THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
55
A PHYSICIAN’S TESTIMONY
Dear Mr. Horton: Have ju s t been read ing your Laym an’s issue fo r July. ;1 Can probably go back abou t as far in recalling religious conditions as any of your read ers. I have h eard about every noted man who has preached in American pulpits in th e la st fifty years. Such men as Brooks, E rdm an, Yarley, Parsons, Moorhead, Henry Moorehouse, Needham, Hudson Taylor, MacKay (of Grace and T ru th ) and a host of others, not to mention such men as Beecher, Talmadge, etc. As a boy I attended Moody’s Sunday School in Chicago (about 1871) and attended th e la st m eeting Mr. Moody led in Chicago before he le ft on his memorable journey to th e Old Country w ith Sankey. I t was th e noon meeting in th e F irs t Methodist Church, corner C lark and W ashington Streets, in th e h ea rt of th e city. It was a small meeting, no t more th a n tw enty or twenty-five being present. The larg e noon meetings in those days were held in th e Y. M. C. A. (Farw ell H all) on Madison S treet, and wonderful meetings they were. Now let me sta te th a t th e w eakest th ing about th e Chris tian Church today, in my judgm ent, as compared w ith those wonderful days, is th e lack of g ifted spiritually-m inded lay men. : The late Dr. A rth u r T. P ierson sta te d th a t th e m aster stroke of th e devil was in dividing th e Christian Church up into clergy and laity. The early church knew no such distinction, as you well know. F o rty odd years ago, when a young fellow in Toronto, I was assistan t secretary of th e Y. M. C. A. and was mainly occupied in conducting services for and w ith young men and boys. The g reat men fo r God in Toronto, in those days of happy memory w ere no t th e men in th e pulpits b u t such men as Sir Daniel Wilson, P resid en t of th e University of Toronto; Chancellor Blake of th e H igh Court of Chancery; George W agner, General Manager of th e Merchants Bank; Mayor Howland, Senator John .MacDonald, and many others. These laymen (so- called) wielded an influence for God th a t no one else did. They freely gave themselves to th e w ork of th e Lord and preached the Word everywhere. Everyone knew th a t it was not a question of bread and b u tte r w ith them , and so th e ir influence counted m ightily for God. The most forceful gospeler, of all in my judgm ent, was a young paying teller in one of th e large banks, John Ironside; while Col. Burton^ a retu rn ed B ritish officer and one of th e “B reth ren ,” was one of th e best teachers of th e Word in th e city. I moved to Chicago and it was th e same th e re—D. L. Moody, B. F. Jacobs, a leading real estate dealer; Chair man of the Int. S. S. Association, and Superintendent of th e F irst B aptist Sunday School, preached th e gospel Sun day evenings in th e church, while th e pastor of th e church, a D. D., who was sp iritu ally as flat as a flounder, was rele gated to one side; P. P. Bliss, th e w onderful gospel singer; Major D. W. W h ittle; Mr. Douglas, m anager of th e R. G. Dun & Co., were all giving out th e Word w ith power. John V. Farwell, th e g reat dry goods m erchant, was giving of his tim e and means to make known th e story of th e Cross. He and Bliss were often down a t Jo liet preaching to th e prisoners in th e S tate P enitentiary. God w rought m ightily in those happy days th ro u g h these consecrated men. Now, sir, how is it today? Where now do we find these flaming torches from th e pews? ... Methodism in its palmy days was alm ost wholly carried along by consecrated laymen. W hat a pitiable con trast in th is our day. P ractically no t a leading business m an any where heralding fo rth th e Gospel. Pu lp its in many in stances filled today by men who have not one syllable of a
A CR I S I S A N D A C H A L L E N G E W e a re c o n fro n tin g conditions in o u r lan d and th ro u g h o u t th e w orld of sta rtlin g significance. T h e m o ral m enace is stupendous. T h e lu re of law lessness is sw aying b o th y o u n g an d old. F rom th e d ream of th e daw n of a w orld p e ac e w e have aw akened to th e aw ful consciousness of a w orld calam ity. T he religious w orld is ra n k w ith S atanic sedition a g ain st th e claim s of C h ristian ity . T he clam orous cajo l eries of th e m ultiplying cu lts; th e bom bastic bick erin g s of th e B ible-blasting p re a c h e rs a n d p ro fesso rs w ho seek to rob th e c h u rch of its God-given inh eritan ce— th e faith of th e fa th e rs in th e infallible W o rd of God,— all testify to th e tru th of th e p ro p h ecy c o n cern in g th e last days and dem and a clario n call to th e sleeping soldiers of th e Son of God. If y o u love y o u r co u n try— RALLY T O T H E FLAG ,— th e red, th e w hite, th e blue, w hich speaks of th e Bible u p o n w hich th a t c o u n try w as founded. If you love y o u r hom es— ta k e u n to y o u th e W HOLE ARMOR O F GOD. If you love y o u r children— ta k e th e SH IELD O F FA ITH W HEREW ITH YE SHALL BE ABLE TO QUENCH A LL TH E FIERY DARTS O F T H E W ICKED ONE. If y o u love th e C h u rc h of C hrist— tak e th e HELMET O F SALVAT ION an d th e SWORD O F TH E SPIRIT, w hich is th e W ORD O F GOD, and jo in H EAD and H EAR T a n d HAND w ith y o u r b re th re n ag ain st th e foe w hich faces us. T h e fight is on, a n d only u n ited action a n d ceaseless p ra y e r w ill avail. RESOLVE to m ake an y sacrifice of y o u r tim e and m eans w hich m ay b e necessary in this fight fo r th e faith of o u r fathers. RESOLVE to give yo u rself to p ra y e r a n d perso n al effort to enlist th e sym pathy of those w ho a re like- m inded w ith you, b u t w ho have n o t y e t sensed th e seriousness of th e situation.' RESOLVE to resp o n d to this call, an d DO IT NOW ! T h e responsibility fo r th e org an izatio n of S outhern C alifornia a lo n g fu n d am en tal lines has b een comm itted to th e w riter, a n d he is expecting th a t every lo v er of th e tru th in S ou th ern C alifornia will a t once fill out and re tu rn th e slip below .
T . C. HORTON ,
536 S. H ope Street, L os A ngeles, Calif.
D ear F riend: P lease enroll m y nam e as a m em ber of th e m ovem ent to fight th e d estructive deniers of th e W ord of G od and send m e suggestions for c arry in g on th e b a ttle in defense of th e h o n o r of o u r Lord, o u r hom es an d ou^ children.
N am e ..........
C ity an d Street.
S ta te .....................
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