The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-15

not WHIP the htuE6 son. AuQ tuo pidh ITO ASi
upon was this: He made bow of ribbon and
pinned it on the lapel of the boys coat. and the
boy sale; What does that meanT The tutor
said: THAT is the emblem of your royalty that
is the signet of your princely character; that IS
the sign that you are the son of the king And
lever after that when the boy niisbehaved the
tutor just pointed his finger at the badge and the
boy subsidized IN a moment st. Paul said: 4
carry about with Inc the marks OF the Lord
Jesus Christ. and the very minute the good
spirit drops his finger on the mark subside In
minute and said Lord help me to wipe my
life away for having grieved that love-" That is
the true Christian spirit.
Now, the next thought Of the context ''he
that hath this desire" says the book Ito be ike
Christ purifes himself even as Christ is pure
Now, brother. the second thought is this, the
purity of the Christian. The first is the princey
character and secondly the purity of that char
acter Above all things, a Christian ought to be
pure man--pure in life, pure in all manner OF
conversation. Purity, purity like that OF the 1T
tie ermine, the most fastidious animal In the
world. Its hair and skin is white almost as the
driven snow. and when they seek to capture the
little ermine, for it is very sly and shy; when 1t
comes out of its den they sprinkle dirt and mud
along its pathway, and when it returns and sees
the mud and dirt in its pathway, it will lie down
and subject itself to capture and death before IL
will snirch one of its little white hairs. And
want to see Gods people reach the point where
they will lie down and die any minute before they
do anything that is improper or unclean before
the eyes of God. That is what we mean. Cries
of '.Amen."l Character like that will win this
world to Christ.
We talk about heaven and about going to
heaven. l will tell you, my brother, when you
reach that purity of heart and life where you
will DIG before you will do wrong, you just stay
right where you are, and If God don't call you
home to heaven some of these days, l will tell
you what He will dole will bring the streets
nf ha Naxu Iorr psrhf Front Of vnH
building and incorporate you right into heaven,
where you shall live in the sight of God forever
and ever. You be pure man. and il heaven
don't draw you to it, you will draw heaven to
you, and you will be incorporated into the family
OF God and into the city of God Nothing un-
holy or unclean shall enter heaven. Without
holiness, man shall see the Lord
tell you, my brethren, the time has come
for US to wake up and ask ourselves in the
church and in the community ''Are we pure
people before GodF Blessed are the pure in
heart for they shall see God. There is the secret
Of pure life. Il is pure heart. The hardest
thing man can try to do is to be a Christian
without religion, to be good man with bad
heart 1t is like the man down yonder in the
branch trying to clear the water so that he can
drink from the branch; and a friend looked at
him and said: IF you will 60 up there and run
that hog out that is wallowing in the spring, the
water will clear itself 1t is mighty hard
matter to keep the stream of your life pure,
low You must get the devil out of there. The
devil goes boging around and goes a heap of
places where he is not invited, but he Is too
much Of gentleman to stay where he is not
welcome; and If he puts up on you, old
fellow, it is because you treat him well
and because you give him a hearty
welcome and good hospitality. That is the
truth about it. Purity. say in my place here
tonight that IT a man wants to quit sin he will
quit it, and he is not going to quit it until he
Aaac To r,,if II ,laI Co
years ago and will tell you how | wound up. /
found out had done quiz every sin in the world
that wanted to quit, and them that 1 did not
want to quit was still running. Now is not
that where you stand, .brother9 That is the
truth Of the whole matter. If man says Il
cannot quit sin" after he gets religion-well,
God bless you, man can quit sin before he gets
religion; and he never will get it until he doee
quit it. That is the truth about it.
Here! What is the hardest thing a man
ever tried to quitl Whisky. No, sir.
can break every old red-nosed topper
in this town in ten minutes. Not with religion,
either. How will do its will just pour about
two ounces of sulphuric acid into every gallon
of whisky and let him me put it in there. He
is done, bless your lfe He don't want any
more whisky. Don't you see all fellow wants
is high motive. My doctrine all over America,
and it is the New Testament and the Old Tesla
ment doctrine is, quit your meanness. That Is
it Quit your meanness. And q fellow can un-
about that. And that's just half of religion,
when you get that DONE When fellow quits
his meanness he has just exactly laid the foun-
dation for a religious life.
Down in our State preacher said once that
man could not live without sin. / was not there
that day. If had been. believe would have
jumped up, If it had not looked a little out of
place, and said 'sOld fellow, you write me out
a list of sins tnat l can commit and get to
heaven. or else take that back l would have
lxoN 10 hall
on any proposition like that" The old drunkard
who sits back there says: That's my doctrine,
and drinking LIQUOR is my sin. and cannot help
that sin; will just go on, and God will take me
in anyhow" Locke here, will one of you
preachers just jump up-if you are on the con-
trary side Of this question-and say which sin is
it a fellow cannot quit Name onel Is it lying,
or stealing or Righteousness. or tattling.
or what is it that fellow cannot quits Sayl
daughter and applause. And some of you
been in some devilment since sun-down laugh
ter Now, I say in all common sense. brethren,
there are not little sins with God ALI sins are
great sins The soul that sipneth shall die.
Now, if God says that man must not sin and
shall not sin, then will we face God under the
grace of Jesus Christ, with its cleansing blood,
and say we cannot help from sin. There is no
such thing as necessitated sin. necessitated
sin is contradiction in itself II l am obliged
to do thing. there is no sin in it
good old MetnodiSb Orother sdiu w ino oucoi
Clones, my trouble is, lose nay temper and
swear when get mad, and cannot help it to
save my life"
.'Well,n says. ego on and swear then. don't
care will not turn you out of the church. nor
the Lord won't bother you about it; you can
not help it, old fellow, go ahead"
'Oh. WE'LL" he says, "why, why, IL maybe
could help it."
"Wen, now 1 said. eff you can help it, God
will put you in he'll for doing it just as sure as we
are standing here talking, and will turn you
cut Of church for it, you rascal YOU"
met him about six months after that and he
said TO me- "Brother Jones, have not cussed a
single oath since talked to you that day about
swearing"
Whenever fellow wants to quit he will quit;
and he is not going to quit until he does want TO
quit Here. let's look at the thing from SEN
sible reasonable stand point now. Suppose a
fellow is a merchant 1t is sin, you know, to
cheat Well, now honesty and fair dealing says
thirty-six inches to the yard Now can a good