Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1916-09-16
EVANGELIST PRIEACHES0N OBEDIENCE
.rE1Is : NoN-BEL1EyERs SOME PLAIN FACTS
Make start For Better Childrens Choir to sing
81 ron;ah+,s seryice-Eyangelist to Address Sunday
Schools at the Tent Tomorrow Afternoon

o,,ebt to be? Why blame it OIL some
ono else? If you are not what you
onrbt to be, your wife's husband $
tbc one to blame" said Evangelist
smith, addressing himself last night
to the non-professors, who offer var
ious excuses for not becoming Chris
tians.
ssYou ask what's the matter with
the churches, and say there are hyp-
ocrites in them. / know it. So there
are in your lodge. but you don't get
out. The churches were not made for
perfect people, but for those who
want to be better. And then you
pick out the worst church members,
you can find and pass over all the
fine men and women who honor God.
! If a hypocrite gets into the church
it's our duty to try and make hlm
better. Because a hypocrite does get
into the church it's no proof that
the church isn't good. If some OF
you carried out your ideas about the
church you'd have whist party at
one end, prize fight at the other,
and dance hall in the middle.
Gone man told me he couldn't be-
lieve the Bible because it was too IN
consistent and asked me where Cain
got his wife. I told him he got her
from his father-in-law. Some men
are more concerned about other
mems wives than they are about
their own.
t'sGet in tune with God and the Bible
won't trouble you SO much.
"Ask some people why they are not
Christians and they'll tell you they
don't feel like it. Had consulted my
own wishes wouldn't be here to-
night i had a doctor with me, in my
room ten minutes before came. ;"
The subject of the sermon was
obedience, the evangelist using Sauis
disobedience to portray the result OF
sin. The text was from the words
found in I Samuel, 1922: "To obey
is better than sacrifice" He dwelt
upon the story Of Gods command to
Saul to destroy the Amalachites and
Sauls disobedience which resulted in
the loss of his throne and power.
For many years the Amalachites had
been carrying off their young men
and women and destroying their crops.
God decided that they had wrought
enough misery and He determined to
destroy them. He ordered Samuel
to tell Saul to muster his army and
march against them, destroying every
one of them, with their property.
Saul marched against them and
destroyed all the people, save the king
whom he brought back in irons. He
kept the finest sheep and the finest
oxen. God was wroth with Saul and
sent Samuel out to meet him. Saul
was telling of his conquest, when the
sheep began to bleat and the oxen to
low. His "sins had found him out"
s.Into Samuel's ear you could hear
the sobs of disappointed God as He
told Samuel that Saul had disobeyed
Him." said the preacher. "1t was
the sob of a disappointed God weep
ing and pleading with rebellious
Z man.
sI wonder now many OF us s.ere to-
night are rebellious? Listen! suppose
God should write upon the forehead
of every man here just what he IS,
how long could we keep this congrc-
CATION together? l can hear God tell
inc Samuel, "Saul has turned back
s from following Me-" And Samuel
cried all night. His crying was not
the last time a preacher has cried
over his congregation. Listen! 1t
isn't work that disheartens preach
er-it is the inconsistency of his fol-
lowers. You church officials and Sun
day school teachers, have you gone
back on God? You church members
in Alexandria are either tying your
ministers hands and making it hard
er for him to preach or you are help
ing to make his work easier. Which
is it?
aSaul's trouble came because ne
didn't turn sin down. I've been in your
city two weeks and not one man has
invited me to play cards, or offered
me cigar, no one has invited me to
90 to a dance. Why? You say they
wounldn't insult me. No, and they
wouldn't insult you if they knew