Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-04-25

Whole Years Of Glorious Sabbaths.
and had innumersble opportunities OF
religious cont nt4mplation, and yet you
tell me frankly You are not ChristianG.
! Why? Because the Holy Ghost has
not led you to the cross. What does all
this service amount to this morning un-
less the divine spirit touch your soul?
A wasted hour. What is all this Bible
with its hopes and promises to you un-
less the Holy Spirit illumes the pagef
Ii is a sealed book. What are all the
advantages you have had for the isst
fifteen years in a religious sense unless
the spirit OF God drive the truth 10 the
heart? So many arguments fnr your
condemnation. "Well," y0u say, "how
for not having it?" Yes. You must,
my dear brother, pray for His coming,
and He will come Plead for Him.
Bsseseh His coming Cry out: "Give
me the Holy Ghost"
Why is it that sometimes when We
come 10 the peop,e with an elaborate
discourse, and brought out the thoughts
as we think in a harmonious way, and
We think it is about as good sermon as
We know how to preach-that it all
amounts to nothing? 1t is because the
Holy Ghost did not bless the truth that
day. Why is it that on some other &C.
casion when we come with only a few
thoughts lying in our mind, hardly ar
ranged at all, but with a burning desire
for the salvation of men, and the sermon
is q poor sermon, judged by the
rules of human rhetoric, that on
that day the people come 10 God? Be-
cause the Lord sends his spirit to bless
that sermon. Oh, il this morning the
spirit OF God would shine on your
heart, YOU would wake up as from a
long sleep, you would look around
about you, and you would kneel down
and cry for mercy. / never shall forget
a scene in my first settlement. We had
A Morning Prayer-Meeting
in time OF religious interest and there
was a man who entered the door just
before the close of the sermon. / said
10 myself: II wish that man
had stayed away he has come
to disturb this meeting" l had
heard him express his contempt for re-
ligion and all religious things, and l was
sure he was there to interrupt us. He
came in and sat down, and before the
People shuddered, for all knew him in
the village. But so far from disturbing
our meeting, he said: "Oh pray for my
soul" and that night he found his way
into the kingdom OF God, and his wife
and his children. The spilit OF God
sought him out and brought
him in, and by the time
night came he was saved forever.
II the Holy Spirit should strike OF your
chain you would be free. If he should
touch your eyes this moment you would
see not only your sin, but the grandeur
OF a Savior's ransom. Oh, he is mighty
spirit. People of God, il you will inn
perfume his coming, if you will with
proper faith importune his coming, there
would this morning be 500 souls In all
this audience who are out OF Christ who
would march in solid column into the
kingdom and the house would be full OF
the glory of the Lord, and there would
be here such praying and weeping and
wailing and singing as you never heard;
Oh, that the spirit would descend now!
/ wait his coming. Aged men who
know the way to pray, who have long
been PRAYING men, implore the descent
of that spirit. Men in mid-life, young
men, men who would be saved now
ask for the coming OF that spirit.
Come, Holy Spirit. Heavenly Dove,
With all thy Quiekening power,
Come shed abroad a Sayiors love
In these cold hearts OF ours.
Twenty-Five wears ago l had man
standing before Inc one day preaehlng
the gospel to my people. AS / sat be-
hind him, thought to myself: "Oh,
il only had
That Mans Physical Health
how much good could do" Though
was well, he seemed to be more than
well-sthletic, strong, exuberAnt. That
was the last sermon he ever preached.
That week he was dead. L never shall
forget that mans last sermon. / shall
not forget his text. 1t was so appropri-
ate for my people then; 1t Is 80 appro-
pirate for this people now: HaVc ye
received the Holy Ghost?
l remark again that your want Is par
don. That young man down IN the wil-
deruess. oh how he thought OF his
tlsrl He thought: "ff l could only
hear nv iather say Il forgive you, l
would be happy" 1t was pardon he
wanted. That is what you need. What
has been the greatest sin IN all
YOUR life? one man woulu sal
one thing. Another man would say
another thing. l can tell you what has
Lean the greatest sin of your llie-the
one that towers above all Others, the
ghastliest, the blsckest crime that the
soul can com nit. Ii ia not murter. III
ia not theft. Ii is not adultery. 1t Is
not blasphemy, but worse tnan all these
combined IL is the sin Of drivIng BACK
The son OF God from your souls and re-
crucifying the Lord OF glory and tram
p,iny on the bleeding heart OF Infinite
love. and that sin We have all commit.
ted. To that chief sin you have addei
other sins. How many? In all your
life how many do you supposeH A
thousand? "Oh, yes" you say. FIFTY
thousand? "Yes," you say; ''in the
course OF NV hfe." One hundred thous-
and? Yes, but let US stop there.
"oue Hundred Thousand Unforgiven
Transgre ssions!
| sins against SabbIths, against Bibles,
| against sermons, sins against God, sins
| against vourse.f, suns sgainst the cross,
| suns against the ministering spirits that
| came To defend You, sins against your
own death-bed, your fathers death-bed,
your mothers death-5ed, sins against
the juhsmenI day, sins against the glo-
ries of heaven and the grandeurs OF
/ eternity, sins inexcusable and sins with
out number. All are forgiven! You
know how rapidly the snow hIkes can
accumulate on a winters day, and you
know how soon they aggregate on top OF
tue Alps, and in certain conditions OF
the weather that great block OF snow
which is made up Of little snow-ilakes
shayes off an avalanche on the villages
beneath, destroying them. So the sins OF
your life-cold, free zing gtransgressions-
accumulating, heaping up wrath against
the day OF wrath, at last, If irrepented
of, viii be an avalanche OF darkness.
They seem more like cloud, black
thunder chargers, the fash with ali the
lightning Of an incensed God. They
hover aud swoop about US until in the
suffication We gasp for mercy and hope
| that a gale from heaven will blow away