
Muscular Activities Are Doing No
Good, Declares Or. Northrop,
Because They Are Not
Harnessed

.
DID, pastor Of the First Baptist
church, yesterday. was based on the
text. "Canst thou bind the wild OK
with his band in the furrow? Or with
the harrow the valleys?" Job, % 10.
"Unharncsscd forces! The world ~
full of them How vast the amount ol
muscular energy which is doing no
good because II is not harnessed. What
tremendous material and moral forces
lie idle for the same reason Al man
creation he was granted dominion OF
the earth and was commanded 10 SUD-
due 1t.
MANS triumph over nature began
when he nut a yoke on the wild OK
and turned enormous brute force into
useful channels. And every step III
advance has been by the same method
Take electricity.
ITO what variety Of uses is this
agent put in our day. 1t carries our
messages, 1t lights our cities, It drives
our cars 1t moves our machlnery. III
is indispensable to modern life.
But IL Is only recently that this
mighty force has been OF practical
service to humanity. Why? Because
It was not harnessed.
Must Be Controlled
There is plenty of electricity IN
the air today, sometimes altogether
too much for our safety; but of what
Use is it? None, until bound and con-
trolled!
Underneath us. Doubtless 1t has neen
smothered in the fissures of great
rocks for centuries, but 1t has only
been within the lifetime of the 10
year-old lad that 1t has been mace
practical and brought to surface tor
light, locomotion, warm and comfort
For thousands of years 1t was of no
earthly benefit to man. why ~
was not harnessed-
There stands a car on the track
no giant of q man can bulge 1t; you
brawny athlete, you cannot push u
an inch The united strength OF a
dozen men can only move 1t Slowly.
Now couple seventy-f1re of those cars
together and cal in a regiment OF men
to move It: not a wheel turns around.
Now attach an engine to this, train.
1t gives q few puffs as If filling It's
iron lungs picks up those cars and
runs away on commercial errands
across q continent.
What inconceivable power is 1t that
does this? Nothing but common On
steam but there has been steam IN
the world ever since our mothers
boiled water. Why hasn't 1t been do
ing the worlds work? Simply because
it was not harnessed. There is plenty
of steam generated every day and hot
air, too, that does no goou WHdleNer'
Must BE Organized
embarrassed forces! Society is full
of them, and SO is the church There
is a vast amount of good wholesome
sentiment lying around loose in every
community. but it does no good un-
less gathered up and organized. Fifty
wears ago there was conStderable
anti-slayery sentiment In this coun-
try, enough in fact to wipe out that
curse, but what would 1t ever have ac-
conplishu. if allowed to remain in
that form?
I'D into organized sentiment and effort,
when 1t was nodded into mighty ar
mics and navieS, when 1t was CROWDED
down cannon mouths and Husket
throats in the shape Of powder and
ball, that it began to do any good.
when you harness sentiment IL
becomes a mighty power in society;
it turns things upside down.
''There is, I believe, enough anti
liquor sentiment in America to crush
out this demon man-killer and home
destroyer II we could only harness It
to the chariot of reform. and with
Jehu's horses well handled we would
run a race that would amount to
something.
"But in this loose, scattered condi7
ton it will effect nothing. There IS IN
this magnificent state OF California
enough temperance sentiment to ac-
complish the abolition of the saloon
from the state.
"A little social power, if properly
organized, is capable OF wonderful
things. There is some bad sentiment
in this countryside refuse that has
come to us from across the seas.
"Anarchism, for. instance, which ap-
pears to fill so large space, simply
because we'll organized, is stalking up
and down our fair land in bold ana ag-
gressive defiance; but pony har-
messed will do more good than wild
OK not harneSSed.
Evil seems to realize the value OF
organization more than good; In fact
the children of darkness are wiser IN
their generation than the children OF
light.
identify himself with others on the
same side. Treacherous men band to-
gether
There are doubtless more Chris
tian people outside the membership OF
the H5 churches of Los Angeles than
inside.
Fence of Neutrality
"Some of them have been leaders
and workers in eastern churches. They
CLAIM 10 De the ITlenuS Ol iloldlilS
and religion, but they stand aloof from
the denominations; they sit on the
fence of neutrality with their letters
nicely folded away in the bottom of
their trunks, or in some perfumed
box. and see us fighting in the thick
of the conflict, but they never don the
uniform of the Captain OF our saliva
tion and join our forces against the
powers of hell and the minions OF
satan. They are not in line of battle;
they are not harnessed for service!
"Oh. how the church of Christ suf-
fers today because her forces are not
harnessed Three-fourths of the mem-
bership are lying on their arms while
the remainder do the fighting. There
is therefore a frightful amount Of
waste energy in our churches. Some
times when think Of 1t II is enough
to make my hair stand on end OF
turn white in a night. The church
should be alive, alert, aggressive, and
every member doing something to be
a drawing power and not leave the
preacher to do 1t all
1.-THE financial, the social. the pulpit
power Of the modern church must be