Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-09-25

save souls, said Mr.. Sunday in his
sermon this afternoon at the taber-
nacle, when he chose for his sub
ject THE Business of the Church. "
He took his text from Proverbs
lib, 'He that winneth souls is
WISE" and pointed out the neces-
sity of personal effort in the vine
yard of the Lord. Personal work
it is the strain upon which Mr..
Sunday constantly plays. He said
/ it's the church's business to save
! the people. Other people can do
the other part. There are other
institutions to educate them. That's
their business. That's what l do to
win people to God. Because if
everybody in the nation knew ev-
eTything there is to know. and
didn't know God, what would be
| the condition of the people in the
community. So so weeks ought to
be spent in going after the I'M
! saved, and two weeks a year talk
ing and preaching to the church,
| and we want soul-winners in the
| pews and the platform and the
/ choir loft. One person can set a
, church on fire with holy zeal for
Jesus Christ, the same as one
| match can burn a city. And the
! church of the future must work
more for sinners or it will stop:
( and it must work for all, rich,
| poor, great, small, learned or illit-
! crate. 1t is something everybody
can do, and God will bless you
whether you have got much or lit
tie, whether you wear homespun
or silk. whether you ride in an
auto or whether you hot-hoof it,
whether you have got a servant to
wait on you or whether you have
to wait on yourself, the Lord can
honor you, and will, if you will do
His will and help bring somebody
to the Lord.
There was a time when
preacher was looked upon as a
sort of an ecclesiastic locomotive.
and they thought his whistIing and
blowing off steam and Cinders was
enough to bring the whole bunch
TO glory. 1t won't do it. Every
body's got to do something to help.
Now the majority of Christians
never speak a word or do thing
to bring the interests of religion
before the mind of the individual.
Personal work is the business of
every minister and deacon and
every member of the church, and
you ought to begin at home among
your own friends and your OWE
family. too.
/ Preach. You Reject.
So if I stand up and preach the
truth and you sit there and reject
il. and you go to hell, that's up to
you! It's not up to me at all!
What I preach is the truth, and
you reject it-then God will damn
you! If it isn't the truth. then
God will damn me. You come and
show me that what 7 preach isn't
the truth, not from the standpoint
of some old theological bell-weth-
er. but the word of God. Come and
show me that what l preach hasn't
the word of God behind it. The
Christian people, / think. are re-
sponsiSle that thousands of people
pass out into darkness AMI ar
lost. The opportunity to DO some
thing fer jesus Christ is never at
sent. I viii be personal l am
not going to be a theOrist. toe;
there is TOO much theorizirg and
not enon oh practice in the church
today. Debating over this or that
dogma will never. give spiritual
life or power-nevef-and real, eff
fective results are obtained by per
sonal contact. When you ask an
individual, meet the individual and
speak with that individual. That's
where the great work is to be done
So many of them do nothing.
That's the reason we are not &C
compHshing more; they are doing
nothing at all; they are dead ones. |
l think that soul-seeking is be- |
coming a lost art today. World |
illness and seIfshness have absorb !
ed the ministers a1' the mHrl"a~S |
ard ia the a-sy from the
work. = ,mbe less ga-iEa.iols !
and endless mac hinery have Crept |
in to take from the individual the !
responsibility to do it for God. No
wonder, when many of our semin-
aries minimize, if they do not ig-
more this altogether; or when they
do turn out preachers. they are a /
lot of two by tour infideis who get /
up and spout something, some stuff /
that they have gotten down there |
from some Goddess old professor.
They blight the faith of the peO-
pie. | blame them for it, and
of the teachers in
our seminaries never had any ex-
perience in winning anybody for
Christ. and the poorest personal
worker you ever looked at is
young fellow that's just graduated
from some theological seminary,
because he wasn't taught there to
10 anything for the Lord Almighty;
he was only taught to build ser
mon like you build a house. Some
people don't even know where to
put the lightning rod on a house.
Church's Opportunity.
God Almighty is throwing before
he church Of this city the greatest
opportunity and privilege you ever
lad to bridge the chasm between
he man and the dinner bucket.
He thinks you don't give whoOp
or him. Show him that he's wrong;
hat you're interested in his soul.
see what God will do. He will fill
our old icehouses chuck full with
ife. my friends, thTobbing human
tv. il YOU will get out and win the
men that are to be won. and they
re susceptible. but you can't do it .
through the Indifference of the peo-