The Washington herald., 1918-01-13


enness; think Of the lust; think OF
the gambling; think OF the pander-
ing; think of the tears; think Of the
mountains Of guilt; think Of the
troubled insomnia. think of he
broken hearts; think of the blighted
lives; think of the human derelicts!
Oh, tell you, hell won't loosen its
grip on that crowd without the
greatest fight and win put mp. the
finest scrap for Jesus Christ and
decency that know how. and don't
you forget II.
First, we are in a cause that de-
mands human laborers. / say 1t rev.
erently. but understand my Bible
this way-that God could convert
man on top OF the Alps Mountains
with nobody wikhln 400 miles, but do
not believe that there Is soul In earth
or IN heaven that was ever saved that
God didn't use some human agent TO
bring the message. II you are
Christian tonight, somebody else told
you about God. II somebody else be-
comes a Christian, II will be because
you tell them about It or II they don't
It will be because you kept your
mouth shut.
Thirty years ago groped my way
out of sin and out of guilt into the
open arms of Jesus Christ, because a
good, faithful, godly woman. Mrs
Col. Clark, put her arms around me
and said to me, young man, Jesus
Christ loves-you and he'd like to save
your SOUL" and I gave my heart to
God and from that night until this
minute I have followed God hard like
the hound on q tagging bag. I will
do my best.
There was q man named Cornelius.
He had been praying to God and CIV
ing aims and asking for light upon
some subject. BY the way, they
known in heaven how much you give
as well as how much you pray. They
keep tab on you. Your Bible says,
''Thy prayers and thine aims have
come up" You've got to mix them.
''Your prayers and your aims have
come up before me as a memorial"
Now, what did the Lord do?
Why, the Lord sent an angel down
and said to Cornelius, There's q
fellow over, there named Peter, at
Joppa. He's gone over for little
vacation and IL you will send over
there he will tell you what you want
to know"
Now, why didn't God let the angel
tell Cornelius? The angel made
trip to heaven to tell him that there
was a fellow over there named Peter
and IL he would send over there to
him. Peter would come and tell him.
Well, that isn't Gods way of doing
business; you let the Lord alone!
II it had taken ten years and cost
$4,000. God would have had Cornelius
come in possession of the light through
a fellow-man. and that fellow-man
was Peter. Gods way is to have a
man give a man light and not an
angel.
God could send angels down here
to ring doorbells and serve on COM
mittees; God could send an angel
down here to preach, but the Lord
said, bill, I want you to go down
there and get on the Job for me, will
you?'
So that's why God wants us to do
1t. No matter IL a thing has the
slightest degree OF desirability or
none, a large number of men and
women laboring for its accomplish
ment will meet with results. Look at
the liquor traffic with their 100000, 900
Of capital-how she's damning this old
world; crowding our jails and peniten-
tiaries; filling our streets with stag
gering, puking men and women;
wrecking manhood and womanhood,
and bnghting, and mildewing, and
cursing and danning everything that
the dirty business touches from one
end of the land to the other. With a
large number of men back OF 1t, my
friends, and that great capital, how
they are damning the land in which
we live! II thing has the slightest
degree of desirability. or none, a large
number Of people working for its ac-
complishment will meet with results.
All right.
God Wants Workers.
desirability. And with Gods people
working and praying, then nothing
ought to be impossible.
The people had a mind to work"
What God wants is workers, not
Helpers, not critics. Live wires, not
dead ones. THE people had a mind
to work"
There is a crying need today for
leaders who can lead, and for preach
ers who can preach. and for teachers
who can teach, and instruct, in the
face OF tremendous questions that
confront our people. It is told to me
that the Protestant church Of New
York City has $1,000 less church men,
bers today than she had ten years
ago-that only one our of an average
family of four are coming into the
Baptist church-that Methodists are
nn1y iaar al I,o1 af
dren-the Presbyterians only one
third-and the Episcopalians about the
same, while all denomina tions are
falling to reach the unchurched mil
lions and millions that surge up and
down the streets like the ebb and the
flow of the tide in the harbor.
Now then, why? In one church
where I went to preach one time they
had 1000 members and their preacher
said to me: Now, my church holds
the key to the situation" 1 wasn't
there 4S hours until 1 found out that
the devil had the preacher and the
Key and the situation, and he couldn't
scare up 2Oo members to sing IN the
choir, usher and serve on committees
he couldn't scare up 200 of them.
Now you take the number of people
tnat Join the church and compare that
by the amount of money spent for CUR
rent expenses and it takes nearly 500
out In Indianapolis to get a soul to
Christ; it takes nearly $500 in New
YORK City for every soul that's won.
and nearly $500 in Boston for every
soul; s455 in DenYer and s445 in Chi
cago; 500 in New Orleans; $50 in At
lanta, Ca; SIS in Louisville. WHY?
Sixty-five per cent of the men I'm the
Southland are protesting Christians:
up in the North, around % per cent
out in the farther West, around Den
yer and in there, Is per cent; on the
Pacific Coast. only 6 per cent are in
the church. There Ia ,,nn-o g.. -