The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-04-07

you ufaWl III OUT, db uuCa bb IO hhy' \
shall be Satisfied if it is answered any
time within fifteen years" You have
no time to spare. If you really feel the
earthquake under your sorl, better take
light and hurry and cry it out at the
top of your voices. There are in the
banished world ten thousand who did
not ask the question in time. If sho'd
swing back the door of the tomb and ask
f,r one word of warning for this world,
and they could only utter one word, it
would come sounding out like howl Of
the everlasting storm, Mon" look
through the wicket of that prison. How
did thoue young men lose their souls2
By putting off till later life matters of
religion. But the railcar was hurled off
the track and in an instant they lost their
lives; or their foot slipped on the icy
pavement and the skull wa. fractured,
or typhoid came down on them, driv-
ing them tut Of life in delirium, and
there they are Look at that group OF
middle aged men in the banished world
How came they into that sorrow? This
is their hlstory-they put off Christ till
their business perplexlties would be
gone. They expected to attend to r lig
ion, but they never did attend to it. In
the attempt to gain the world they lost
their soul. No use for their ledgers and
daybooks and Government securities,
and bills of ladinG and safety deposits
and stores beyond this world, Look at
that group of aged oDesl How came they
to be lost? This is their history-they
put off religion till their hearts were
hard, and they tried to repent, but could
not; and attempted to pray, but failed;
and with tottering steps they came on,
bearing heavier and heavier on their
staff, till it broke and they fell headlong
into outer darkness. Are you wise
enough to put the urgent and immediate
question of the text or are you putting
it off till the last hourP The probability
is that ninety-nine out of the hundred
deathbed repentanCes never amount to
ANYTHING. 0fall the scores of people
who are mentioned in the Bible as dy
ing how many successfully reDented in
the last hour Fifty2 No. Thirty No.
Five9 No. One, only one, barely one;
as much as to sly it is barely possible
that man may be saved in the last
hour, but improbable, vastly improbable
so improbable that the chances are +
hundred to one against him. The last
hour of life is unfit fer this work. Doc
tors standing by with their medicines,
and the lawyer with half written will,
and the family in CONSERVATION as to
what ia to become of them, and the bells
of eternity ringing out the soul from the
body, and all the past surging upon us
and the future, and angels flying through |
the room, and devils plotting for the
overthroW-thatm man is an infinite fool
wlo thinks to wait till his death hour
for repentance.
My text does not tell you how to be |
saved. 1t only, with deep, importu
nate, wailing cry, asks it. 1t is the fol.
lowing verse that tells il. The strict rules
of sermonizing might say, leave t1at till |
next time. What are rules of sermoni.
zing to me when l am after souls immor
tall Wait till another timel can not wait.
| might be dead before | had another
chance at them, and there are those here
whom I will never confront again. Some |
Of you will not come because you do
not like the way Of the preacher. Some
Of you live in other places. Some You
in the slight headache that hovers about
your temples, or the cold that oppresses
you today, have the premonition Of your
ast sickness. Some of you will go to
he North, the South, the East and the
W est, and 30 | must not lose this my
ast chance. If from this solemn place
.oday you go away unhelped yol will be
ost. What is the use in thatP Have
you heard of Jesus; how mighty he is to
lelp and how willing he is to saver He
lied with all the sorrows of earth and
,he agonies of hell pressing out from
mis- heart the prayer Father, forgive
hem; they know not what they do" By
His feet blistereC of the mountain way;
1y His back whipped till the skin came
,ff by His death-couCh of four long
pixies, two for the hands and two for
he feet; by the sepulCher in which He
ay, for the first time in thirty.three
,ears the cruel world letting him alone;
" the heavens from which He bends
oday with offers of pardon and help for
dying word, l beg you to come and
ay your all at His feet.