Omaha daily bee., 1915-09-13

yesterday afternoon. He spoke as fol-
lows:
The hour is come. II Is very evident
TO me that Jesus knew that the Father
would understand what He meant when
he said the hour is come" He did not
say / have met with a difficulty down
here in my mediatorial work, something
lie had not thought about or expected
would ever occur, but, the hour is come
for which l came into the world, around
which all hours in the history OF the
world would center. That hour meant
more for you and me and all generations
OF the world than all the hours in the his
tory of the world. Jesus did not mean a
period OF sixty minutes. II was many
days after he uttered these words before
the incident to which He referred to in
may next text took place. His cruel
fixion. The Lord knew of our great
struggle with the powers OF darkness and
God had given His promise that the seed
OF woman should crush the head Of the
serpent and the world had been looking
forward for many thousands of years to
that very hour
Imagine what would have been the feel
ings Of the people of Jerusalem II Jesus
had failed, as It had been prophesied He
would. to arise after three days. think
they would have draped their pulpits in
mourning and nailed a black cross over
the door of hope II three days had come
and went away and Jesus was still in the
tomb. But at the end of the third day,
as He said He would, He arose from the
grave and walked forth from the grave
a supreme conqueror from the dark do
main OF death. and He lives forever with
the saints and reigns and 1 am not wor~
Shipping a dead Jew in the tomb of Joseph
of Aramathea, but n living, retgning
Christ who sits at the right hand OF God,
from whence He will come TO judge the
living and the dead. The hour is come.
I believe old Omaha is in the midst
of the greatest moral and religious crisis
it has ever known. When God called you
to this great building here. and in every
corner of your city people are talking
about this meeting it shows there has
ben an awakening.
A man who sins places limitations upon
himself. He places intellectual limita-
lions upon himself. physical limitations
upon himself and II he lives in sin he Is
fool and q man who champions the
cause of the devil does not deserve the
name of a man and forfeits all rights
in my opinion, to respect and decency
and don't care a continental who he 49,
The cross of Christ was the connecting
link between the Old and New Tesla
ments.
The Church Is Not the End.
l don't intend TO confine my remarks
to the historical fact, beneficial as 1t
would be, but 1 would like to draw
few lessons. First, the hour is come to
realize that the church is not the end.
The church is the means to the end, and
il you think when you come into the
church that that is the end God have
mercy on you and the church II you are
in 1t. You are not in the church to Keep
little space seventeen inches square
warm, but that church is in the COM
munity and you are in that church TO
make the community better commun-
ity and overthrow the sin that is in 1t
And if You do not, the church is fiat
failure.
The hour is come; come for something
else. II has come for plainness of speech
on the part of the preacher. If you have
anything TO antagonize. out with it;
specify sins and sinners. You can al
WAYS count on decent public to right
wrong, and any public that won't right
wrong is a good one to get out OF
Charles Finney went to Europe to
preach. and in London a famous free
thinkers wife noticed a great change
in him; he was more kind, moro affec-
tionate more affable. less abusive, and
she said: IT know what is the matter
with you; you have been to hear that
man from America preach" And he
said: wife, that is an insult; that man
Finney don't preach. he just makes plain
what the other fellows preach" wish
to God you could say the same OF me
when / leave here. For If preaching
could have you here in Omaha, you
would have been I'm heaven long ago.
You need something else, and by the
grace of God / am going to give II TO
YOU Now the foremost preacher OF his
day was Paul. What he preached was
not so much idealism as practically; not
so much theology. homoletics' eXegesls
or didactics. but a maner of life. tell
you there was no small russ about MS
way of preaching. When Paul was on
The job the devil was awake. There Is
kind of preaching that will never arouse
the devil.
UnbeIieVer Is Condemned.
He that believeth not is condemned
already" He that has not believed in
Jesus Christ, the only begotton Son OF
God. is condemned where he sits.
Too much of the preaching OF today
is too nice; too pretty; too dainty; 1t does
not kill. Too many sermons are Just given
for literary excellence Of the production
They get a new adjective or noun, or
pronoun-you cannot be saved by gram
mar A little bit OF grammar is all right.
but don't be big fool and sit around
and critioise because the preacher gets
wrong word-if you do that your head
is filled with buck oysters and sawdust'
ii that is all you can see in it.
They've been crying peace. peace.
There is no peace. Some people won't
come to hear me because they ar afraid
TO hear the truth. They want deodorized.
disinfected sermons. They are afraid to
be stuck over the edge of the pit and get
a smell Of the birthstone. You can't get
I'D of sin as long as you treat it as a
cream puff instead of rattlesnake. You
cant brush sin away with feather
buster.
60 Ask the Saved About Revival.
60 ask the drunkard who has been
~ .,