The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-01-28

;oheo hiiu uemuuus plooohp uioBiohNot
present fealty, present moral health, and
yet how many Christians there are seeking
10 live entirely In past experience, who
seem to have no experience Of present
mercy and pardon. You say you were
plunged In the fountain Of the Saviour's
mercy quarter Of century ago. That is
nothing to me. tell you to wash now tin
this laver of looking glasses and have
your soul made clean.
notice also in regard to this laver Of
looking glasses spoken of in the text that
the priests always washed both hands and
feet The water came down In spouts, so
that without leaving any filth in the basin
the priests washed both hands and feet.
SO the Gospel of Jesus Christ must touch
the very extrenities Of our moral nature.
A man can not fence off small part Of his
soul and say: Snow this Is to be q garden
in which l will have all the fruits and
flowers Of Christian character, while out
side shall be the DEVILS commons" No,
no; II will be all garden or none. II is
very easy to be Christian with psalm
book in your hand and Bible in your lap,
but not so easy when you can go into a
shop and falsely tell the merchant you can
get those goods at cheaper rate In an
other store, so that he will sell them to you
cheaper than he can afford to sell them.
The fact Is, the religion Of Christ is all
pervasive. II you rent a house you expect
full posllssion Of 1t. You say: "Where
are the keys Of those roomsW II I pay for
this whole house, I want possession Of
those rooms" And the grace Of God,
when it comes to a soul, takes full possess
sion Of a man, or goes away and takes
no possession. 1t will ransack every room
in the heart-every room in the life-from
cellar to attic, touching the very extremi-
ties of his nature. The priests washed
hands and feet.
Iremark further that this laver Of look
ing-glasses spoken Of in the text was a
very large laver. always thought from
the fact that so many washed there, and
also from the fact that Solomon afterward,
when he copied that laver in the Temple,
built it on very large scale, that it wai
large, and so suggestive Of the Gospel OF
Jesus Christ and salvation by Him-vast
in its provisions. The whole world may
come and wash In this laver and be clean
The dying thief did everything bad. The
dying thief was saved. IL was q vast laver
Go and tell everybody to come and wash il
it, Let them comeup from the penitentiarie
and wash away their crimes. Let then
come up from the almshouses and wasl
THAR fxr Lat than m
from their graves and wash away thei
death. II there be any one so worn out II
sin that he can not get up to the laver yol
will take hold Of his head and put you
arms around him, and Twill take hold o.
his feet, and we will plunge him in thi
| glorious Bethesda, the vast laver Of God
mercy and salvation. "Whosoever viii
may come and pa take of the water of lif
freely "a laver broad as the earth, higl
as the heavens and deep as hell.
But / notice also in regard TO the laver O
looking-lasses spoken Of in the text tina
the washing in 1t was imperative and no
optional. "Wash here" says God, 80
die." So it is with the Gospel of Christ
1t is imperative. There is only this alterna
/ tive: Keep our sins and perish, or was
them away and live.
Instead of quarreling because there ar
not more ways, let us be thankful to GO
there is one-one name given unto ma
whereby we can be saved-one laver /
which all the world may wash. So yo
see what radiant Gospel this is l preach
do not know how a man can stand stolid
ly and present IL, for 1t is such an exhil
arant Gospel. II is not mere whim o
caprice; IL is life OF death; IL is Heaven G
hell. You come before your child and yo
have a present in your hand. You pu
your hands behind your back and say
(which hand will you takeE"' In one han
there is a treasure, in the other there
not. The child blindly chooses. But Goo
our Father, does not do that way with vi
snow, this shall be very plain. In tina
hand are pardon and peace and life and tn
treasures Of Heaven; In that hand are pun
ishment and sorrow and woe. Choose
choose for "yoursolvesw "He that be
lieveth and is baptized shall be saved, bu
he that believeth not shall be damned.n
nChrist offers all the generosity OF Hi
nature TO you to-day. The love of Chris
Il dare not, toward the close Of my ser
mon, begin to tell about 1t. The love O
Christi Do not talk TO me about a noun
tain; ID is higher than that. Do not tai
TO me about sea; II Is deeper than that
An artist, in his dreams, saw such splen
did vision of the TRANSPORTATION Of Chris
that he awoke and seized his pencil an,
said: "Let me paint this and die. Oh,
have seen the glories Of Christ! hav
beheld something Of the beauty Of tina
great sacrifice on Calvary, and I hav
sometimes felt as II would be willing +
give anything II might just sketch befor
you the wonders Of that sacrifice. woul
like to do IL while live, and I would lik
TO do II when die. Let me paint this an
diel He comes along weary and worn
His face wet with tears, His brow crimso
with blood, and He lies down on Calvar.
for you. No, / mistake. Nothing was a
comfortable as that. A stone on Calvar
would have made soft pillow for the dy
ing head Of Christ. Nothing so comforta
BILE as that. He does not lie down TO die
He stands up to die; His spiked hand
outstretched as II to embrace the worlt
Oh, what hard end for these feet thG
ha,s Travelled all over Judea on ministrie
OF rercyl What a hard end for thos
hands that have wiped away tears an
bound up broken heartsl Very hard, OF
. / n - nj