The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-08-03

SV23 sorption In world
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 1t Is fed with fuel, and the
only fuel thst will feed this fame 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-
tinct. When this becomes general in
a 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
on the slumbering embers until they
light and warmth, which is the nSr-
| NAL condition of church.
Notice that the words, "Awake,
awake; put on thy strength, 0 Zion,''
are not an exhortation, but a
positive, peremptory command. Chris
tians sometimes speak of their
spiritual weakness as a misfortune,
but God regards it not as mlsfor-
tune, but as sin, as needless as II
is disastrous. "Be We strong in the
Lord, and in the power of his might, y
is just as binding as any commands
ment in the Decalogue.
A Christian has no right to be weak
God has provided strength In abund'
ance, and he holds us accountable fol
the use of it.
/ The real mission of the church il
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 ma.
:, wisely have an oversight of such mat
tiers, and see that pernicious enter
tainments are kept out by providin.
some Of better quality. No, the rea
mission of church is to proclaim tn
Gospel, to WELD spiritual forces, tt
bring down power from heaven t.
subdue proud minds and stubborn
10 4ot
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 dc
and power enough to do it with. CO.
is ever calling her to do things whicl
are impossible in her own strength
but which are easily possible to thos
who know how to avail themselves o
Gods strength. There is Il 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 ther
was no place where the people coul
obtain food. Under these circun
. | SldtuCSS tllC upuSllCo ouSSCStSu
Jesus that he send the people away t
the villages round about that the
might buy food.
But Jesus answered and said unit
) them, "Give We them to eat. HOY
many loaves have YEP And whe
they had canvassed the company the
reported that all they could find wa
little lad who had five biscuits nm
two small fishes; and this amount G
course was utterly inadequate. Ney
. erthless the Master babe them brin
him what they had, and arrange tn
people for supper. And when the
|, |, had finished distributing the piece
: which the Master broke off from thos
FIVE biscuits, they found that the
] had fed five thousand men and ha
twelve baskets full of fragments lei
: over.
And when the church really recos
nizes her mission as the spirituf
teacher of the community, as the ope
channel through which Gods grace
J to flow to the unsaved around her
Y when she realizes what power can b
obtained through prayer, what cor
viction can be carried to impeniter
hearts, she will begin to see thos
> who are spiritually hungry coming
her doors, and the lame, and the blint
\ and the oppressed flocking to her fc
n comfort, and guidance and deliveranc
!. from the power of sin. Thirsty boy
4 know where the cool springs are, an
\ goddess people soon find out where tn
water Of life can be had, and uncol
sciously are drawn thither.
Salvation