The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-06-24

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he had been taking his salary, he had
been giving nine.tenths Of his time to
some other commercial house2 Your in
dignation would know no bounds. Well,
now, God has sent us into this world to
serve him; and He has paid us wa
ges. He has fed us and clothed and pro-
tected ne; and, 10! it is to be told us to.
day that some of us have given nine
tenths of our time to "the world, the
flesh and the devil" Is it honest2 What
does the Bibls say? SAIL have sinned,
and come short Of the glory Of God" Is
there any man in this audience who
thinks TO escape from that? The Bible
is full Of confessions. What did David
say? II will confess my transgressions
to the Lord" What did Job say2 "Bs'
hold l am vile." What did Ezra say2
"My transgressions have gone over my
head, and my trespass groweth up into
the heavens" Of all the millions who
have gone into glory, not n got there
until he first confessed. And are there
any in this house who have an idea that
their souls are in a healthy condition
when they are rotting away with the
leprosy? Oh, that God would open your
eyes that you might see just where you
stand, and that, pierced by a sense of
your peril, your heart, with the emphasis
Of this publican in my text, may cry out
in as anxious a prayer as the one he ut.
tered. l do not say you have ever COM
mitted any outward transgression. You
may pay all your debts; you may be pure
in speech and in action; you may be
honest in all your dealings among men;
and yet Gods word bears me out in the
statement l make to-day, that you are a
condemned sinner, altogether gone as
tray, the moral slush splashed over you,
that unless you repent you must live an
unholy life a d die IN unholy death, and
90 to a lost eternity. WnatI say of one
l say of all. Oh, the coast of eternal sor.
row is strewn with the split hulks of
those who would not heed the peril, and
who went with their cargo of immortal
int the foam of the breakers.
l pursue the analysis of my subject
still further, and 1 find in this publiCan's
prayer the fact that he expected nothing
except mercy. He might have said: ~
I'M honest in all my dealings. When
$40 is paid to me as tax, l hand it oyer
to the Government. Ifyou look over all
my books you will find them right. My
life has been upright and respectable"
He made no such plea, He comes and
throws himself on Gods mercy. Are
there any in this house who proposes,
by making their life right, to commend
themselves to God2 Do you really think
you can break off your bad habits?
Why, that will be only taking off the
scales, while you leave the disease rank
ling within. Are there those who pro-
pose to pay their spiritual indebtednessH
Come and see if you can dot Add to-
gether all the good words you ever ut
tered, all the good deeds you ever &C.
complished, all the loaves you ever gave
to the hungry, and the clothesto the ma
ked, and the sick you have attended,
add the whole, get a great aggregate of
good works, and then hear Paul as he
cries out, by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified" Oh, my friends,
is there nothing in the justice of God; is
there nothing iu our own exertions to
save us? Where, then, are we to be ga.
vedJ Is there no balm for the mortal
wound of my soul? Is there no light for
this Arctic darkness? Is there no hope
for a lost sinner Yes, and that is what
l propose to tell you about. Mercy, par.
doning mercy, infinite, o%mnipotent, and
everlasting mercy. Oh, you say, "Is not
that adding impotence to crime for you
to expect from God such favor?" No.
Throughout tie Bible it seems the Ian.
guage had been exhausted and stretched
until it broke, and all expression of
height and depth, and breadth and
length, and magnitude and i%ninity, had
dropped down dead at the feet of the
Prophet, and Apostle, and Evangelist, al
he tried to set forth this mercy. What
a beautiful theme it is-Go4's mercy.
That mercy is so great no sinner ever
came to it for refuge and was destroyed.
The murderer has come, and while he
was yet washing the blood of his victim
from his hands, he looked up for Gods
forgiveness, and before his hands were
washed clean his soul wat made white
in the fountain of Gods mercy. The
lost one Of the street has come back
from the very gates of hell to her long
rejected fathers home, and put his arms
around his neck, her soul radiant with
the mercy that pardoned Mary Magda-
len. Is there any nan in this house
who tells me not to open the door too
wider Then l will open it wider, for l
have to tell you that if this whole audi
ence were stretched out, side by side,
you might march into the gate of eternal
life-so wide is the door of mercy. Oh
says some one in the audience, "you do
not know where / came from ~to-day;you
don't know what my sins have BEEN"
| reply: Though you have wrapped your
in the sins of hell; though your
feet have walked every unclean place;
your mouth has spoken blasphe.
mics; though you all sin and pollution,
| offer you mercy. Oh, there is no line
long enough to measure it; it is too great
TO be measured. Mercy! 1t sounds in
the rumbling of the celestial gates; it ia
heard all through heaven, and among
The sainted throng on earth.
l push this analysis of my text a step
further, and 1 find that the man saw
that mercy would be of no advantage to
him unless he pleaded for it. He did
not say: IF l am to be saved, I will be-
saved; if l am to be lost, | will be lost;
there is nothing for me to do" He knew
a thing worth having was
worth asking for, and therefore he makes
the agonizing cry of my text. Mark you
it was an earnest prayer, and if you look
through the Bible, you will see that all
the prayers hat were answered were
prayers. The blind say: Lord,
that my eyes may be opened" The le-
per, Lord, if thou wilt, thou Canst make
me clean" Sinking Peter, "Lord, save
me, l perish" The publican, "God, be
merCiful to me, a sinner" If you come
up to the door of Gods mercy, and give
a light rap, you will not get in; you must
come with the earnestness Of a warrior
who has been pursued, and defeated, and
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