Newspapers / Lenoir News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.) / Sept. 9, 1920, edition 1 / Page 7
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t LENOIR, N: C. LENOIR NEWS-TOPIC, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 1920 Page Seven REV. GYPRY SMITH, JR., TENT MEETINGS ARE NOW IN FULL SWING (Continued from first page) some of us were to stop for a mo ment and look back to the day when we first surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ we should shudder to find how far we have traveled from Him. Some of us have lost Him en tirely out of our lives, but we still go to church and we still teach a Sunday school class, and we are still an official member of the church, but it is only grinding. There is no spirit there. We turn to the hymns, and we sing, but it only comes from the throat, not from the heart. It used to come from the heart, but now it is grinding. We turn to the responsive reading, and, if we would be frank, we would, much rather be at home reading one -of the best sellers. We go to church only because it is cus tomary and considered the correct thing for Sabbath mornings, and we don't wish to be known as heathens, and when we get there the sermon is usually so dry to us. It is because we have lost Christ's spirit, and we are just grinding. You know it is quite possible to lose Christ. Mary lost Him, His own mother, and she lost Him for three days, and she did not know it, and she didn't lose Him mixing with ungodly companions, and she didn't lose Him sitting up half the night indulging in questionable things. She lost Him in the house of God, and a great many people lose Him there, because they will not obey Him. But the last picture of Samson is so bright in contrast with the rest There came a day, you remember, when his enemies wainted to make fun of him, and they not only crowd ed the walled theater, but three thou sand men and women were on the roof to make sport of their old-time enemy. I have sometimes thought in imagination I could see Samson being led up from the prison house and ar riving in the theater, being greeted have almost thought I have heard have almos tthought I have heard their ribald laughter and their jeers and sneers. And then, you remem ber, Samson requested that he might feel the pillars that supported the roof, and then that great prayer of reconsecration, "Oh, God, remember me," And you remember the answer to that prayer and how his strength came back to him again, and he slew more at his death than he slew in his life. Samson's life and death bring the message to you and to me that God is not a monster, but a great, loving Father, and His great heart yearns over us because He would save us from the things that mar and spoil us and would help us that we might be the finest men and women that He can make us. Men and women of the churches of Lenoir, if we have lost out by our weaknesses and our inconsistencies and our fooling, let ' us press back through the crowds and reconsecrate ourselves that our lives may be strong and winsome and at tractive and a benediction to thou sands that we come into contact with. Monday Night Sermon "Follow Me" Mr. Smith took for his subject Monday evening a text from the 43rd verse of the first chapter of John, "Follow me." Mr. Smith said that the great, per sonal, pungent command of Jesus Christ to men was, "Follow me." All through His ministry we find this em phasized. I presume that the great part of those present are Christians, or, perhaps I should better say, are members of some branch of the church of Jesus Christ; but suppose I were to come to you and, knowing your life and the profession of Chris tianity that you make, and still know- ' ing that your life was not in keeping with the teachings of Jesus Christ, I were to ask you, "Are you a Chris tian?" I think I can imagine the flush rising into your cheek and the flash coming into your eye as you might turn to me and say, ""Mr. . Smith, what do you take me for?" ' And yet I presume there are thou sands in your city who are labelled by the name of Christian who have no right to the title at all. wnat is it that makes a man a Christian? Is it joining the church. or conforming to some creed, or par taking of the symbols of the sacra ment, or being thoroughly conver sant with creeds? No. Paul summed it up very correctly when he said, "If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of His." Are your words, thoughts, actions controlled by the spirit of Jesus Christ? Be cause the Bible says, "If I say I have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, I lie and the truth is not in me. 1 could take, you into church and I could baptize you in any man ner that you wish, and I could admin ister fto you the sacred sacrament of the church, but if you ever became a Christian it won't be the work of .. any man, but of God's wholesome, teautful, winsome Holy Spirit. , So that my question to you is this, Are you following Him? And if you J&a.y, "I am not quite sure," will you let me try ana neip you, ior inai is what I am here for; not to usurp the pastor's place I could not do that, for my work is only made possible by the faithful, consistent work of your pastor. But there used to be an old game that we gypsy children used to play after the day's work Was done and the horses had been wa tered and bedded for the night, e game called "Follow your leader." After we had selected our leader, whatever the leader did we had to at tempt. If the leader tried jumping over a nve-Darred gate we had to try it If the leader should attempt to jump a ditch and fell in the middle we had to do it too. If we didn't the children would call us quitters and would leave us out of the next game. That may be a very crude illustra tion, but I want to say to you that if to in the church ox Jesus Christ are not making a whole-hearted, honest k Attempt to follow Jesus Christ then we are not playing the game, and one of the great Masons today why so many people are not attracted into end by the church of Jesus Christ is not because they don't revere God or care for His Son, but because they hate the caricature of Jesus Christ that they see in the lives of so many of us who call ourselves by His name. They thronged Him wherever He was, and they know the Christ of Bethlehem, and they know the Christ of Calvary, and they also know that uod sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved, and they are not going to be won for the church unless you and I are made beautiful and winsome by His Spirit. If you want to know whether you are following Him, go to His life and see what He did and the motive that prompted His life and His work, and you will see that in the becrinnine of His ministry He turned to those who were dearer to Him than any other and said, "Don't you know that I must be about my Mather's busi ness?" To Mary, yes; to Joseph, and even to His relatives who had come for a long distance and could certainly claim some part of His time and attention, but He whose eye was the light of the world placed God first. Is He first in your thoughts? What was your first waking thought this morning? Was it what shall I wear? Or was it to say, "Oh, God, thank you for another day of life, health, strength and opportunity of serving you and humanity?" For that should be the thought of God's chjld. Is He first in your affections? Is He first in your business? Is He first in your home? Don't dodge, for you have nothing to gain by dodging. The man who is anxious to be at his best will face the light, because, if you dodge, you only reveal just what your position is. This is the highroad of eternity. This is the royal road of obedience. God first, and, I say it reverently, the Son of God could never have enjoyed what He now enjoys unless as He enthroned God first. You re member He said, "I came not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me." Are you greater than your Lord? You see, Christ couldn't please Himself, and if any man have not the spiri tof Christ in this he is none of His. Take another thought. All through His ministry you find words to this effect, that He withdrew from the multitudes to pray. If you will par don the expression, I should say that Jesus Christ was a man who was saturated in prayer. He couldn't get on without it. Before some of His greatest miracles He withdrew to pray. After some of the greatest miracles that He ever did He with drew to pray. You see, He couldn't get on without it. Just as you and I must take nourishment if we are to live, so the Son of God felt that He must take spiritual nourishment too; and the life of God in the soul is only sustained as you live in the atmosphere of prayer. If you want rivers you must keep in touch with the1 hill countries where the springs are. If you want the reservoir of the sky in your soul you must keep the channels open. I think the most neglected part of our church life today is the prayer life. You can pack the average church for a social or a concert or a popular lecture or a semi-dramatic performance, but suppose you an nounce a prayer meeting how un popular it is. There was never a day in the history of the church when we had such magnificent buildings, such a great company of godly, conse crated men in our pulpits. There was never a time when the big men of the country seemed as interested in the cause of righteousness as to day, and never a day, certainly, when men were giving so much in money to the church, at home and abroad, as today. But suppose you take all the education and culture and music and oratory and architecture "tend consecrate them all at the feet of Jesus Christ, and without prayer you have nothing. Prayer is the root-life of the Christian, and if the root-life is not right there cannot be any fruit. Do you pray? If you let me hear you pray in public I can tell you how much you pray in private. There is an indefinable something that sur rounds the man and woman that is intimate with God. He prayer inces santly and could not live without it. Are you greater than your Lord? If any man have not the spirit of Christ in this he is none of His. Take one other thought. You will find all through His ministry that the one great, predominant, overmas- iciuig passion 01 ms me was to go out after the folks that nobodv else cared for. Watch Him that day as ne went to tnat woman, alone, os tracized, a woman with a question mark behind her life, and you don't find a note of scolding in His voice. I know what you would have done with such a woman in your city. You would have said segregate her. Jesus didn't. He received her and encour aged her and spoke the word of for giveness to her, and she. left Him and went back and shook that little vil lage of Sychar, nestling in the foot hills of Samaria, until it was revolu tionized from center to circumfer ence. He went into a little city one day in England saw a man selling whiskey behind a bar, and of course nobody cared much about that chap, but Jesus called him from behind the bar and sent George Whitfield into the New England states, preaching "Ye must be born again." He went into a city one day by the name of Chicago, and took a shoe salesman out of a store, and DwightH u. moony put one loot on the Brit ish Isles and another foot in America and two continents rocked towards the cross of Jesus Christ. . He went into a gypsy tent forty five years ago, and there was a crowd of gypsies there, without education, with no God ana no Christ; and the World had passed them by and no preacher or teacher had gone to them, and the world look at and said, "They're only gypsies no- mads, nobodies," but Jesus went into the tent one day and out of that old tent thirteen preachers have been ordained to the work of the gospel ministry. Are you following Him? You business men, have you ever known what it was to give up a day's busi- ness and stopped making dollars for one day to go out and help some fellow who was just beginning to drift? Make a million dollars and you've got to leave it, but if you save a soul you will make heaven the rich er for all time. You women, with plenty of time on your hands, have you ever known what it is to give up an hour's luxury and put your arm around some girl who has entered motherhood by the wrong door and help win her bac. to a life of respectability: It is very easy to sit in a church on Sunday morning, with cushioned seats and with kid gloves on your hands, and then to handle your hymn-book very daintily and sing, "Rescue the per ishing," but it is another thing to take off your gloves and roll up your sleeves and go out with the spirit of Jesus Christ to help rescue them. The church was never built for a mutual self-congratulating institu tion. She was built to save, and you and I are the living church. I won der if you have ever done what you find Him doing in the last chapter of John. There is a crowd of fishermen and they have been busy all night. In the morning, tired, discouraged, with failure stamped all over their features, they come ashore, and one of the crowd says, "There's a tire." And somebody else says, "Yes; I guess it's a camping party. I can smell something cooking." They make their way over towards the fire and they see there the fingers that dipped into a mud puddle and lifted it up and swung it in the heavens a beautiful rainbow, an arched bridge on which angels stand and weep over a dying storm, the fingers that got hold of a storm and shook it, and as He whispered "Peace!" the storm crept and licked His feet; the fingers that gave the lily its whiteness and the pansy its daintiness and the vio let its wealth of perfume; the fingers that got hold of the song of the an gels and wrapped it in feathers and gave you the canary; the fingers that were nailed to the cross, were cook ing breakfast for a few uneducated, uncultured fishermen. Are you fol lowing Him? Tuesday Night' Sermon "The Wiles of the Devil" Mr. Smith's subject Tuesday night was "The Wiles of the Devil." If we are. going to fight the devil and win out we must find out what the devil is doing, he said. When Christ came into this world He saw two forces fighting against each oth er; one He loved, the other He hated. For one He worked thirty-three years and gave His life on the cross. The other He tried to banish to the gates of hell, and if the devil had never been in the majority in the early days he would never have dared to have placed Christ on the cross. In studying the wiles of the devil it is remarkable how many of them begin with the letter "d" like his name. It is only' a coincidence, of course, but I want to speak of one or two of them to you this evening, Take that of dethronement. When we reach the age of accountability God gives us an imperial will, 'which is the crowning glory of man. make out of my life just what want. I can leave this church and in two minutes ruin my character, blight my wife's life, spoil my repu tation; or, on the other hand, I can, if 1 will, be something like the man that God wants me to be. If I go wrong I am manly enough not to blame anybody else but myself. The devil hates that power of choice. He loves to come into a man's life, top ple the will from its throne, and make us slaves. God never intended man to be a slave. He made, him above the animal kingdom, "a little lower than the angels," and heaven is peo pled with kings and queens who have overcome. If the devil showed a man in his first glass of liauor the picture of himself years afterwards, held by that same habit, reputation gone, business ability gone, his home wrecked, there, would not be enough devils in hell or out to tempt him to take his first glass. If the girl who is peddling her virtue on the streets of our cities tonight could have seen a picture, of herself behind a red light when the temptation first came to her there wouldn't have been enough devils in hell or out to have tempted her to make that first false step. Take that of disarrangement . Ev erywhere you look around you in na ture you will see that God is a God of order. He loves order. The devil hates it. He is a master muddler. Look how it is in the home. There is nobody can disarrange a home and separate husband and wife and take a young boy and send him down the line like the devil. Look how it is in politics. Put a weak man in a strong man's place and you can ruin empires. Look how it is in the churches. When disarrangement creeps in, when we think more of the singing than we do of praising God, when we think more of the stained glass windows and the architecture than we do of the Christ that we ought to worship, when we poor preachers think more of the effect of our ser mons than we do of God's truth that we ought to be preaching. I think it is disarrangement when you have to have suppers to run your churches' finaocial programs. The man who won't give fifty cents to God without being fed for it is not much of a Christian. When you have to have a supper to pay the pastor's salary it is disarrangement , There are some churches that I could name that ought to have a stained glass window with a chicken in the center, or an oyster, and it Wouldn't be a bad idea if we had special prayers made for the chickens and the oys ters, and a special day set apart in our saints' calendar, for they have built more churches and renovated more churches than anything else I know of. You show me a church that runs her -financial, policy en ba-4 zaars and suppers "and I will show you a disarranged church. Do you think I would insult my mother by giving her a present that I had bought with money that had been raised by a few friends coming into my home and paying for a supper that I prepared? No, and I wouldn't insult pod that way, either. Now let me say one word to you about dirtiness. No man is any bet ter than his thoughts. Deeds are the logical conclusion of thoughts. If a man has dirty thoughts he is a dirty man. I have heard some of you men swear on the streets as though they had been to hell for their education and had the very devil himself for their professor. They have got the language of the pit off so perfectly. You can always tell what kind of wheels a fellow has in his head by the spokes that come out of his mouth. The foundation for a good chcrac ter is reverence for God, and when a man can so far forget himself as to damn and blast in the name of God who gave him life and who allows him to walk on His earth and breathe His air and drink at His fountain, then I wouldn't trust such a man in my home for five minutes. He is ripe for any crime on the calendar. If there is anything that shows a man's low-down, putrid, rotten char acter, it is to hear him curse in the name of Jesus Christ. PRINTING FIVE MILLION BAL- LOTS FOR THE STATE Within the next few davs State printers will begin work on the 5, 000,000 national, State and congres sional ballots that will decide the November election in North Carolina. The number is the largest that has ever been ordered in the State and will require the steady work of the printers ior several weeks. They will be mailed out before the 15th of October. There will be a million tickets bearing the names of Cox and Roose velt, and 700,000 dedicated to Hard ing and Coolidge. Another million State Democratic tickets will be printed and 700,000 for the Republi cans, bearing the party nominees for all State offices. Approximately 2, 000,000 congressional tickets will be printed. The number of tickets reauired in the election is determined by the par ty vote in the last preceding national election, with an added 25 per cent for the normal growth. The figures this year have been doubled on ac count of the enfranchisement of the women. So far n oprovision has been made for the socialist, prohibitionist or other tickets that are in the field in the State and nation. HUNGER STRIKERS AT CORK MAKE A RECORD The eleven hunger strikers in the Cork, Ireland, jail Sunday afternoon entered the Z6th day of their absti nence from food, having subsisted only on water for this entire period. The condition of one of the prison ers was critical, and he was unable to speak to visitors. The period these men have gone without food is a record for Irish po litical prisoners. The longest pre vious hunger strike occurred in the Wormwood Scrubbs prison in Eng land last April and lasted 23 davs. GEORGIA WOMEN DENIED THE RIGHT TO VOTE By a vote of 5 to 2 the sub-corn mittee of the Georgia State Demo cratic executive committee Friday night denied the women of Georgia the ngnt to participate in the pri mary election Sept. 8. After v.iting down a substitute which would have allowed women to vote the following resolution was adopted: "Be it resolved that this sub-corn mittee has no jurisdiction to amend the rules and regulations under which the pending campaign has been con ducted by providing rules and ree-u lations for the women voters or for their participation in the primary of Sept. 8, and it is the sense of this committee that the existing rules and regulations control. LENOIR IN PICTURE AND PRINT (Charlotte Observer) One North Carolina publication of the past week that was of notab e resourcefulness was "the Chamber of Commerce" edition of the Lenoir News-Topic. Its presentation of Le noir and Laldwell countv nossibili ties must have afforded a surprise to the general public. In late weeks the papers of this State have been re moving the bushel under which their community light has been hidden. and that was exactly what the Lenoir paper was doing last week when it sent forth its 24 pages of facts, fig ures and illustrations of its town and county. The accomplishment of the Lenoir paper was a distinct credit to North Carolina journalism and a very marked example of the con structive tendency recently devel oped in North Carolina newspaper offices. BUYING PUBLIC CAUSE OF THE LOWERED PRICES Refusal of th epublic to pay "ex cessive prices" caused a continuation of the downward trend of values in August, the Federal reserve board declared in its monthly review of business conditions. The board added that the "reaction" against high prices had been accompanied by a general slowing up of demand in the wholesale field and by slight evi dences of unemployment in some sec tions. v The board's views on the nation's business generally were more opti mistic than recent expressions, and indicated an expectation of more sta bility in industry and commerce. While the review mentioned signs of a conclusion of a transition period it countered with the . statement that progress in that direction is slow and "much still remains to be done" be fore tho country can be said to be on a stable basis. The hopeful assertion was made, however, that the read justment had continued consistently. The state of ' Pennsylvania has 219,000 farms. . . ,. in l IV EPHRAIM L. Registration No. 6799 is a pure-bred Black Spanish Jack, with White points, five years old, stands fifteen hands high at shoulder, owned by G. M. Goforth, Jr., an dis permanently lo cated on his farm one-half mile northwest of Lenoir. Raise a Mule Colt and Kelp to Supply the Increasing Demand for High-Priced Mules According to the reports of the United States De partment of Agriculture the demand for good big salable mules is increasing in proportion to that of other commodities. When the automobile came into use, not many years ago, it was predicted that the horse and mule were doomed, to be supplanted by th eautomobile, motor truck and the tractor. But despite the competition that the horse and the mule are encountering good mules are in greater demna ,dand also demand higher prices than ever before. Between th eyears of 1914 and 1919 the motor trac tor and commercial vehicle have both in number and usefulness increased in leaps and bounds unto their present service to civilization. During this same time the demand for good mules has increased, the number of mules from 4,444,000 to 6,102,000, and now the price of a good pair of mules is almost the equivalent of a small fortune, and the demand is still increasing. Very often the question is asked as to which is the most practical breeding season, the fall or the spring season? To this we would say that one should be gov erned largely by his own conditions. A report from the livestock division shaws that 33 1-3 per cent of mule colts are foaled in the fall season, and a very strong sentiment is developing in favor of fall breed ing as well as spring breeding. With this in view the purchaser of this jack is now ready to accommodate the fall breeders. jjJ five years old, stands fifteen hands high at shoulder, a H owned by G. M. Goforth. Jr.. an dis permanently lo- a 3 THE BEST SERVICE POSSIBLE Every patron of Smith Cafe is assured of two things. They are: GOOD FOOD CAREFULLY PREPARED and GOOD SERVICE We have made quite a few changes since purchasing this cafe a few weeks ago. These changes have added to the service and have pleased our patrons We shall continue making this service better wherever it is possible SMITH CAFE Pete Zarafonets Southern Railway System Announces the inauguration of two new trains between Charlotte, Mooresville, Barber and Salisbury, effective Sunday, August 1st, 1920 Trains known as Nos. 13 and 14 will be operated on the following schedule: No. 14, Daily Leave 11:30 am Charlotte 11:45 am. Derita 11:54 am. Croft 12:06 pm Huntersville 12 :12 pm. Caldwells 12:19 pm Cornelius 12:23pm Davidson 12:29 pra. Mt. Mourne 12:40 pm Mooresville 12:43 pm. Mooresville Junction 12:48pm. . Mazeppa 12:56 pm..-. ... Mt Ulla 1:01pm ... Bear Poplar Ar 1:15 pm Barber . Lv 1:25 pm Barber '. 1:40 pm 1 Majolica Ar 2:00 pm Salisbury Train 14 out of Charlotte will make connection at Barber with Train 22 for points Barber to Winston-Salem and beyond and will receive connection at Barber from Train 22 for Salisbury and points beyond. ' Train 13 leaving Salisbury will receive connection from main line Train 45 and deliver to Train 21 at Barber for point west of Barber and receive connection at Barber from Train 21 for uoints Barber to Charlotte and beyond. This new train service affords through connection for Trains 21 and 22 between Salisbury and Barber, and affords additional train service between Charlotte and Winston-Salem In both di rections. , ,('' M For detailed information apply to nearest Ticket Agent or H ' ' R. H. GRAHAM, Division PuunNr Acant. jj v Charlotte, N. cJ . - I I iu a a o a a a a a a G G G a G G 3 G G G 3 Gus Markis No. 13, Daily Arrive 5:10 pm. . 4:53 pm. - 4:43 pm. 4:31pm. . 4:25 pm. 4:19 pm. 4:15 pm. . 4:08 pm. 4:00 pm. 3 :55 pm. . 3:48 pm. 3 :40 pm. . 3:35 pm. -Lv 3:25 pm. -Ar 3:10 pm, 2:55 pm ..Lv 2:40 pm
Lenoir News-Topic (Lenoir, N.C.)
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Sept. 9, 1920, edition 1
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