The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-04-04
LIVE CHURCHES.
CONTINUED FROM THE FIRST PAGE.

I pnAO4yoIu VI WOnb Olp anu L AlA
here Tonight" II said, "Gome in, I'll
pray for you and commend you to God. %
He came in trembling. Some of you re-
member after the service we walked out
and up the street, said: "YOu have an
awful struggle; I'll take you into drug
store; perhaps the doctor can give you
some medicine that will help you in
your struggle; then, after all, you will
have to depend upon the grace of God"
said to the doctor: "Can you give this
man something to help him in his battle
against strong drinkP" "I can" re-
piled the doctor, and he prepared bottle
Of medicine. 1 said: "There Is no alcO-
hOl in this; no strong drinkP" None
at all, said the doctor. "HOw long will
this lastP" l inquired. "It will last
him a week. 90" I said, "giVe me
another bottle" SO he gave me another
bottle. We passed out into the street
and stood under the gas-light. 1t was
getting late, and said to the man, 81
must part with you. Put your trust in
God, and He will see you through; you
will make use of these medicines when
the parOXysm Of thirst comes on" A
few weeks passed away, and got let
ter from Boston saying, "Dear friend, l
incl0se the money you paid for that
medicine have never used any Of ii.
The thirst for strong drink has entirely
gone away from me. / send you two or
three newspapers to show you what L
have been doing since / came to Boston,"
l opened the newspapers and saw ac-
counts of meetings of 1900 or 5000 peO-
pie to whom this man had been preach
ing righteousness, temperance and
Judgment to come. / have heard from
him again and again since. He is faith
full now, and will be, L know, to the last.
0, this work of sOUl-saVingl Would to
God that out of this audience tonight
800 men might hear the voice of the son
of God, bidding them come to a glorious
resurrection Sadness comes over me
as / real g the fact that fourteen years
of my pa 'Orate have gone, and am
aware of he fact that there were so
many occasions on which might have
struck harder for the cause of God, when
utterly failed. Oh, GOdl in the blood
OF thine own son, Jesus Christ, wash
out the sins of my ministry. / recog-
nize the fact that in this house today
there are not one dozen people who were.
in the church when came to Brooklyn.
Many of them have gone into the saints
everlasting rest. | was permitted to
stand by many of their deathbeds and
hear the evidence they gave of the fact
that God never fOTsakes a dying Christ
ian. Your fathers, your mothers, your
companions in life-wheTe are they?
"Asleep in Jesus. blessed sleep,
From which none ever wake 70 weep"
Others in different parts Of the land
are living the Christian life and uphold
ing the Christian standard, and we shall
meet them when the tolls of life are en-
ded in the great harvest home. l wish,
also, personally, to thank my dear peO-
pie for their kindness to me; for the
manner in which they have borne with
my iDfirmities; for the fact that they
have upheld me with their prayers, and
that though sometimes my work In one
quarter has not been understood, my
congregation has always been faithful
to me, and God will be faithful to them.
In my days of prosperity they have been
my JOY, and when sickness came to my
household they were with me in their
prayers, and when death came, they did
all they could to allay the grief, taking
up very tenderly the silent form and
bearing it away to its place in Gods
acres. bless God ever came to Brook
lyn. / bless God ever met you. Look
ing back over the fourteen years of my
pastOrate, l cannot find a single thing
to complain of. And now we start out
on another year. God only knows what
is to be the history of this year. am
expecting grander spiritual results, and
ness Of sin, will step out into the liberty
of the Gospel, and | do not know Of any
way more appropriate to celebrate the
anniversary of pastOrate than by the
Induction OF great multitude of souls
into the peace of the Gospel. So let it
be today. Let them come like clouds of
doves to the windows. o men and wO-
men immortal, hear this call OF soVer-
eign mercy. All the offers Of the Cos
pei are extended to you without mon
ey and without price," and you are con-
sciOus of the fact that these OppOrtuni-
ties will soon be gone forever. The con-
ductOr Of rail train was telling me Of
the fact that he was one night standing
by his train on sidetraek, his train
having been switched off so that the ex-
press train might pass unhindered. He
said while he stood there in the darkness
beside his train ON the sidetrack, he
heard the thunder of the express in the
distance. Then he saw the flash Of the
headlight. The train came on with
great speed, nearer and nearer, until
after awhile, when 1t came very near,
by the flash of the headlight he saw that
the switchman, either through intOxi-
cation or Indifference, had not attended
to his duty, and that train, unless some
thing was done Immediately, would
rush on the sidetrack and dash the other
train to atoms. He shouted to the
switchman, "Set up that switehP' and
with one stroke the switch went back,
and the express thundered on. Oil
men and women going on toward the
eternal world, swift as the years, swift
as the months, swift as the days, swift
as the hours, swift as minutes-on what
track are you going tOnightp Toward
light or darkness; toward victory or de-
feat; toward heaven or help Set up
that switchl Cry aloud to God. "NOW
is the day of salvation"