St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-03-23
Confessing Christ.

Confessing Christ.
In that tenth chapter of Romans, the
tenth and eleventh verses are these
words: ''FOr with the heart man be-
lieveth unto righteousness and with
the mouth confession is made unto sal
walton. For the Scripture saith, who
sOever believeth on Him shall not be
ashamed" That is the test that we
are true disciples, that we are not
ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
we are willing to confess Him with our
mouth. Now, | find a great many
people that are willing to take the first
clause of that tenth verse; willing to
believe on the Lord jesus Christ, but
they shrink from cOnfessing Him with
their mouth. Quite a number have
gone home from the inquiry meeting
rejoicing in Christ and whom we have
had every reason to believe had eX-
perienced thorough change and were
saved. But they have come back and
told and said they were troubled, in
darkness, and inquiry has shown that
the cause of all their trouble was that
they have been ashamed to confess
Christ in their home, have been afraid
to erect a family altar, to tell their
husbands or wives, sons or daughters,
some companion or brother, of the
change in their hearts. They have
been ashamed to confess Christ. If we
are true disciples we will not only be-
lieve with the heart, but confess Him
with the mouth; and not only that,
we will not be ashamed of it. And
when we are ready to believe with the
heart and confess with the mouth,
then we will have light. | believe
there are great many Christians now
in darkness and who cannot understand
why they should not have the light
and liberty of other Christians, and I
think it is Just there where the difficult
ty lies, in being ashamed to confess.
They have been at fashionable places
when they haven't come out boldly for
Christ; where some one was SOOTHING,
trifling and making light Of these
meetings, perhaps. But that gives
and confess Christ.
LIKE TO HAVE PERSON
show their colors. The world has a
good deal more respect for you if you
come out boldly, if you are really a
child of God, and confess it. There are
two parties in this world you can di-
vide people really into one hundred if
you like, but there are really only two
believers and unbelieveTs. The Cross
divided the world. When Christ was
crucified on one side of Him was Il be-
lever and on the other an unbeliever.
The cross has divided the world ever
since into believers and unbelievers.
| believe that there would be hundreds
and thousands come out for Christ if
all the Lords disciples were more bold
and willing to confess the Lord and
tell what great things He had done for
them. Another point l want to call
your attention TO here is, that there is
a good deal of head belief instead of
heart belief. That is what Boston
wants, heart belief. Not head belief.
Let us stick to Scripture with the
heart" not head. A good many are
willing to find God with the head, but
we are not saved by believing that
way. 1t is "with the heart man be-
lieveth unto righteousness, and with
the mouth confession is made unto
salvation" If mans heart is right,
his life will be right, and there will be
uO ilOublC IL ueiS DCtH
taken captive by Christ, and Christ
reigns in the heart without a rival, a
man cannot help but to speak and work
for Christ. In fact, the religion of Je-
sus Christ is the only one that gives
life, and worth having, and we have no
cause to be ashamed of our religion.
If we find men and women who have
got some religion that don't do them
any good, they are very bold III prais-
ing it. They are not ashamed of their
religion and we should not be of ours.
Men stand on the streets and swear
they are not ashamed of their doctrines.
If we have such master as Christ
shall we be ashamed? Shall we not
go out and tell the world what great
things He has done tor us? In Luke,
ix., %, it says: "And He said to them
all, if any man will come after Me, let
him deny himself, and
TAKE UP HIS CROSS DAILY
and follow me-" In place where we
were, a fashionable lady came up to
me and said 81 don't think you ought
to speak so much about the cross
there used to be one, but there is none
now. Why my greatest desire is to
serve the Lord | am perfectly willing
to do anything for Him, but it is no
cross" said: perhaps 1 have read
my Bible wrong, but 1 have read that
we must take up our cross daily, follow
Him and deny ourselves daily 1t
was about month after that when |
saw that lady in the meetings. Three
or four young men came in one even
ing. They knew her and began to
make light of the meetings. | could
see them scofing and laughing at her,
and she laughed back. She didn't have
the moral courage to stand by Christ |
There are hundredsjust such Christians
all around, professed Christians, who
haven't got the moral courage to ground
down anything that looks like levity
about Christ and these labOrs. | think |
she had grand chance then to bear
the cross. think when in fashionable
life, if parties had been making light
of the Bible, perhaps she would have
Joined in with them. No cross for
them. If we are going to live for Christ
we have got to make confessions as
well as professions. l remember of how
a man once said he could always tell
whether fish in the water was dead or
not. If dead it would float along inert