The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1916-10-06

eager to be Off, someone Juggling at
his cloak and saving, Don't go 10
Rome, Paul, to preach the Gospel OF
the cross. They will laugh your story
TO scorn. Rome, remember, was the
home of Cicero, and his orations are
still studied there, and Seneca is dis
coursing in the streets. Go to them,
Paul, with little sociology, religious
pathology and ethical culture, but not
with the word Of the cross And
Paul answers back: Il am not ashamed
of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the
power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth, to the Jew first and
also to the Greek"
There are people today who tell US
that the Gospel of the cross doesn't
meet the modern mind. Well, l may
know little of the modern mind but
| do know great deal about the
modern heart, and one thing is this,
that it Is still "deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked, and,
thank God, I know what can meet its
needs and that is the cross of Christ.
The trouble, friends, is not with our
heads but with our hearts; let them
be cleansed by the blood of Christ and
the modern mind has no difficulty in
understanding the story of the cross.
Problems there may be, but the heart
that knows the cleansing power of the
blood cliugs In simple faith to the
Cross of Christ.
Then there are those who say that
the Cross of Christ does not meet the
problem of today. What problems are
there today that were not the prob
lens of yesterday? What about the
moral corruption of the times? Is 1t
any worse than it was in Paul's day?
When the apostle was eager to go to
Rome, lecherous reprobate Nero, who
had sunk almost to the nethermost
hell, was on the throne. Yet Paul was
not DESTROYS of going to Rome with
q moral mud scow, but with the Cos
pei of Christ. He knew what some
moderns do not know, that reforma-
ton follows regeneration, and so he
was eager to preach in that corrupt
city the Gospel Of the cross. What
q lesson to some would-be preachers
Of today who, not knowing the power
Of the Gospel to regenerate society,
are trying with their puny scoops to
cleanse the cesspools of iniquity, when
they have at their command the dyna-
mite of God. We might just as we'll
try to batter down fortress with
popgun and toy pistol as to attempt to
overcome the forces Of evil in the
world by any moral reformation which
leaves out the cross Of Christ.
But what about world immersed in
pleasure? Will the Gospel reach such
q world? AS Paul stood facing Rome,
mad with pleasure, he said, 81 am
ready to preach the Gospel to you that
are at Rome Also" And yet the city
was almost altogether given over to
pleasure. During the reign of Claudi-
us, who preceded Nero on the throne,
the gladiatorial games became almost
an insane frenzy and in NerO's time,
as we know, it was no better. Paul,
however, was eager to go there with
the Gospel. 1t Is a great challenge
that the pleasure-loving world gives
the preachers of today. How shall
they meet It? Shall they, In extrem-
ity, try something else besides the
Gospel, or is the Gospel still the pow
er Of God unto salvation, even unto a
pleasure-loving world? One of the
saddest sights to behold is a ministry
that has abandoned the Gospel and
substituted in the place a sociological
shovel and a pathological plaster. If
hell ever laughs it laughs at such a
substitution, for it knows that make
shifts will never meet the worlds
need and defeat hell.
Come on, preachers, the world chal-
lenges US, let us meet the challenge
with Paul's Il am ready to preach the
Gospel" What Gospel? Why, the
Gospel of the cross, of course, for
there Is none other And with Paul
let us say, no matter what the world
may say, we are not ashamed of the
Gospel of Christ Why not ashamed?
Because it is the dynamite of God"
That means it has in itself the power
to do business for God. No wonder
Paul, facing Intellectual, corrupt,
pleasure-loving Rome, said, Il am
ready. I am not ashamed to preach the
Gospel to you that are at Rome also