The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-01-29

they tried TO get her to come to the
meeting. Her husband was an elder
"a Presbyterian--and they said to
her:
Mrs. Kingsbury. haven't you been
to the meeting?"
- tshe talked as though she had
hot mush in her mouth--one OF
those kind of women)---and she
reached her eyebrows and drew In her
diaphragm and said. II can't under
stand why we hfys to sepd to Chisago
preach to u.s.
And somebody ventured the remark
that 1t was to make the community
better.
she said. Make our community
better, / think we have an absolute
| ly fine community"
| There was one Of the most good
for nothing. Godforsaken, whiskey-
soaked. Disappearing. accursed. har-
| lot ridden communities that / have
ever preached the gospel in In the
Itwenty-one years / have been preach
/ ing.
Here, You listen to me. A little
jay town with thirty-five hundred
"eople and had twenty-seven saloons;
twelve gambling halls with doors wide
l
men and children could walk right in
and gamble; had eight houses OF ILL
fame and one had sixty-one girls in
| II and the path from the town to
those houses was beaten as hard al
the rocks. while the grass grew
around the churches knee high, ana
the churches looked like a lot OF little
chicken coops sitting around on the
street corners with no coat Of paint.
And there was a woman. a member OF
the church. her husband an elder. and
she couldn't see that that God for
saken rotten community wasn't about
to sprout its wings and fly away to
the empyrean of God above.
| II can't understand" Gee!
tell you, the Lord Is having hard
| time. Jump In and make It easy for
God--what do you say? Line your
self up with the Lord, not the DEVILS
gang.
Then criticize, Oh. mercy. I have
never done anything that / couldn't
pick 1t all to pieces after i did IT, but
II can't do as well az you think l
fought to do or as well as I would
like to do (and | never do) ! always
do the best / know how to do, and /
am always for Jesus Christ.
But wait minute! II you are
satisfied with what You are doing.
hen ] don't want to know you.
like to see the man or woman always
striving to greater heights OF spiritual
success and triumph; like to see a
man or woman trying to- do more for
Jesus Christ. Imperfection taints
everything that we do.
Listen! Raphael painted the Ma
donna, and after he had finished 1T
he turned aside and wept as IL his
iheart would break. There was pic
ture in his soul he couldn't paint al
| though there has never been one
painted like 1t since. Never. Never!
And Kipling. after he had written
the Recessional, threw It In the
Iwastepaper basket Disguised with his
rubbish out to burn. found the manu-
script, read 1t. detected its literary
merit, saved It. gave It to the world,
and Kipling never wrote anything
better than the occasional. There
was a poem In his soul he couldn't ex-
press.
Moved Thousands.
Spurgeon preached a sermon and
moved thousands. and when he'd pro-
nounced the henediction ne went to
his study and some friends found him
lying on his face sobbing az II hts
heart would break. There was a ser
mon In his soul he couldn't preach
although he never preached any bet
ter.
So YOU will always want to do bet.
ter than you are doing, although what
YOU did was the best you could do
i Galveston, Te~as Is an island only
six feet above high-tide. They've go,
a low stretch Of land there and when
the great tidal wave swept through
there. driven by twphoon. there was
an Orphans Asylum kept by the
Catholic church, and the Sisters oil
Charity hurried away and got a rope
They divided the children up and
made eight for each Sister of Charity
who then tied the other end OF the
rope around her body. They made ur
their minds IL worst came to wors,
they'd 90 their best to keep those chill
dren from being sucked out into the
harbor. But you know the mex.
tidal wave that swept through. went
to the second and third stories OF the
buildings and engulfed them. Two
| days later they found two OF the dead
bodies of those Sisters of Charity
floating out In the Galveston Harbor
each with eight children tied to her
She didn't save the children but she
did the best she could. and the world
applauded their efforts.
So do your lest for Jesus Christ
Y All the Lord asks you to do in the
world Is your best!
Then the formality! Oh, people
will have nothing to do with the
church--never go to prayer meeting
the preacher has never seen their
maps in the prayer meeting door. has
never beard their voices. They never
give a testimony or say anything for
God II they DO happen TO go occas-
Isionally, They cruelty Him!
ooh, the preacher is vulgar, he is
crude. his eccentricities and idiosyn-
crasies CRATE on my nerves!"
AHA! Aha! And so the church
is being killed by dignity II you
have no passion for souls you need to
be converted. You ought to walk
right down and renew your VOW and
covenant and get something you
haven't got; IL you haven't got a bur
den to see people brought to Jesus
Christ then you are going wrong and
I'd come down and get IT. That's
what ] would do--never mind who
you are--Id come down and say.
Lord, I'm in the church but
have no passion for having people
brought to Christ. don't care
| whether they are saved or lost, and
therefore I know l am wrong and r
haven't got what ought to have"
Il wouldn't let a day go but what
| rd do AZ