Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-08-09

'SsSsssss SOrption in world
&as5 ly matters. More |
serious, by far, |
however, is the internal cause, or the |
church's neglect of the means of grace. |
The tendency of fire is to go out. The |
best fire in the world will go out in "a |
hours if you neglect to put on fuel
Even so, the fire of devotion in the
hearts of Gods people tends to go
out unless it 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 eN-
tinct When this becomes general in
a church, it 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 TO blaze and burn and give out
light and warmth, which is the nor
NAL condition of a church.
Notice that the words, awake.
awake; put on thy strength, o Zion"
are not an exhortation, but
positive, peremptory command. Chris
tians sometimes speak of their
spiritual weakness as a misfortune,
but God regards it not as misfor-
hI1f sill +
is disastrous. BE We strong in the
Lord. and in the power of his might"
is just as binding as any command
ment in the Decalogue.
! A Christian has no right to be weak.
God has provided strength in abund
ance, and he holds us 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 at Jerusa-
lem until We be endowed with power
from on high" O1ke "a :49). 81 can
do all things through Christ which
strengthened me" (Phil. 13).
The real mission of the church is
not educational, though it does edu-
cate people continually; not to fur
nish soup, soap and potatoes. though
it may do this kind of work when nee
essary; not to furnish entertainment
for the community, though it may
wisely have an oversight of such mat
ters, and see that pernicious enter
tainments are kept out by providing
some of better quality. No, the real
mission of a church is to proclaim the
Gospel, to WELD spiritual forces, tC
bring down power from HEAVIER tC
subdue 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 wei
equipped. There is work enough to do
and power enough to do it with Coo
is ever calling her to do things which
are impossible in her own strength
but which are easily possible to thosc
who know how to avail themselves o
Gods strength. There is a good Illus
tration of this in John 6. A grea
crowd had followed Jesus out Of tn
, city to listen to his marvellous teach
ing. The day was far spent, and Their
was no place where the people coul'
obtain food. Under these circum
stances the apostles suggested t
Jesus that he send the people away t
, the villages round about that the,
might buy food .,il5sf'zsis . q 'g;Sa TEa :
But Jesus answered and said unit
Un tn
' many loaves have ye?" And whe
t they had canvassed the company the
t reported that all they could find wa
5 a little lad who had five biscuits an
: two small fishes; and this amount Q
$ course was utterly inadequate Ney
. erthless the Master bade them brin
9 him what they had, and arrange tn
' people for supper. And when the
v had finished distributing the piece
: which the Master broke off from thos
q five biscuits, they found that the
had fed five thousand men and ha
twelve baskets full of fragments let
over.
n When we ana1yZe this story, il ma
s be summed up as follows: "Give Y
: them to eat" ''But we cannot, Lord.
q 'But you must.,"' And when the
b brought all they had and laid it g
s the Masters feet they did it. Eve
! so, God says to his church in ever
community: "Behold the starvin
+ around you! Give We them to eat
q But we cannot, Lord. We are S
r weak" "But you must do it, and yG
q can do it. With God all things ar
n possible, and you have God to dra,
V upon"
g And when the church really recos
= nizes her mission as the spirituc
n teacher of the community, as the ope
g channel through which Gods grace
to flow to the unsaved around her
when she realizes what power can b
obtained through prayer, what cor
+ viction can be carried to impeniten
: hearts. she will begin to see thos
o who are spiritually hungry coming
|. her doors, and the lame, and the blin,
T and the oppressed fiocking to her fO
e comfort, and guidance and deliveranC
from the power of sin. Thirsty boy
: know where the cool springs are, an
+ goddess people soon find out where tn
l. water of life can be had, and uncoI
sciously are drawn thither.
Salvation
Salvation is that divine somethin
- which cavnS q man tO SomafItiner wort