The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-11

will and my reason to living a virtuous. noble
and righteous life In the world" These are flne
sentiments; these are fine resolutions: these are
sentiments and resolutions that all men ought
to entertain but they are not the senti-
ments that will satisfy the longings OF any
mans heart as TO the great future beyond the
grave, and as to the sufficiency, when he comes
to the Judgment bar of Christ, and to face the
record of God They are of the earth, earthly;
and as long as they were made upon the plat
form and upon the basis of s'''~'- .,uman reso-
Into" .o-aay, they NAV be broken tomorrow
into ten thousand fragments by human frailty
human weakness and human passion. | cannot
risk nay immortality and rest satisfied, ground
ing it for its futurity upon some man made sys-
losophers in the history of the world,
and they concocted fine schemes for
men to live by. There have been philosophers
who Lave given US splendid man-made schemes
for living moral, upright admirable lives: but
all the schemes that men have invented, all the
systems that philosophers have made, that were
upon lower level than dependence upon illumi-
nation and energy, through the divine in God,
have been futile to take hold upon the majority
OF human inteilects in the world. and wnere
they have been followed at all it has been oy
small sects of men and these confirm
ally decimated by the philosophy failing
to be up to the experience of human
life These philosophers generally have been
the result of the closest Investigation into human
passions human emotions and the operations OF
the human mind and heart They have been
filled up with the closest and most logical analy
sis OF human opinions and human motives They
have been builded upon systems and theories
that intricate and philosophic in their char
acter to the extent that but few men beside their
authors could ever understand them, and in that
alone they have been insufficient to commend
themselves as plans for universal adoption and
for universal living.
Imay see man. admirable in his character, who
to my view, fuflls all the requirements of per
feet. honest, noble. righteous man, but / dare
not trust nay Immortality to an imitation OF hun
and his life. He is but human, as | am, and
subject to the like temptations that l am. He
might lead me to rnip, and cause me to lose my
soul forever. There is nothing on which | can
rest with confidence except something that is di
vine in character, and find when l look up to
God stand upon an impregnable basis or truth.
Mr.. Small then. at considerable length, ex-
planned the sacrifice made for the human race by
Jesus Christ upon the cross at Calvary, llustrat-
ing it by means of the sacrifices made in the
cause of liberty by our forefathers in the Revo-
tuition. who thereby gave US tho heritage we en-
joy. This was exceedingly interesting and apt.
The benediction was then said by the venera
bic DR.. I. H. Lynch.
Mr. Small announced that if any wished to
stay few moments after the service, lie would
be pleased to talk to them. Nearly half the
audience remained, and a number of hymns were
you wish TO become q citizen in the kingdom of
Christ make declaration All Christ asks is
for you to make some movement. Come for
ward, He will meet you like the father rushed
to meet the prodigal."
Many had stood up when the question was
asked as to how many desired to lead better
life, but few came forward to the mourner's
seats. Mr. Small. who is evidently greatly ex
hausted by reason of his severe labor, showed
himself much disappointed by the lack of inter
est. God cannot save YOU" he said, "unless
you do something yourself. Unless you do. all
that He has done will be ineffective Until you
come forward and say you are candidate for
salvation you will net be saved and you will die
in your sin and go.to hell. God stands ready to
embrace you but cannot embrace you until you
come within reach of his instrumentaities.
You must decide something before you can be
converted to God and be saved you
must do something yourself before Christ
do anything more. Whenever
you make up your mind you want
to be saved God will open everything to you;
and whenever you make up your mind to be
saved and want salvation, you will get it. When
ever you get ready to say. | confess myself a
sinner. am sorry, and believe in Jesus Christ,
you will have done your part, and the rest will
follow. All you want to do is to make your con
fession to God. You don't need to catalogue
your sins. If you did, it would probably take
an etarnitv TO do IL