Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-18

God will honor and that God will
bless" said Rev. Billy Sunday in
his sermon this afternoon, speak
ing on the subject. The Wise
Men" II have no sympathy for
the folks that are looking for some
| thing easy" he continued, and pro-
ceeded to tell of the hardships of
evangelistic work. In part he
said:
My text is IN Proverbs-1L3o-
'He that winneth souls is wise. "
/ You know there are vast multitudes
in this enlightened land of ours
that are in open rebellion against
God.
I'VE will not have this man, Jesus
Christ, to reign over US" is the
heartless cry that wings its flight
from office. the shop, the store, and
factory, and home. and college, and
the busy mart of trade.
There are lots of people that are
willing. my friends, to accept what
ever they want from the bible.
They'd like to codify it; they'd like
to sit down and eliminate thar
which isn't pleasant to them to re-
ceive, and which they don't like to
adjust their lives to, and insert
something they'd like.
You take it as it's given, and II
you don't you'll go to hell. God
Almighty won't adjust His prin-
ciples to suit the opinions of any
body; the Lord has madeHis revela-
ton to the world and it is up TO
you and not to the Lord. He has
done all He ever will or can to save
this world. He has given sunshine
and rain and ground, and it's up TO
you to pillow it and plant the seed,
or starve to death. Gods done His
part; He will do no more. He will
do no more.
There is not a definite effort put
forth to persuade a definite person
to accept a definite Savior at
definite time-and that time is
now. That's the whole thing in
nutshell, boiled down into the few
est sentences / can put ii in-be-
cause there is not put forth a de-
finite effort to persuade a definite
person to accept a definite Savior,
Jesus Christ, at a definite time, and
that time now, now. That's why
we are not making Roadway.
But wait! This element Of failure
is not simply confined to the
CHURCH. Ninety-nine percent of the
business men fail. A banker told
me in Chicago that 40 years ago
there were one hundred business
houses, any one of whose paper
would have passed without protest,
and today only four of those houses
were named. The rest of them have
been ruined, gone into bankruptcy,
out of business. Four of them, after
40 years, and they all passed, with
out protest at any bank.
Many Called; Few Chosen.
And only about three men out OF
a thousand succeed-just about
three. Seventy-five per cent OF the
lawyers who graduate from law
school fail to make good. Sixty-f1ve
per cent, my friends, of the physi-
clans fail to make good, and the
failure of these classes is due large
ly to the lack of definite systematic
work No political battle is won on
the stump. 1t is not the spell-bind-
ers from the rear end of a special
train that turns the vote. Sometimes
a blear-eyed, bloated-faced, bull
necked, whisky-soaked, tin-horn
politician will win more votes than
the most silver tongued spell-bindeI
that ever spouted the principles
from the rear of a special train
put more into it.
Men will work harder to win in
business and politics than the
church will in religion. am dis
gusted with them all! You think
you can just open your church door
and ring a bell and you expect peo-
pie to come That's been going on
long enough. The church has got
to wake up and do something.
You just simply think that be-
cause the calendar announces that
it's the Sababth day that that's all
you have to do, and that if you put
on little better dress and look a
little more pious that that's sery-
ing the Lord, and you go to the
devil six days in the week.
What's the church doing to win
people for Christ? l bet lot of you
people right to this day don't Know
the people right around in your
Observation-Disclosures they are
or not We never do
wonder the world is
going to the devil!
Get somebody else for Jesus
vision of life, a new vision of what
it means. 1t is something besides
going to church and keeping a lit
tie spot seventeen inches square
warm for a half hour and listening
to a sermonctte, while you go to
the devil six days in the week.
You'd better squirm around in your
seat and stoop down! You'd better
duck!
HE that winneth souls is wise"
Some people think it is beneath
their dignity. Then you live on a
higher plane than your Master, for
he went about doing good where
ever he was in the world.
EVangelistic Work Hard.
Evangelistic work is a difficult
form of work; it's more difficult
than preaching; it's more difficult
than attending conventions; more
difficult than giving goods to the
poor and when you do give goods
to the poor, don't wait until the
moths have eaten holes in them,
and when you give them away don't
cut all the buttons and braid off.
Poor folks like them as well as you
do. That's no act of charity be-
cause you've taken off all you want,
then turned them over to some
body else No! No! The angels
never record an act like that. You
will never see 1t when you get to
heaven, and you will never get to