Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-03-14

| often you may nave spoken against
the Bible, or however much you may
have caricatured religion, step ashore
from that rocking and tumultous sea. II
you 20 home tonight adhering to
| your infidelity you will not
sleep one wink. You do not
want your children to come up with
your scepticism. You cannot afford to
die in that midnight darkness, can you
II you do not believe in anything else,
YOU believe in love-a fathers love, a
mothers love, wife's love, a child's
love Then let me tell you that God
loves YOU more than them all. Oh, you
must come in. You will come in. The
great heart OF Christ aches TO have you
| come in, and Jesus this very moment
whether you sit or stand, looks into
your eyes and says: Other sheep /
have which are not OF this fold" Again
! remark that the heavenly shepherd is
going to find a great many sheep among
those who have been flung OF evil habit.
1t makes me mad 70 see christian people
give up prodigal as lost. There are
those who talk as though the grace OF
God were
A Chain Of Forty or Fifty Links,
and after they had run out there was
nothing to touch the depths OF very
bad case. II they were hunting, and
got off the track OF the deer, they would
| look longer among the brakes and busbes
for the lost game than they have been
looking for the lost soul. People tell US
| that if man has delirium tremens twice
he cannot be reclaimed; that after a
woman has fall.n from her integrity,
she cannot be restored. The Bible has
distinctly intimated that the Lord
Almighty is ready to pardon 400 times; ;
that is, 20 times T. There are men be.
| fore the throne OF God who have
wallowed in Every Kind of Sin.
but, saved by the grace OF Jesus and
washed in his blood, they stand there
radient now. There are those who
plunged into the very lowest hells Of
Elm street, New York, who have for the
tenth time been lifted up, and finally,
by the eface OF God, they stand In
Heaven, gloriously rescued by the grace
promised to the chief OF sinners. i
want TO tell you that God loves to take
hold of a very bad case. When
the church casts you oil, and when
the club room casts you off, and when
society casts you off, and when father
casts YOU off, and when mother casts you
off, and when everybody casts you of,
your first cry for help will bend the eter-
nal God clear down into the ditch OF your
suffering and shame. The good tenn
plars cannot save you, although they
are grand institution. The sons OF
temperance cannot save you, although
they are mighty for good. Signing the
Temperance pledge cannot save you, al
though believe in it. Nothing but the
grace OF the eternal God can save you,
and that will il you throw yourself on
it. Fer every man given to strong drink
there are scores Of traps set. They talk
about the catacombs of Naples and the
catacombs OF Rome and the catacombs
OF Egypt-the burial places under the
city where the dust oil great multitude
lie but tell you Brooklyn has its cata-
combs, and New York its catacOmbs,
and Boston its catacombs, and Philadel-
phia its catacombs. They are the un.
derground restaurants
Full OF Dead Mems Bones
and all uncleanness. Young man, you
know it. God help YOU. There is no
need OF going into the art gallery TO see
in skiliul sculpture that wonderful rep
resentation OF man and his sons wound
around with serpents. There are fami.
lies represented in this house this morn
ing that are wrapped in the martyrdom
of fang and scales and venom-a living
LAGOON of ghastliness and horror.
What are you to do? am not speak
ING into the air. am talking this morn
ing 10 hundreds OF men who must be
savel by Christ's Gospel or never Saved
at all. What are you going to do? DO
not put your trust in bromide OF potas-
sium or in Jamaica ginger, or anything
that apothecaries can mix. Put your
trust only in the eternal God and he
will see YOU through. Some OF you do
not have temptations every day. 1t is
periodic temptation that comes every
six weeks. or every three months, and
il seems as il the powers OF darkness
kindled about your tongue the fires oil
the pit. 1t is well enough at such a
time TO seek medical counsel, but your
most unfortunate crv must be to God.
While have hope for all prodigals thtre
are some people in this house this
morning whom
1 Give up IS Lost.
| mean those who have been church
goers all their life, who have main aimed
outward morality, but who, n)twith-
standing twenty, thirty, AMI lcrty years
OF Christian advantages have never
Welded their heart to Christ. They are
gospel-hardened. | could cal their
nsmes now and il they would rise no
they would rise up in scores. Gospel
hardened, A sermon has no more
effect pom them than the shining OF the
moon on the city pavement. As Christ
saws: "Publcans and harlots will go
into the Kingdom OF heaven before them.
They have resisted all the importantly
OF divine mercy, and have gone during
these thirty years through most power.
ful earthquakes OF religious feeling and
they are iarther away from God than
ever. After awhile they will lie down
sick. and some day it will be told that
thev are dead. No hope!
But | turn 10 outsiders with a hope
that thrills through my body and soul:
"Other sheep have which are not OF
this fold" You are not GOSPEL hard.
ened. You have not heard or read
many sermons during the last few years.
As YOU came in all the services were
suggestive OF your early days. How
sweet the opening hymn sounded in
your ears and how blessed it is in this
place! Everything suggestive OF heaven.
You do not weep, but the shower is not
far of. You sign, and YOU have noticed
that there is always a sigh in the wind
before the rain falls. There are those
here who would give anything il they
could find relief in tears. They say:
"oh, Ny Wasted Life"
Oh, the bitter past! "Oh, the graves
over which | have stumbled, Whittier
shall fy? Alas for the future. Every
thing is dsrk-so dark, 30 dark. God
help me, God pity me- Thank the
Lord for that last utterance. You have
begun to pray and when a man begins
to petition, that sets all heaven flying
this way and God steps in and beats
hack the hounds Of temptation to their
tunnel, and around absut the poor
| wounded soul puts the covert OF his par