The evening Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1918-1920, 1920-02-23
WHY MORE MEN IN ST. JOHNS
BURY ARE NOT CHRISTIANS

WHY MORE MEN IN ST. JOHNS
BURY ARE NOT CHRISTIANS
Grace Methodist church was well
filled Sunday afternoon with men
and boys and DR.. Rees was at his best
at this inspiring service. The meet
ing opened with chorus singing led by
Mrs. Rees with Mr.. Morrison accom-
PIANIST. Rev. DR.. F "A. Poole read
the Scriptures, the prayer was given
by Rev. George A. Martin and the
announcements were made by Rev.
F. B. Richards. The male quintette
which gave such splendid music at
the mems Sunday service the week
previous gave two selections. The
personnel of this organization is
James B. Campbell, Charles A.
Shields, Ralhp E. Howes, Harold O.
French and Frank H. Brooks. Mrs.
Rees also sung solo, "He Will Hold
Ne Fast, in which the men joined in
on the chorus.
DR.. Rees took for his text st. John
$40, ".And we will not come to me
that We might have life"
"For life in the physical world
what would you not give or where
would you not go. Yet Christ offers
you life eternal. By being a chris
tan mean living christian life. We
have profession enough, but we have
not enough christian life, and that. is
the trouble with our churches. Being
a christian isn't a professional is
life. 1t is something that challenges
the biggest and hes in you"
"First of all men are not christians
because they become absorbed in
their business. You're not making
the best investment of your time,
your strength and your opportunity.
A rich man found this out when at
the close of his life Jacob Astor
wrote "My life has been failure"
again some men are not yet
christians because of representation.
Now is repeated more than 100 times
in the Bible" Here DR.. Rees repeat
ed many of the familiar verses begin
ming with the word now and gave two
striking illustrations of this point,
one from, DR.. Sturgeon and the other
of man that was waiting to be a
christian, but was instantly killed at
a Lehigh Valley crossing before he
had taken his stand for Christ.
"Others do not become christians
because of dissatisfaction, self
righteousness and because they do
not like the standards of some church
members. Inconsistent church men,
bers do not set the standards of the
church. The two by four men in our
churchs are the weakness of the
church, but they don't set the stand
ards. The only standard for any
one is Jesus Christ.
"Some men are not christians be-
cause of secret societies. Please UNI
dcrstand me, | am not saying any
thing against secret societies. Some
of my best friends are Masons, Odd
Fellows and Knights of Pythias, but
when man tells me MS order is as
good as the church | want to take
issue with him. The church is the
best institution in the world and over
shadows all others. Back of all your
war drives was the spirit of Christ.
The church was behind all these
splendid movements. The best secret
society is 'He>that dwelleth in the
secret place of the Most High The
difficulty with all the fraternities is
that they do not go far cough to save
the soul.
again, some are not christians
because of, failure. They say they
cannot stand ridicule. But | tell you,
men, St. Johnsbury takes off its hat
and cheers the man that takes ms
stand on the Lords side. When Pet
er who afterwards became Peter the
Great met defeat in battle his moth
Ell ordered all the gates of St. Peters
burg, now Petrograd, to be barred
and when he approached with ms
struggling army she told him that he
could not enter the city except as
conqueror. He then gathered his scat
tered forces and conquered the enemy
returning to the city a conqueror.
You cannot enter the pearly gates
except as conqueror.
Booze and immoral living were CIV
en- as two other reasons for some not
taking the right stand. DR.. Rees then
gave briefly in closing reasons why
every man should DE christian.
First, you owe it to God. Son,
daughter, give Me thine heart This
is enough, but you also owe it to 9TH
crs, perhaps to mother that has
gone. You owe it to your family,
your employer or employees, your
classmates. You owe it to your own
soul. Every man owes it to himself
to become follower Of Jesus
Christ"
Rev. George A. Martin followed
with most earnest plea that all
would stay to the after meeting and
support Dr.. Rees in his work III
every way possible. Many accepted
this urgent invitation and meeting
full of Testimonies and decisions fol-