Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-01-29
UNION SERVICES.
And They All With One Consent Began
to Make Excuse.

And They All With One Consent Began
to Make Excuse.
phe union revival services that have
/ been held in this city will close this even
ing at the Congregational Church.
At $50 P. NJ. to-day services will be held
| for young people. There is no limit as to
! age and while the exercises will be par
ticularly addressed to the young, people OF
| all ages, and especially parents, are in
! vited to be present.
! The attendance last evening was quite
large. Rev. E. r. Ollie, of the Sixth-street
NJ. E. Church, occupied the pulpit, and for
his text chose a portion of Luke xiv, 10
And they all with one consent
began 10 make excuse" He said ii
was well for every man who
is not a Christian to consider well the
question, Why is he not?" In the face
of the many and oft-repeated invitations
he has had extended him to be-
come such, does his excuses excuse
him? If his excuses are not valid
ones for the day of Judgment, they are not
valid reasons now. They are asking to be
excused from loving God, from keeping
His commandments, from living holy, up
right lives and dying happy deaths. They
are asking to be excused from living useful
and respected lives, and gaining reward
in Heaven. Men conceal their real reason
for not coming to Christ. All their ex-
cuses are mere subterfuge. They do not
look into their hearts for a reason.
THEY LOVE SIN so MUCH
That they have not the moral courage to
give it up. They say, We have doubts,
and you cannot expect Us TO come TO Christ
until those doubts are cleared up" Unless
you get rid Of those doubts they will ruin
you as much as the blindest infidelitv, be-
cause, if you doubt, you will give the devil
the benefit of that doubt. If man doubts
the great truths of the Bible, he lives as
though they were not true. If he doubts
there is hereafter, he lives as though there
was none. You say you only doubt, but
you live as though you were sure If you
doubt the safety of vessel, you will not
take passage in that ship. If you doubt a
man. you have no dealings with that indi-
vidual. If there is one chance in ten mill
ion that you are lost if you do not seek
Christ it is the climax of foolishness not TO
seek him. God SAYS there is
no ESCAPE WITHOUT SALVATION.
That alone ought to awaken every man
from his sin. Acceptance of Christ is es-
sential TO mans eternal well -being. Conn
seeking
of salvation, the seeking of the safe side.
If you cannot prove there is no God, why
longer doubt His existence? WHY not
seek Him at once? Tie outworks Of your
reason were captured by the Gospel in your
youth. This religion of Christ is not a
stranger to you-is no new or novel thing.
1t had the sanction of your father and
mother, and your own heart and conscience
keep telling you in a still small voice that
1t is true and essential to your well-being
and eternal salvation. You have witnessed
its sustaining power in the sck-room at the
couch of the dying, and you believe in its
realities as much as | do You believe in
God you believe in Christ: you believe in
the holy teachings of the Bible
WHY NOT ACCEPT IT?
If all should accept the religion of Jesus
Christ, all men would be like God and
earth would be like heaven. Some men
claim that a strictly moral man has no
need of Christ. Morality is good so far as
it goes, but it does not reach far enough. 1t
is like a man who attempted to leap
chasm in the Alps. He measured the dis
lance with his eye and said, - can leap
1t. The distance was ten feet. He leaped
nine feet, and his body went laundering
down the dark abyss and was dashed TO
were good SO far as they went, but they did
not reach far enough. Almost saved means
always lost.
so NEAR HOME, YET LOST.
He gave several illustrations of touching
incidents where Death put in his claim
when the victim was just in reach of the
goal. They were almost, home, bat were
not saved. 1t is not enough to be almost
n &c ,ot II 30 l. g..
from God. There are only two paths-one
leads to heaven, the other to hell. There
will only be two greetings on the day of
judgment" Come We blessed" and Ode
part We cursed" Many he said, offer as
reason for not uniting with the church that
many professed Christians were dishonest
and hypocritical. Itrenlnded him of a first
encounter on the battle field-one small
sapling would shelter several stalwart
soldiers, so in this case one slippery church
member has dozens of men hiding behind
him. God have mercy upon those indif-
ferent Christians who are held up as shields
for sinners. If their coax does not hide
their own sins, how can it hide yours :?
Every man, it is written. shall give an ac-
count to God. Your Christian neighbor is
under no more obligation TO set you good
example than you are 10
SET HIM A GOOD EXAMPLE.
There is not one law ior you and another
for him. The church record will not be
put in evidence on the last day God will
upon that day measure you with that foot
rule, which says that with that Judgment We
have judged will you be judged. Religion
is matter of principle and not of emotion
or feeling. What an error for one to wait
until he is brought to Christ by some emo
tional feeling. You put your heel upon
the germs of the new life in your soul and
crush it in the dust. You endeavor to de-
stroy the only spark of divine life within
you. Come to God, treat him as well as
you do your fellow men. Come to Christ
at this time with what feeling you have;
it may be more than you will have again,
it may be your last opportunity. Once
that spark of light, now Pickering in your
soul goes out, you are lost eternally.