The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1909-04-09
NEED Of MORE HOSPITALS
BY JOHN b. sHERARD, sherard, Miss.

81 WESsE# - 4. 1.
by JOHN b. SHERARD, sherard. Miss.
why Was the Gospel More Powerful in
Apostolic. Times Than Now?
For the first three hundred wears after
the ascension the gospel without the aid
of electricity or steam came nearer en-
comprising the known world than it has
ever done since. 1.
st. Luke lived to- ee'4he gospel plant.
ed in Africa, Asia Minor, Europe and
| Greece.
Twenty years after the. ascension st.
Paul and Silas were preaching in Thes.
s~alonica when an attempt was made to
arrest them; sthey effected their escape,
but Jason and others with whom they
/ were, stopping were arrested and put I'M
prison, and the charge preferred against
them was, that. they were turning the
world upside down with the Christian
| religion"
Christ told His apostles to do two
things; to preach the gospel of the king.
dom and heal the sick.
The apostles adhered very strictly to
his commands, and we find st. James
thirty. years after, Christ advising the
elders of the church to pray for the sick
and anoint with oil.
rs any sick among you? Let him call
for the elders of the church; and let
them pray over him, amounting him with
oil in the name of the Lord; and the
prayer of faith shall save the sick and
the Lord shall raise him up; and if he
have committed sins, they shall be for.
given him." James iv: 14-15.
The first act of Peter and John after
preaching the pentecostal sermon was
the healing of the lame man at the Gate
Beautiful; the foundation of which was
made a great sermon by Peter, resulting
in 5000 men joining the church.
The apostles, like their Savior, CON
tinued healing all the sick that were
brought to them and their success was
SO great that they ceased to speak of
the converts by numbers, but as multi.
tudes-as given in Acts ": 14-15-16:
And believers were the more added to
the Lord, multitudes both of men and
women" "Insomuch that they brought
forth the sick into the streets and laid
them IN beds and touches that at least
q shadow CT Peter passing by might
O~yershadow some of them"
Are we turning the world upside down
today with this gospel?" Then, if not,
why not? Have we not the same gospel
as that preached by the apostles? If so,
then why are we falling so far behind
them in results!
The test of true religion is it's power
to help men, to relieve suffering, and to
transform the lives of men. With these
miracles of healing and through them.
Peter wrought spiritual and moral mir
acles upon the characters of men.
Jesus gives the test of discipleship in
Matthew XIV, when he said
Il was hungry and ye gave me to
eat.
Il was thirsty and ye gave me to
drink.
Il was a stranger and We took me in.
Naked and we clothed me.
Il was sick and we visited me.
Il was in prison and We came unto
me-"
The test and proof that Jesus was the
Messiah is given in the words of Jesus
himself in his message to John the Bap-
fist, when he said, Tell John how:
THE blind received their sight.
1.-The anne walked.
1.-THE lepers are cleansed.
"The deaf hear.
"Tfe dead are raised up.
"And the poor have the gospel preached
unto them"
Compare this with his promise to his
disciples, when he said:
"In my name shall they cast out de-
mons.
They shall speak with new tongues.
"They shall lay hands on the sick and
they shall recover"
How far does the church of today have
and use these powers? For here lies the
secret of its success. The efficient church
is at work reproducing on earth now in
some form the work of Jesus himself.
Note what a great difference today in
the power of the gospel to draw people
unto it as compared to apostolic times,
when we were told that they were drawn
by multitudes.
Christianity came to this country with
the first settler over 400 years ago. Here
we have freedom of thought and free
dom of speech, where we can proclaim
Christ from every hilltop, and sing beau
tiful gospel songs without fear of being
molested Ia privilege which the apostles
did not enjoy, yet upon examination we
find that there is less than o%ne-fourth
of the people of this country Protestants
or members of the Protestant church.
We are not turning the world upside
down. people are not joining the church
by the multitude" Many of u relig-
ious REVEALS close after a ten days or
two weeks duration without a single
addition to the church. The cause is as
plain as the MONDAY sun-we are not
observing the plain command as did the
apostles. We are doing all that our
Savior reasonably expected us to do
along the line of preaching and teaching,
but we are not doing the healing.
Hospitals, o~rphanages and rescue mis-
sions stand for practical religion. Medi-
cine is a gift of God as really as faith;
it should be used as much to aid in re
covering from sickness. Work and faith
are twins. People will not come to
church because they do not believe in us.
Our diseased bodies are the doorways to
our hearts and souls. Statistics show
that the Southern Methodist Church
financially is the strongest religious de-
nomination in the South, yet it has be-
come almost a frequent occurrence to see