and keep step to the
_mocker's_ march to the nation's death; or will we put out every
distillery and brewery fire and make this in reality "the land of the
free and the home of the brave?"
In the name of all that is pure and true and vital in national life, I
plead with every lover of home and country to come to the help of the
cause that must succeed if this republic is to live. I plead with
Christians in the name of the church, bleeding at every pore because
of the curse of drink. If everyone whose name is on a church roll
would step out in line of duty on this question, very soon God would
stretch out His arm and save this republic from the liquor traffic.
God has been ready a long time; His people have not been ready to do
their part. Too many Christians are like the horse Sam Jones used to
tell of.
He said: "We have a horse in my neighborhood in Georgia, which if
hitched to a load of stone or cotton balks and won't go a step; but in
light harness in the shafts of a race cart he will pace a mile in
two-thirty. We have too many Christians who are like this horse; they
trot out to church Sunday morning, but hitch them to a prayer meeting
and they won't pull a pound."
Dr. McLeod, the stalwart Scotch preacher, on his way to a session of
his church had with him a small hunch-back member of his church, a
dwarf in size but an earnest worker. Crossing a certain stream a storm
struck the boat and the waves were sending it toward the rocks. A
boatman at one end said:
"Let the big preacher pray for us."
The helmsman at the other end said: "No, let that little fellow pray
and the big one take an oar."
Oliver Cromwell, going through a cathedral, came upon twelve silver
statues. Turning to the guide he said: "Who are these?"
The guide replied: "Those are the twelve apostles, life-size and solid
silver."
Cromwell said: "What good are they doing as silver apostles? Melt them
down into money and let them be of some service to the country."
We have too many silver statue church members who need melting down
and sending out to help save our republic from the fate of other
nations that have perished through their vices. We need more men with
moral courage to voice and vote their convictions. When the slavery
question was agitating the country Henry Clay stood for a compromise
he believed would help to solve the question. Many of his friends in
the South censured him, and sent him letters calling him a traitor. He
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