The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-08-31

which our fathers and mothers started u.s. and
we have by accumulation, as by internal com
pound interest, made 1t enough to swamp us
forever. The heart battle ground. across
which armed battalions sweep right and left.
The ivory palace of the soul polluted with the
filthy feet of all uncleanliness The Lord Jesus
Christ comes TO bring US back to holiness. He
comes not to destroy US, but to take the conse-
Quences OF our guilt. He breaks through decorating
tnorns, and he dies TO offer US cleanliness. Here
Is man who. a few weeks ago, said: "All is
right with me. am not willing to confess am
sinner" Now, the spirit comes to his soul.
and he feels himself to be SO great a sinner that
there is nc mercy for him. When did he make
the most accurate estimated Now. THE heart
is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked" But says some in the audience:
Il have snned so much do not believe Christ
will take me-" great commander Thought or
going over in 70 Italy. His friends laughed at
him. and said: You can never get over the
Alps. If you know anything about the Alps,
you know you can never get over there" The
commander waved his hand, and said: There
shall be no Aips." Then the road was built
through the Simplon Pass-the wonder OF fol-
lowing ages We stand and see the mountain
of our guilt The obstacles seem so great that
it is impossible for us to find a way into the
peace and life of the gospel; but Christ comes.
and He waves His wounded hand, and cries:
There shall he no obstacles. l viii! come over
the mountain of thy sin and the hills of thine
inquity." Oh, We who have slnned. instead of
flying away from Christ, if you only knew who
it is that comes to save you, you would by ma
further. but turn around and while Christ
seeks you. you would seek Christ, and this house
would be scene of a pendent sinner and a par
doning Savior throwing each others arm around
each Others necks; while heaven could afford to
stop half an hour and hang over the battlements
gazing What Is that flutter among the angels!
Who is that horseman rushing through the city
with quick dispatchi What is that announce
ment on the bulletins of heaven? know what
it is Christ has found that which was lost
"Nor angels can their JOY contain,
But kinde with fire.
The sinner lost is found, they sing.
Anu strike the sounding lyre
&remark, again. that we are lost to happiness.
and Christ comes to find US. A callph said Il
have been fifty years caliph. and l have had all
honors and all wealth. and yet. in the fifty years,
l can count up only fourteen days OF happiness
How many there are in this audience that can
not count fourteen days in all their life in which
they had no vexations or annoyances. We all
feel q capacity for happiness that has never been
tested There are interludes of bliss, but whose
entire life has been a continuous satisfaction
Why is it that the most of the fine poems of the
world are somehow descriptive of grief! 1t is
because mon know more about sorrow than they
do about Joy. John Milton succeeds when he
writes Paradise Lost" but fails when he comes
to write Paradise Regained." Dantes I'm
ferno" is a chime of horrors. Bryants ''Thana-
topsis" is poem of tears. Take the pathos out
of the writings of TennysOn and LOngfellow,
and you have taken three fourths their power
John Ruskn writes his most effective passage
about the ruin of Venice 1t is because men
know more about sorrow than about joy that
they are more effective in describing the former
The dog of bad news runs faster than the carrie"
pigeon flies with good tidings. There are flusheS
of satisfaction in the heart, but whose life has
been prolonged delight? The soul has four
ranks of keys, and the world does not know how
to play on such an elaborate instrument But
Religion comes. and with her right hand she
touches the higher keys Of the soul, and then
sweeps them with the symphonies of heaven.
Christ comes to find those who have been lost to
happiness. He soothes them. He inspires
them. He lifts them He opens the door of the
lost Eden and invites them TO come in again to
peace.
On how many in this house have been goaded,
and Stung, and plagued! Had it not been for
risking your eternal interests, some of you would
have put an end to the scene of earthly suffer
ing with your own hand A deep undertOne OF
sadness rolls through the soul. You would
be willing now to give up your money,
and your social position, and all you have
achieved for one day of peace, which the good
old slave expressed when he said, In broken
language: ''In owning Christ l seem to own
everything. The air is mine, for I can breath
it; the sunshine is mine. for ] can sit in it; the
earth is mine, for can lie down on It," TO
have something Of the complete satisfaction
which belongs to the humbiest of Gods children
you would give almost anything. Oh ye,
comes to night 10 give you rest. If Christ comes
to You, you will be independent OF oil worldly
circumstances. So in the hour of suffering and
martyrdom Rose Allen. When the perse-
CutOr put candle under her wrist and held IL
there until the sinews snapped, she said: IF you
see fit, yoU can burn my feet next, and then also
my head" Christ having taken you into
his custody and guardianship. you can laugh at
pain, and persecution and trial. Great peace for
all those whom Christ has found, and you have
Christ
The nurse may have fallen asleep in the later
watches of the night but Jesus watches with
slumberless eyes, and He puts His gentle hand
over the hot brow of the patient and says: You
will not always be sick. l will not leave you.
There is a land where the inhabitant never saith
Il am sick Hush, troubled soul! Peace!
THE MISSION OF JESUS.
This Jesus comes into tho house of bereave
rnent and says: Il took your lost darling l
-ome now to make up for his absence. l wanted
i'm at the gate wher you came through. The
lays of your separation will only add to the
JOY of reunion. PeaSS L am the resurrection
and the life. He that believeth in Me, though
lie were dead. yet shall he still live"
Just as sometimes child Is so sick that it
cannot lie any longer in the cradle and the
mother has TO take it up so sometimes the
Lords children are so troubled that they cannot
lie easy anywhere but in Gods lap, while He
bends over them and sings this sweet song GAS
one whom his mother comforteth, SO will 1 com
fort you"
'nThe soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose
will not will not desert to his foes;
That soul, though ali hell should endeavor to shake
I'll never, no never no never forsake."
Again, remark that we are lost to heaven, and
Chrst comes to take us there. I cannot imagine
anything more dstressful than. without having
musical taste to sit and listen to an oratorio for
two hours and half. Though it be the best of
oratorios, if a man have musical taste, it is
distress to him, while it is joy to others And
cannot imagine anything more distressful for
man who has no love for pictures than to be shut
up in the Luxembourg gallery in Paris. Yes
] think of thing worse than that
ard that will be for man to
enter heaven without any taste for it. / some
times hear oeople talk "a thouob all man bo6 20