The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-16


Christ
1.-THE young man went to his employers that
evening and stated the case fairly to them. as he
had stated it to the preacher. He said. Gentle
men, you have been good and kind to me- but
must give up my employment; L must do it or
lose nv SOUL They paid him up-they were pay
ing him $50 month-they settled up with him.
and they said, We are sorry to give you up; you
have been a worthy, noble young man and have
done your duty WE'LL we hate to give you Up, but
we cannot give up that part of our business, for
there is where the money is And the young
man went home. ate his supper and came back TO
church that night and al the altar was graciousiy
and spen. happy night, with the breezes of
heaven playing over his SOUL The next morn
ing before he left the house. after breakfast he
received a note from his old employers, saying
Call at our Office this morning: we want to see
you Later in the morning he walked down to
the Office, and walked into the count!n groom.
The old senior member of the firm took his hand
and said to him: II am glad to shake your hand
again In my store come and walk with me into
the iquor-room. And he walked with him into
the liquor-room. Every barrel was rolled OUT
and the floor swept up. And he said, Young
man, we have rolled out that part Of our bust
ness, and we are done with it forever; and we
will give you hundred dollars month If you
will come back and take your place in our midst.
'But you say oh, how incredible that is.
my nature and yet it is so much infinitely more
incredible than that Here l used to hear
the preachers say that if we would
serve God that we should have a
hundred fold more in this life. | do not under
stand that Why, religion give you hundred
fold more in this life and everlasting life in the
world to GOMEZ Yes. Listen what contradic-
ton: If any man will forsake father and
mother, and houses and lands, and wife and
children and be my disciple. he shall have a
ndraH fnt Yrnr in "a md la lin o
life in the world to come want to say this to
you: Thirteen years ago l left my little home
in Gainesville, Ga, to go out and preach the
Gospel and follow Christ, and | want to say to
you, brother, God has given me a thousand
homes for that one left, just as good, and good
to me as if they were my own loved ones in that
home. / shook hands with one mother, a step
mother, but she was kind and good and bid
her good bye, and God has given me thousand
mothers just as good as my own mother could
Gainesville, but God has given me a
thousand friends for every one that l
bid good bye there to go out and serve Him; and
/ am here tonight living monument of the
blessed truth that God will give man a hun
dred fold more in this life; and I trust Him. in
deed, for the blessed fact that / shall have ever
lasting life in the world to come. I will render
double unto thee. Brother, God don't rob men.
God don't take all you have here and thrust you
into dark dungeon and keep you there until
Him and harms you and would damn you at last
bursts every shackle of sin from your limbs, and
lets you walk the earth free man Of the Lord,
and makes you feel in deed and in truth that
you are His child and on your way to heaven.
Thank God for what religion does for man
in this world. And I want to say to you this:
If / was young man would want religion. If
l was an old man would want it. If / was rich
| would want religion. If / was poor / would
want religion If was sick would want re-
li~in r uaN
l was living would want religion. If l was dy-
ing would want religion. If | was in heaven |
would want religion. If | was in hell | would
want the blessed peace that the gospel Of the
Son of God can give. There is religion.
" IT is religion that must give sweetest pleasure while
we live;
1t is religion must supply solid comfort when we die.
is nothing in heaven better than religion. Ora
cious Father, give US the peace of the gospel to
be our heritage [Cries Of "amen. Now, this
invitation, Come you to the strong; hold We pris-
oners of hope Come. there is a stronghold
But how weak. and frail, and helpless poor hui
manity is! How easily overcome, and how eff
fectually defeated. Defenceless and alone how
can we grapple with the enemyp But, glory to
God, there is a stronghold that the guns of hell
and the armies Of the devil have never success
fully captured yet-the stronghold in Christ
Jesus our precious Redeemer.
1--WE are bid to come prisoners of hope. /
turn over the pages of my book, and find there
are three classes of prisoners with hope. The
first class, | find mentioned here, are the conse-
Grated Christian men and women of this world
men who have left all to follow Christ We are
prisoners of hope. We are prisoners hemmed
in by the environments OF earth, tempta-
ton and of life. We ara prisoners but, thank
God, prisoners of hope
1.-the wretch condemned with fife to part
STILL still on hope relies.
And every pang that rends the heart
Bids expectation rise.
oh, what blessed hope is ours;
While vet earth stay,
We more than taste the heavenly joys,
And antedate that day.
Brother. L have laid down at night and gone
to sleep, and dreamed Of heaven. have sat
down and read of heaven. l have listened to the
minister as he told me of heaven. have thought
of heaven; but oh, how inspiring the blessed
thought. some day 1 will get there That
blessed citys I believe in the city of the New
Jerusalem of God as much asI believe that there
is city called Indianapolis and that am in it to-
night Heaven is just as real to my faith as In
dianapois is real to my sight believe in the
city of God and believe good people 60 there,
and believe if deny myself and take up my
cross and do my duty towards our family in
Christ, will get there, just certain as l have
been enabled, under the grace of God,
to get to the city OF Indianap-
oils A reality. Nothing dreamy about this,
or sentimental On, LnOu city OF my Uou, Wnen
shall Thy heaven built walls beholdY Thank
God for the city And, brother. when we get
there we will be free men. We have got en-
vironments here and tokens of imprisonment
here, but we will be free men up there. My
mother was prisoner of hope, but thank God
for rnirt5r ;ears she has been walking the golden
streets, one of Gods frseaan in heaven. My
father, thirteen years ago, was a prisoner OF
hope, but thank God for thirteen years he has
walked the streets in the city of God Free free as
heaven free as the spirit of God. Oh, brother,
we will be free there. We are hemmed in here
with thousand tokens of our imprisonment;
and, brother will tell you how feel about it.
AS long as the star of hope shines over my
pathway then all you need to do is to tell me my
duty. Tell me whatI ought TO do and how TO do
it, and / IN in with you with all my might
Tell me to pray in my family-all right Thank
God for the privilege Tell me to attend upon
the openings of the church-thank God. Open
the church and ring the bell. You will always
4 IT. II -. 49, -. Il