The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-08-31

rigging woman was frozen ana DEAD.
She was washed of, poor thingl But he
| said: There Is man to save" and he
cried out: Hold on five minutes longer
and will save you. Steadyl Steady!
Give me your hand. Leap into the life
bOatl Thank God, he Is savedp So
| there are those who are safe ON the shore
| of Gods mercy. Twill not spend any
time with them at all; but see that
there are some who are freezing in the
rigging of sin and surrounded by peril
GUS storms. Pull away, my ladsl Let
us reach theml Alas, one is washed off
| and gone! There is one more to be
saved. Let US push out for that one.
| Clutch the rOpel o, dying man, clutch
it as with a death-gripl Steady, now,
on the slippery places; steady Therel
| saved! savedl Just as l thought. For
| Christ has declared that there are some
still in the breakers who shall come
ashore. "0ther sheep l have which are
not of this fold" Christ commands his
ministers to be fishermen, and when
| go fishing L do not want TO go among
other churches, but into the wide world |;
not sitting along HohOkus Greek, where
| eight or ten other persons are sitting
| with hook and line, but like the fisher
men of Newfoundland, sailing off and
| dropping net away outside, forty or
| fifty miles from shore. Yes, there are
non-church-gOeTs who will come in.
They are at this moment being swept
| into Christian associations. Their
voices will be heard in public prayer
They will die in peace, their beds sur
rounded by Christian sympathies, and
be carried out by devOut men to be
buried, and on their graves will be
chiseled the words: Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His
saints" And on Resurrection Day you
will get up with the dear children you
have already buried, and with yOnr
Christian parents who have already won
the palm. And all that grand and glOri-
Gus history begins now. "Other sheep l
have which are not Of this fold"
l remark, again, the Heavenly Shep-
herd is going to find great many of
his sheep among those who are positive
rejectOrs of Christianity. do not know
how you came to reject Christianity. 1t
may have been through reading Remains
"Life of Jesus" or through the infidel
talk of some young man in your store.
1t may have been through the trickery
of some prOfessed Christian man, who
disgusted you with religion. do not
ask you how you became so; but you
frankly tell me that you do reject it.
You do not believe that Christ is di-
vine being, although you admit that he
was very good man. You do not be-
lieve that the Bible was inspired of God,
although you think there are some very
fine things in it. You believe that the
Scriptural description of Eden was only
an allegOry. There a; Q fifty things that
believe that you do not believe. And
yet you are an accommodating man.
Every body that knows you says that of
you. If l should ask you to do kind
ness for me, or if any one else should
ask of you kindness, you would do it.
Now, l have a kindness to ask of you. 1t
is something that will cost you nothing.
and will give me great delight. want
you, by experiment, to try the power of
Christ's religion. If should come to
you, and you were very sick, and the
doctors had given you up, and said there
was no chance for you, and / should
take out bottle and say: Here is a
medicine that will cure you; it has
cured fifty people, and will cure yOu;'
yo9 would say: II have no confidence in
it." would say: Won't you take 1t
eff it's any accommodation to you, I'll
take it," My friend, will YOU be just as
accommodating in matters of religion?
There are some of you who have found
out that this world cannot satisfy your
soul. You are like the man who told me
one Sabbath night after the service was
over: II have tried this world and found
something better" You have come to
that; you are sick for the need of Di-
vine medicament. Now. l come and
tell you of Physician who will cure
you, who has cured hundreds and hun
dreds who were as sick as you are. co."
you say, 81 have no confidence in himP'
But you will not try him? Accom-
modate me in this matter; oblige me in
this matter; just try him. l am very
0aPfoin q
81 have no especial confidence in him,
but, if you ask me as matter of accom-
mediation, introduce him." So do in
troduce Him-Christ, the Physician, who
has cured more blind eyes, and healed
more CHASTITY wounds, and bound up
more broken hearts than all the doctors
since the days of Esculapius. That
ready to try himP Will you not, as a
pure matter of experiment, try Him and
state your case before Him? Hold moth |
ing back from Him. If you cannot |
pray, if you do not know how to pray |
any other way, say: "Oh, Lord Jesus |
Christ, this is strange thing for me to |
do. l know nothing about the formulas |
of religion. These Christian people have
been talking so long about what thou |
caust do for me, 1 am ready to do what |
ever thou eOmmandest me to do. am
ready to take whatever thou command
est me to take. If there be any power |
in religion, as these people say, let me |
have the advantage of it," Will you try |
that experiment. do not at this point |
of my discourse say that there is any
thing in religion, but simply say try 1T |
try it. Do not take my counsel, or the |
counsel of any other clergyman, if you |
despise clergymen. Perhaps we may be |
talking professionally; perhaps we may
be prejudiced in the matter; perhaps we |
may be hypOcritical in our utterances;
perhaps We may preach because we are |
paid to preach; perhaps our advice is |
not worth taking. Then take the coun- |
sci of some very respectable layman, as |
John Milton, the poet; as William Will |
berfOrce, the statesman; as Isaac New. |
ton, the astronomer; as Robert Boyle, the |
philosopher; as Locke, the metaphysi- |
clan. They never preached or pretended |
to preach; and yet pulling down, one |
his telescope, and another his Parlia- |
mentary scroll and another his electri- /
clans wire, they all declare the adapted
ness of Christ's religion to the wants
and troubles of the world. If you will
not take the recommendation of minis
ters of the Gospel, then take the recon-
mendatiOnS of highly respectable lay