Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1886-08-16
WHEELING w. VA, MONDAY MORNING, AUGUST 49, 1886.

There are those who plunged in the very
lowest hell of abomination, who for the
tenth time have been lifted up, and finally,
by the grace Of God they stand in Heaven
gloriously rescued by the grace promised
to the ehieftain of sinners. want to tell
you that God loves to take hold of a very
bad case. When the church casts you of,
and when the club-room casts you of, and
when society casts you off, and when bust
ness associates casts you of, and when
father casts you OFF, and when mother
casts you off, and when everybody casts
you off, your first cry for help will send
the Eternal God clean down into the ditch
of your suffering and shame. The Good
Templars cannot save you, although they
are reagandinstitutiOn a The Sons of Temper
ance cannot save you, although they are
mighty for good Signing the Temper
ance pledge cannot save you, although |
believe in it. Nothing but the grace of
the Eternal God can save you, and that
will if you will throw yourself on it. A
man'said to me: UNLESS God helps me |
cannot be delivered. l have tried every
thing, sir; but now / have got into the
habit of prayer, and when | come to a
drinking saloon pray that God will take
me safely past, and Ipray until am past.
He does help me-" For every man given
to strong drink there are scores of traps
set, and no one but the everywhere pres
eut God can see that man through. Oh!
they talk about the catacOmbS of Naples,
and the catacOmbs of Rome and the cata-
combs of Egypt-the burial places under
the city where the dust of great multi
tude lie; but tell you
NEW YORK HAS ITS CATACOMBs,
Nashville has its catacombs, and New Or
leas its catacombs and Boston its cata-
combs, and Philadelphia its catacOmbs,
and every town and city neighborhood its
catacombs They are the underground
restaurants, full of dead mems bones and
all uncleanneSs, Young man, you know
it. God help you! TheIe is no need of
going into the art gallery to see i'll skilliul
sculpture that wonderful representation of
a man and his sons wound around with
serpents. There are families represented
in this audience that are wrapped in the
martyrdOm of fang and scale and venom
a living LAGOON of ghastlineSs and horror.
What are you to do? Do not put your
trust in brOhmide of potassium, or i'll Ja-
maica ginger, or anything else that apOthe
carries can mix. Put your trust only in
the Eternal God, and He will see you
through Some of you do not have tempta-
ton every day. 1t is a periodic tempta-
ton that comes every six weeks, or every
three months, when il seems as if the pow
els OF darkness kindlc around
about your tongue the fires OF
the pit. 1t is well enough
at such time, us some ofyou do, TO seek
medical counsel; but your first and most
importunate cry must be to God. If the
ticndS will drag you to the slaughter, make
them do it on your knees Oh, God! now
that the parOXysm of thirS, is coming
again upon that man, help him. Fling
back into the pit of hell the iiend that as
saults his soul this moment. Oh. my heart
aches to see men 90 on in this fearful strug-
gle without Christ. There are here those
whose hands so trcmblc from dissipation
that they can hardly hold book; and yet
| have to tell you that they will yet preach
the Gospel, and on communion days carry
around the COnSccrated bread, acceptable
10 every llUNNs DCNslNlNt va NllNhl ii'i NV
and their cOnSccratcd behavior. The Lord
is going to save you. Your home has got
to be rebuilt Your worldly business has
got to be reconstructed. The church of
God is going to rejoice over your disciple
ship. "Othcr sheep have which are not
OF this told.
While | have hope for all prodigals there
are some people for whom | am not so
hopeful mean
THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN CHURCH-GOERs
all their life, who have maintained out
ward morality, but who, Notwithstanding
twenty, thirty, forty years of Christian all
vantageS have never yielded their heart to
Christ. They are Gospel hardened. \
sermon has no more effect upon them than
the shining of the moon on the city pave
ment. As Christ says: THE publicans
and harlots will go into the kingdom Of
God before them" They have resisted
all the importunitieSOf Divine mercy, and
have gone, during these thirty years,
through most powerful earthquakes of re-
hgiOuS feeling, and they are further away
from God than ever. After awhile they
will lie down sick, and some day it will be
told they are dead. No hope! But | turn
to outsiders with Il hope that thrills
through my body and soul. "Othcr
sheep have, which are not of this
fold" You are not Gospel
hardened You have not heard many ser
mons during the last few years. As you
came into a religious meeting to-day every
thing was novel, and all the services are
suggestive of your early days. How sweet
the opening hymn sounded in your ears,
and how blessed it is in this place! Every
thing suggestive of heaven. You do not
weep, but the shower is not far of. You
sigh, and you have noticed that there is
always a sigh in the wind before the rain
falls. There. are those here who would
give anything if they could find relief in
tears. They say: 'Oh, my wasted life.
Oh, the bitter past Oh, the graves over
which have stumbled, Whittier shall |
fly? Alas for the future! Everything
is dark-SO dark, 50 dark. God
help me. God pity me-" Thank the
Lord for that last utterancc. You have.
begun to pray, and when man begins to
petition, that sets all heaven flying this
way, and God steps in and beats back the
hounds of temptation into the kennel, and
around about the poor wounded soul puts
the covert of His pardOning mercy. Hark.
| hear something fall. What was that? 1t
is the bars of the fence around the sheep
fold. The shepherd lets them down, and
the hundred sheep of the mountain bound
in: some of them, their fleece torn with
brambles: some of them, their feet lame
with the DOGS. but bounding in. Thank
God! 'Other sheep have, which are not
of this fold"
IRELAND'S CAUSE.