The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1922-04-21


into full swing, one realizes the energy
that she must have in order to carry
on her work.
for the souls of men, the stone of bit
terness, the stone of an unforgiving
spirit, the stone of a gossiping pro-
clivity, the stone of a prayerless life,
the stone of formalisms, the stone of
dignity, the stone of austere manner
isms and bloodless platitudes what
ever they are, take ye away the stone.
What One Confession
Did To Church.
A preacher, friend of mine, was
preaching in New Jersey and an aged
minister got up and said,
Il have been praying that God
would make this the best day / have
ever had. l have been preaching for
twenty years. l have preached not
because l had sense of burden for
souls, but because had sense enough
to make words into sentences; and
have been content if there were chill
dren enough born of members of this
church to keep the Sunday school
even with those who grow to man.
hood and womanhood and die and
move away or leave the church" He
said. 81 have been praying God to
make this the best day / have ever
known, and He is answering my pray
err" and he sat down.
And presently a man arose and
said, "The idea of my minister max
ing a confession like that. 1t is
that ought to make it. l have beer
more immersed in my business in ono
month, and l have given more
/ thoughts and plans to my business il
twelve months"
He said, pray for me, not that
may have less interest in my business
but that l may give more concern ant
plans to the work of the Lord" an(
! ne sat down.
Presently a woman arose. She said
II am a member of the Doctor.
| church, but nobody would ever have
known it by the company I kept ant
the things 1 did, nor by the things
/ didn't do. You would have had to q
TO church record to ever find it out.
/ She said, II have two daughters
4
society, and | spent more money OF
their coming-out gowns and reception
] than | have given to the church il
twelve years. / was crazy to intro
duce either of them to Jesus Christ
They don't know him" She sat dowI
weeping.
My friend said. "Is there anybod,
here that would like to have US pra.
for them2 If so, I wish you'd stanC
up"
Back yonder two girls arose witt
the tears trickling down their cheeks
The minister rolled away the stone
then the business man, immersed Il
his business, rolled away the stone
then the society mother, member o
the church, rolled away the stone
and her two dead girls walked on
of the sepulchre of the sinful lif
and said, pray for us that we may b.
Christians"
Church Must Take
Lead Itself.
That's what / mean. When tn
; church of God gets right, you'll Sc
thousands and thousands of peopl
in this world converted.
Just this and l am done: When the
rolled back the stone, then they coul
!, ; see the dead body of their brother
then when they did, they began t
weep. Jesus wept, Martha wept, Mar
wept. They just wept, and they ha
weeping time.
"They that sow in tears shall rea
in joy" Did you ever cry over any
/. body going to the devil7 Did yo
ever shed a tear over the sins @
somebody in the world2 You didn
have to try to cry when your bab
died, did you? You didn't have to tr
to cry when the hearse called at you
house, did you, when you looked a
your loved one in the coffin? Di
you have to try to work yourself u
!. to tears2 Why not? Because it wa
the easiest thing in the world to CT,
1t was hard not to cry. You realize
they were dead.
! All right If the church Of Go
would only get right and realize tha
: men and women without Jesus Chris
!. are lost, you'd see fountains of tear
coursing down their cheeks and the
wouldn't go to church with that COLI
critical, sneering, voracious, icicI
: an-embalming-fluid tombston
kind of a look on their faces. No
!: :: There'd be more sympathy about Go
I and His truth
: ] have seen things since have bee
: here that have made my heart Ieal
I've seen friends go out and talk I
friends and bring them to the from
have said to the Lord, "They ar
! trying to get the grave-clothes off
somebody that is dead In SIM"
And ! have seen other things tn;
4 have almost frozen my heart. o.
L the bitter, sneerine criticismsl Bl
am not afraid of criticism. No. n
t not at all. II you wish to avoid crit
3, cism, be nothing; do nothing; So
e nothing. Then you will be a mel
a cipher. You will be a nonentity {
t. earth.
ell So l wish to repeat, if you want