Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-10-04

New Years day resolved to be a better
man, but failed. The trouble is that YOU
fail in your inner nature to be a disciple of
Christ. Follow Christ's commands and be
obedient to his will. Nothing else will
liberate you from the prison you are
in tonight but becoming a disciple of
Christ. One time al eloquent Methodist,
at the close of a splendid sermon, asked
some one to come forward for the prayers
of the church. A man came toward the
altar whom the minister recognized as a
thief, a debauche, one with whom respect
able people refused to associate, a man
stepped in crime. He thought this would
not do, it would be the ruination of the
church to take such a man in, and the
minister met him and in his endeavor to
turn him back said, " Have you counted
the COST" No, sir l have not counted the
cost. don't know what it will cost. l
don't care what it will cost" and he tear
fully added, a am going to Christ if l
have to wade through blood and crawl
every inch of the way" The will is
what you need, Christ says "Whosoever
will let him Gomez We don't want the
wishy-washy religionists who pray to-day
and not tomorrow, but men who work
men who have the will. 1t is said of
Andrew Jackson's body-servant, shortly
after the demise of Old Hickory as the
Generals friends loved to call him, that a
friend one day asked Pat, what do you
think has become of the General? Do you
think he has gone to heaven?" Pat, ever
ready with an answer, replied, 81 don't
know whether the General has gone
to heaven or not; but this is what / do
know, if the General made up
his mind to go to heaven all hell
couldn't keep him out" That was the
strength of the will of Jackson. The
speaker referring to his own conversion,
said that he was a ruined and fallen young
man. He had formed evil habits, which
weighted him down like mighty shackles.
He prayed God for deliverance from his
sinfulness, for help, for deliverance. Fiji
teen years had passed since, and he had
been swept heavenward. ''If any man WILL"
saith Christ, "let him take up his cross and
follow me-"
To save your life you must lose it. The
man who does not, will save it here but
lose it in the hereafter. What shall
it profit a man if he gain the
whole world and lose his own soul ?
Take a piece of paper, and put down in
one column all you can gain-fame with
its fickleness, one day at the top rung of
the ladder, the next groveling in the gutter,
VdullN, plcdSuTeS, elC. OOIub up Liza COl-
umn and its product repre- ients this world.
On the other side write down, +" have lost
my soul !" subtract it from the other and
see what you have lost. If l had the Ian
guage of Milton or the pencil of an artist
l would like to depict to you a lost soul
one who has rejected Christ and lost his
soul. You say to me, Mr.. Christian, you
have been very kind, you have pleaded
earnestly with me, you have given good
advice, and l do propose to become some
day a disciple of Christ" But when, dear
friend? Will the next preacher love you
better, or plead with you more earnestly
than l, or will you lave three brighter
years tor reflection than those just passed?
Will you accept Christ tonight, or will you
recede in each coming day into a GOODNESS
that will lead you from Christ? l have
tried hard l have endeavored to show you
the way. have repeated Christ's invita-
ton, Christ's promises, and he says to you
tonight, Come" l bear this testimony
| that the only life of happiness is the life Of
a Christian. If you will it, if you seek to
be his, he will accept and save.