The Fayette falcon. (Somerville, Tenn.) 190?-current, 1918-08-02

serious, by far.
however, is the Internal cause, or the
thufch's neglect of the means of grace.
The tendency Of fire is to go out. The
best fire In the world will 20 out In "a
aours II you neglect to put on fuel.
Even so, the fire of devotion in the
hearts Of Gods people tends to go
)ut unless 1t is fed with fuel, and the
'nly fuel thst will feed this flame In
NE fuel of Gods Word.
The average Christian does NOT read
he Bible enough to keep himself In
piritual health. The consequence is
hat he loses ground gradually until
he fire dies down. and is almost ex-
inct. When this becomes general In
church, 1t is necessary TO resort to
special measures to restore life to the
church; and these special measures
Usually consist of nightly meetings In
which the fuel of Gods Word is piled
In the slumbering embers until they
,egin to blaze and burn and give out
light and warmth, which Is the nor
nal condition Of church.
Notice that the words, "Awake.
wake; put on thy strength, o Zion,"
ire not an exhortation, but a
positive, peremptory command. Chris
Hans sometimes speak of their
plrltual weakness as a misfortune.
lut God regards 1t not as a msfor-
iune, but as a sin, as needless as Il
> disastrous. BE We strong in the
Lord, and in the power of his might"
y Just as binding as any command
nent In the Decalogue.
A Christian has no right to be weak.
Fod has provided strength in abund-
lnce, and he holds us accountable for
he use Of It.
The real mission of the church is
rot educational, though 1t does edu-
sate people continually; not to fur
,ish soup, soap and potatoes, though
/ may do this kind of work when nee
sssary; not to furnish entertainment
lor the community, though It may
wisely have an oversight Of such mat
iers, and see that perniclous enter
ailments are kept out by providing
ZONE ofsa better quality. No, the real
mission Of church is to proclaim the
Gospel, to WELD spiritual forces, to
prlng down power from heaven to
Iubdue proud minds and stubborn
Wills and passionate tempers. This Is
the real work OF the church from
which she Is never excused.
And for this work she Is welR
equipped. There is work enough to do.
and power enough to do It with. God
IS ever calling her to do things which
are impossible in her own. strength
but which are easily possible to those
who know how to avail themselves OF
Gods strength. There is good illus
tlatlon of this in John 8. A great
crowd had followed Jesus out of the
city to listen to his marvellous teach
ing. The day was far spent, and there
was no place where the people could
obtain food Under these circuul-
stances the apostles suggested to
Jesus that he send the people away to
the villages round about that they
might buy food. a
But Jesus answered and said unto
them, "Give ye them to eat. How
many loaves have yer And when
they had eanvassed the company they
reported that all they could find was
q little lad who had FIVE biscuits and
two small fishes; and this amount OF
course was utterly inadequate. New
erthless the Master babe them bring
him what they had, and arrange the
people for supper. And when they
had finished distributing the pieces
which the Master broke OF from those
FIVE biscuits, they found that they
had fed FIVE thousand men and had
twelve baskets full Of fragments len
over.
And when the church really recog-
nizes her mission as the spiritual
teacher of the community, as the open
channel through which Gods grace IL
to flow to the unsaved around her;
when she realizes what power can be
through prayer. what con-
viction can be carried to impenitent
hearts. she win begin to see those
who are spiritually hungry coming to
her doors. and the lame, and the blind.
and the oppressed fiocking to her for
comfort. and guidance and deliverancs
from the power Of sin Thirsty boys
know where the cool springs are. and
goddess people soon find out where the
water Of life can be had, and uneon-
zriorzlv ara drawn fhlfher.