The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1918-08-01

| cnurcnS neglect of the means of grace.
The tendency Of fire Is to 20 out. The
best fire In the world will 20 out In y
hours If you neglect to put on fuel
Even so, the fire of devotion in the
hearts of Gods people tends 10 90
out unless II Is fed with fuel. and the
only fuel that will feed this flame Is
the fuel of Gods Word.
The average Christian does not read
the Bible enough to keep himself in
spiritual health. The consequence is
that he loses ground gradually until
the fire dies down, and Is almost eX-
tnct. When this becomes general In
n church, II 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
on the slumbering embers until they
begin 10 blaze and burn and give out
light and warmth, which is the nor
NAL condition Of church.
Notice that the words. awake.
awake; put on thy strength. o Zion"
are not an eXhOrtatiOn. but n
positive, pcrcmptory command. Chris
tians sometimes speak of their
spiritual weakness as misfortune,
hut God regards II not as n misfOr-
| tune, but as sin, as needless rs II
Is disastrous. "Bc We strong In the
Lord, and in the power of his might"
is just MS binding as any command
ment in the Dccaogue.
A Christian has no right TO he weak
God has provided strength in abund-
ancc. and he holds MS accountable for
the use Of It. "All power Is given
unto me in heaven and in earth. Go
! We therefore and disciple all nations"
Matt. (2S:1S). "Tarry We mt Jerusa-
lem until We he endowed with power
from on high" Lukc 2l:i9). az can
do all things through Christ which
strengthened me" Phil. 4:13).
The real mission of the church Is
not educational, though II does edu-
cate people continually; not to fur
nlsh soup, soap and potatoes though
II may do this kind Of work when nee
essary; not to furnish entertainment
for the community, though ii may
wisely have an oversight of such mat
tcrs, and see that pcrnicious enter
tainmentS are kept ont by providing
some Of better quality. No, the real
mission Of n church Is to proclaim the
Gospel, to WELD spiritual forces. to
bring down power from heaven to
Suhduc proud minds and stubborn
Wills and passionate tcmpcrs This Is
the real work of the church from
which she Is never excused.
And for this work she Is we'll
equipped. There Is work enough to do,
and power enough to do II WITH God
Is ever calling her to do things which
are impossible in her own strength
hut which are easily possible to those
who know how to avail themselves Of
GotSs strength, There Is n good illus
tration of this in John G. 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 circum-
stances the apostles suggested to
Jesus that he send the people away to
the villages round about that they
might buy food.
But Jesus answered and said unto
them. "Givc We them to eat. How
many loavcS have yc?" And when
they had canvasscd the company they
reported that all they could find was
little lad who had Ave biscuits and
two small fishes; and this amount Of
course was utterly inadequate. New
crthleSs 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 off from those
five biscuits, they found that they
had fed five thousand men and had
twelve baskets full of fragments left
over.
When we analyze this story, II mNy
he summed up as follows: "Give We
them to eat" "But we cannot, Lord"
"But you must" And when they
brought all they had and laid II at
the Masters feet they did it. Even
so, God says to his church in every
community: "Behold the starving
around you, Give ye them to eat"
'But we cannot, Lord. We are so
weak" "But you must do it, and You
can do it. With God all things nrc
possible, and you have God TO draw
upon"
And when the church really rccoe-
ni2es her mission MS the spiritual
teacher of the community, as the open
channel through which Gods g'Uce Is
to flow to the unsaved arount her;
when she realizes what power can be
obtained through prayer, what con-
vlctlon can be carried to impenlteat
hearts, she will begin to see those
who are spiritually hungry coming to
her doors, and the lame, and the blind
and the oppressed focklng to her for
comfort, and guidance and dellverance
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 1ncon-
sclously are drawn thlther.