Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1915-11-11


work of the Holy Spirit and they seem
to have no conception of the real
meaning of the Holy Sacraments.
II. This leads me to speak of the
great fact that the Lutheran church
has perfect right to make use of the
very best of the best evangelists. 1t
would be folly to say that we cannot
learn anything of the professional
evangelist. He is trained man and
does things which We should not ig-
more. AS a rule, the trained evan
gelist is very earnest in his preaching
and is fearless in his exposition of
the Divine law and knows how to
press home the invitation to the sim
ners to come to Christ. When a Luth-
eran goes to Northfield, Mass, he Is
deeply impressed with two things:
first, the good it would do all Luth-
eran pastors and preachers to go to
Mortified to learn how to develop
the practical side of Christianity;
secondly, the good it would do the
Moody school of preachers to attend
a good Lutheran Conference or school
of theology. We Lutherans would
do well to learn of the average evan
gelist how to preach earnestly. l do
not refer to the clownish act of tear
ing off collars, smashing chairs and
jumping upon the pulpit, but the Cos
pei of Jesus Christ is too great theme
to present in a sleepy careless way.
We should preach as dying man to
dying men. Let us not be afraid to
expound the law. The Sermon on the
Mount shows us how fearless Christ
was in showing the real meaning of
the Commandments. We cannot
picture sin too sinful. The thunders
of Sinai must precede the peace of
Calvary. Let me make an honest
confession right here. l was ready
to go into the ministry before heard
a real invitation given from the pull
pit of my dear Lutheran church to
outside sinners to come to Christ.
do not mean to say that there were
not things that could thus have been
interpreted, but l do mean to say
that never heard real direct strong
persuasive invitation given for sim
ners to come to Christ as it should
have been given. Having the truth
as we have, we should not let any
evangelist surpass us in giving the in
vitation to the lost to come to Christ.
Some one will say: eff we can
learn some lessons from the profess
ional evangelist, why not join in with
the movement for the good of the
city, or the community in which we
live? Others will say: If only one
soul is saved, is it not worth the price
of the tabernacle and the effort?"
The questions cannot honestly be set
tied that way. There is some good
in Roman Catholism and in Christ
ian Science and in many human or
CARNATIONS, but does that justify one
to identify himself with such organ
izations without considering the evil
in them? What il a revival does save
few souls, and others are forever
driven into a mental state where they
cannot be reached any more? Let US
not forget that the emotional revival
has driven more people into infidelity
than any other religious movement in
the world Let a man think that feel
ing is the new birth, and the moment
that feeling leaves him-and it sure
ly will-then he thinks he has lost
his religion and will be harder to
reach than ever. l gave my observa-
ton of revivalism for nearly fifty
III d pulpooC. IL thdt
the system has been constantly chang
ing. One custom after the other has
failed till now the tabernacle-show
is on once, and seldom more than
once, with Billy Sunday as the star
actor, receiving over $346,000 for
twenty-one short engagements. 9th
ers are trying to initiate him, but !
is the death struggle of dying sys-
tenn. The good will live, and that is
the very earnest preaching, the fear
less denunciation of sin, and the pre-
ssing invitation; but so much is left
out that we Lutherans cannot join in
the movement without sacrificing the
very things for which we stand, and
the time is not far off when some
churches must change to the practice
which l shall next mention, or die.
III. 1 refer to the fact that the
Lutheran church has the best soul
winning method in the world, if she
will only use it. In the first place,
We have the most perfect Gospel the
world has ever heard Can there be
a difference between Gospel and Cos
pei? Certainly there can! The final
command of Jesus was so plain that
any child ought to understand what
it meant. When Jesus said, go We
into all the world" He certainly did
not mean for us to sit down and let
500, 000,0 900 heather perish without
even telling them who Jesus is. When
He said: And make diciples of all
nations" He certainly did not mean
only the adults, but humanity. When
He said, "baptizing them into the
name of the Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Ghost" He did not meai.
that a man should preach in twenty
one cities for two years for $4,000
and never mention baptism. II told
a little child to fatten a hen, feeding
her corn, l certainly should not ex-
pect the hen to be fattened first and
then fed, or not fed at all. When
Jesus said that we should make
disciples, baptizing them, He meant
it, and it is a poor Gospel which ig-