The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1920-03-10
SAYS LABORERS
ARE WANTED
In THE CHURCH

interesting sermon by KeV. Walter &.
Carroll
The musical program was excellent
The choir sung a very fine selection
entitled peace Be Still" Rev. C. E.
Southland sang a solo, which was
greatly enjoyed There was the regu-
lar Is minute praise service.
On Friday evening the Main Street
Baptist church quartet will sing at
tho service.
An Offering is being taken up each
evening to defray the current expcns-
es of the evangelical campaign.
Rev. Walter c. Carroll took for his
text, James 1:22, "Be we doors of the
word, and not hearers only" and said
in part:
The careful student of the Bible has
been made to feel, as he has read
what James wrote about faith and
works, and what Paul wrote about
faith and works, that one contradict
ed the other. For James declares that
we. are justified by works, and not by
faith only, while Paul just as posi-
lively declares that we are justified by
faith, and not by works. But is
there a contradiction here? Lot US
see.
The two men were writing to diff
ferent classes of people. James wrote
to arouse to action some inert Chris
tians, who professed to think that if
they merely assented to Christian
truth, they would be saved, Paul
wrote to converted Jews in Rome,
who still felt that - observance of
some of the Jewish rites was essential
70 salvation.
Further, each sacred writer uses
the word works" in a different way
and with a different meaning. To
James "works" means acts which may
be termed Christian; to Paul, it
means the ceremonial acts of the
Jewish law, or Judaism, Paul deals
with cause, James with effect. Paul
knew that a mans faith would deter
mine the nature of his works, while
James insisted that a mans work
would reveal his faith In reality,
then, both are stating the same truth
as regards Christian faith and Chris
than works. One does not contradict
the other.
Faith without works is dead.
We in America are living in need
less and sinful ease and self-indul-
gence. The ligors of the world war
efolmed US somewhat, but when the
war ceased, we quickly fell back into
he old paths. We live riotously.
Multtudes seek the line of least re-
sistance, which is never hard to find.
Too many of us, in the church and
out Of it, are like dhip floating down
stream. 1t has no eyes, cannot see;
it has no ears, it cannot hear; it has
no nerves, it cannot feel. Down the
stream it goes, humping against the
its destination. o friends have you
no eyes with which to see your dang
er. and to behold the beauty of
Christ? Have you no ears with which
20 hear the call of God and duty?
Have you no feelings for yourself and
others? 0 that you ni"ht ho"in to
work out your own salvatin!
Hard to be good; harder to be bad.
)ne day my little girl came to me,
and the tear glistened on her baby
cheeks like dew drops on the petals
of lily, kissed by the first rays of
the rising sun, and she said Papa, it
is so hard to be good" | drew her
to my breast, stroked her hair, kiss
ed away her tears, and replied, eyes,
darling, but its harder to be bad" 1t
is true. The way of the trangressor
is hard. 1t may be easier to lie down
in the snow when II is deep and al |
most impossible, with the wind blow
ing gale and the cold intense, but
to do so means death You will never
get home unless you fight your way
through. If you wish to please God,
you must be willing to march sturdi- I
Iy forward, resisting every tempta- 4
ton, sulmounting every obstacle,
willing to do and dare for righteous
ness.
There are four classes of people in
church work:
First, there are the workers. The
pastor can depend upon. He also
knows where they are. They are al
ways in harness.
Then there are the jerkers. Their
labors are intermittent. They work
when they please. Often when need
ed most they are not to be found.
A third class is made up of the
strikers. They pull back if they pull
at all. Their favorite hymn is 80 to
be nothing, nothing" They are
They are ciphers with the
rim rubbed out If they would get
out of the way, the church would be
able to make better progress.
Finally, | name the kickers. With
them everything is all wrong. If you
kickers would use up the energy in
The service of God that you're ex-
pending in your efforts to kick things
to pieces, you would accomplish
In the parable of the Sewer, Jesus
taught US that the sower was all
right, and the seed was all right. The
results of the sowing were determined
by the nature of the soil upon which
! i1o f,n - /. 1