St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1877-11-16
THE LAST MEETING.-''FoR GOD so
LOVED.n


THE LAST MEETING.-''FOR GOD so
LOVED"
After singing the "Home over There"
by the choir and congregation, and
prayer by Rev. H. w. Jones, Mr.. Sankey
sung ''Ninety and Nine" Rev. E. T.
Fairbanks then read the third chapter
of Johns gospel, and Mr.. Moorhouse
took the sixteenth verse for his text:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.
The preacher then spoke substantially
as follows: l have been reading to you
tonight the most wonderful passage in
the bible, because it embraces all the
way of salvation. If we were to take
our bibles and read every passage
where God speaks of salvation, we
should find that he always speaks very
plainly and simply. There are mys-
teries in the bible, but in what pertains
to salvation there need no mistake be
made. In the SD chapter of Isaiah, we
read, "He was wounded for our trans
gressions, he was bruised for our iniqui-
ties the chastisement of our peace was
upon him and with his stripes we are
healed" -. "and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity of us ALL" In the
5th chapter of John we read, "Verily,
verify, l say unto you, he that heareth
my word, and believeth on him that
sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall
not come into condemnation, but is
passed from death unto life" Peter in
the house of Cornelius said Through his
name whatsoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of SINS" But my
text is the simplest yet deepest verse
in the bible. We will divide it into
four parts, so that each one can take
home portion. W loving, ~ giving,
(3) believing, (4) having loved,
God gave, l believe and have ever
lasting life.
These words were spoken to Nicode-
mus, and the Lord Jesus made him a
scholar, and preached the everlasting
gospel to him. The first words he said
were, Except a man be born again he
cannot see the kingdom of God" A
great many people deny the inspiration
of the bible altogether, while others say
that regeneration means simply cult
walton Christ didn't mean any such
thing. All the cultivation in the world
will not make living being out of a
corpse. This Interpretation is satan's
mighty weapon. eye must be born
again. means just what it says. When
boy | went to see an educated pig.
1t was expert in spelling words by
mems of letters on cards. 1t was a very
nice pig;-washed and scrubbed, and
very clean but after all, its nature
was unchanged, it was not sheep; il
was only pig. So we are just what
we are, by nature all unclean, and all
the cultivation we can obtain will not
make us pure-will not make us sheep
or lambs of the Lord Jesus Christ; aye
must be born again. NicOdemus asked
hou can a man be born the second
time and so now many say they do
not believe a man can be going one
moment to peIdition and the next mo-
ment to glory they do not believe in
sudden conversion. 1t is true we can
not explain the process but God
saws there is a moment when a sin
ner may trust the Lord Jesus. A
man in Dublin said to me, he could not
understand regeneration and so could
not accept it. / said to him, you know
how a man becomes a soldier in the
English army. You cannot go and buy
red jacket and gun and then say
you are soldier. So a Christian is not
one by putting on coat of religion ;
religion begins inside. The hands of a
clock may be moved by little child
behind it, but the clock will not go and
keep time without spring inside; SO
a Christian would be sham Christian
without the main-spring, which is
Christ. The soldier has to be enlisted.
He goes to the recruiting sergeant and
says he wants to join the army. The
sergeant measures and examines him,
and if accepted he puts shilling in his
hand and tells him he is enlisted; one
moment civilian, the next a soldier
just taking the shilling makes the
cbanga SO in regeneration. every sin