The clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1883-1888, 1886-12-08

him, people almost threw up their hands
ia horror as much as To say: Isn't
it shocking. How these dainty, fastidiOus
Christians ia all our churches are going TO
get into heaven ! don't know, unless they
have an especial train Of cars, cushioned and
upholstered, each one a car % himself They
cannot 20 with the great herd Of publicans
and sinners . ye, who curl your lip with
seorn at the fallen, tel you plainly, If you
had been surrounded by the same influences
instead Of sitting to-day amid the cultured,
and the refined, and the Christian, you would
have been a crouching wretch in stable or
ditch, covered with filth and abominatioui
II is not because you are naturally any bet
ter, but because the mercy Of God has pro
tected YOU. Who are you that. brought up
in Christian circles, and watched by Chris
tan parentage, you should be 50 hard on the
fallenl
| think men also are often hindered from
return by the fact that churches are too
anxious about their membership, and too
anxious about their denomination, and they
rush out when they see a man about TO give
up his sin and return TO God, and ask him
how he is going 10 be baptized whether by
gprinkling or immersion, and what kind of
church be is going to join. O., my friendsi it
Is poor time 10 talk about Presbyterian
catechisms, and Episcopal hturgies, and
Methodist lovefeasts, and Baptistries, to a
man that is coming ont Of the darkness Of sin
into the glorious light Of the gospel Why,
it reminds me of a man drowning in the sea,
and a life boat puts out for him, and the man
in the boat says 10 the man out Of the boat:
Now, if / get You ashore, are you going 10
live in my street, First get him ashore,
and then talk about the non-essentials of re-
I 10 ltrf fst4f ha
he only joins Christ and starts for heaven.
0, you ought to have, my brother! an
illumined face, and hearty grip for
every one that tries TO turn from
his evil way. Take hold Of the same
book with him, though his designations shake
the book, remembering that he that con
yerteth a sinner from the error Of bis way
shall save a soul from death, and hide q multi
tude Of sins
Now, have shown you these obstacles be
cause / want YOU 70 understand ] know all
the difficulties in the way, but | am now to
tell you how Hannibal may scale the Alps,
and how the shackIes may be unriyeted, and
how the paths Of virtue forsaken may be
regained.
First of all, my brother, throw yourself on
God Go 10 him frankly and earnestly, and
tell him those habits you have, and ask Him
if there is any help in all the resources of ON
nipotent love, 10 give it to you. Do not 90
with a long rigmaroe people call prayer,
made up OF obs and abs and forever and
forever amens!7 Go to God and cry for
heipl helpl helpl and if you cannot cry for
help just look and live. l remember in the
late war / was at Antietam, and went into
the hospitals after the battle, and 1 said to a
man: where are you hurt.7 He made no
answer but held up his arm, swollen and
splintered. / saw where he was hurt. The
simple fact is, when man has a wounded
soul all he has 10 do IS to hold it up be-
fore a sympathetic Lord and get it
healed. It does not take any long prayer.
Just hold up the wound. OH it Is no small
thing, when a man is nervous, and weak and
exhausted, coming from his evil ways, to
feel that God puts two omnipotent arms
arms around about him and says: Young
man, I viii stand by you. The mountains
may depart and the hills be removed, but l viii
never fail YOU And then, as the soul thinks
the news is too good to be true, and cannot
believe it. and looks up in Gods face, God
lifts his right hand and takes an oath, an
affidavit, saying: "As l live, saith the Lord
God. I have no pleasure in the death of him
that dieth.
Blessed be God for such gospel as this!
husband, "or there win not be enough to go
all around for the children; cut the slices
thin" Blessed be God there is full loaf for
every one that wants it; bread enough and
to spare. No thin slices at the Lords table
] remember when the Master Street hospital
in Philadelphia was opened during the war a
telegram came saying: There viii be three
hundred wounded men tonight, be ready 10
fgl -q Of x-r,,
went in some twenty or thirty men and women
to look after these poor wounded fellows. As
they came, some from one part of the land,
some from another, TO one asked whether
this man was from Oregon, or MaSsachu-
sets, or from Minnesota, or from New York
There was a wounded soldier, and the only
question was how to take off the rags most
gently, and put on the bahdage, and admin
lister the cordial And when soul comes to
God, He does not ask where you came from
or what your ancestry was. Healing for all
your wounds. Pardon for all your guilt
Comfort for all your troubles.
Then also counsel you, if you want to get
back, to quit all your bad associations. One
unholy intimacy win fill your soul with moral
distemper In all the ages of the church
there has not been an instance where a man
kept one evil associate and was reformed.
Among the 400, 100000 of the race not one
instance. Go home to-day, open your desk,
take out letter paper, stamp and envelope,
and then write a letter something like this:
"My old companions: l start this day for
heaven. Until l am persuaded you win join
me in this, farewell
Then sign your name, and send the letter
with the first post Give up your bad COM
panions, or give up heaven. 1t is not ten
bad companions thai destroy man, nor five
bad companions, nor three bad companions,
but one. What chance Is there for that
young man | saw along the street, four or
five young men with him, hating in front of
grog shop, urging him TO go in, he resist
ing, violently resisting, until after a while
they forced him to go ini 1t was a summer
night, and the door was left open, and saw
the process. They held him fast, and they
put the cup to his lips, and they forced down
the strong drink What chance is there for
such young man?
| counsel you also, seek Christian advice.
Every Christian man is bound to help you.
If You find no other human ear willing to
listen to your story of struggle, come to me,
and will, by every sympathy of my heart,
and every prayer, and every toll of my hand,
stand beside You in the struggle for reforma-
ton; and as | hope TO have my own sins for
given and hope to be acquitted at the judg-
nnent seat of Christ, l win not betray you.
First of all, seek God; then seek Christian
counsel Gather up all the energies of body,
mind and soul, and. appealing to God for
success, declare this day everlasting war
against all drinking habits, all gaming prac-
tees all houses of sin. Half-and half work
will amount to nothing; it must be a Waterloo.
Shrink back now, and you are lost. Push ON,
and you are saved a Spartan general fell
at the very moment of victory, but ne dipped
his finger in his own blood and wrote ON
rock near which he was dying: Sparta has
conquered Though your struggle to get
rid of sin may seem TO be almost a death
struggle you can dip your finger in your own
blood and ~vrite on the Rock of Ages: "Vic-
tory through our Lord Jesus Christ
Oh, what glorious news it would be for
some of these young men to send home to
their parents in the country these holidays
which are coming They 90 to the postoffice
every day or two to see whether there are
amy letters from you. How anxious they are
to hear, You might send them for a holiday
present this season book from one of our
best publishing houses, or a complete ward |
robe from the importers palace it would not |
please them half as much as the news you
might send home tomorrow that YOU had |
given your heart to God. l know how it is |
in the country. The night comes ON. The |
cattle stand under the rack through which |
burst the trusses of hay. The horses lust |
having frisked up from the meadow at the |
nightfall, stand knee deep in the bright straw |
that invites them to lie down and rest The |
perch Of the hoyel is full of fowl, their /
feet warm under the feathers. In the cid /
farmhouse at night no candle is lighted, /
for the flames clap their hands about the /
great black log, and shake the shadow of the /
group up and down the wall Father and |
mother sit there for half an hour saying
nothing. wonder what they are thinking |
of. After awhile the father breaks the
silence and says: well, wonder where our
boy Is in town tonightfs and the mother an