Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1886-12-17

HeetlnS, anu some christian man, with more
| zeal than comm IN sense, says: ''CiIad to see
you. The dying thief was saved. and sup
] pose there is mercy for You The young
| man, disguised chilled, throws himself back
OH his dignity, resolved that he mover will
enter the house of God again. Perhaps
not quite fully discouraged about reforma-
! tion, he sides Up by some highly respecta-
be man he used to know, going down
the street, and Immediately the respecta-
| bic man has an errand down some
other street, WE'LL the prodigal, wishing to
return, taxes some member Of Christian as
sociation by the hand, or triesfto. The
| Christian young man looks at him, looks at
! the faded apparel and marks of dissipation,
and, instead of giving him warm grip of
the hand, offers him the tip end of the long
finger of the left hand, which is equal to
| striking d man in the face.
Oh, how few Christian people understand
how much force and fsSsaes therel is in q
| good, honest hand-snaHngi Sohletime5
when you have felt the need of encourage
ment and some Christian man ha taken you
! heartily by the hand, have you not felt
| thrilling through every fibre of your body,
mind and soul, an encouragement that was
just what you needed? You do not know
anything at all about this, unless you know
! when man tries to return from evil courses
nf conduct he runs against repulsions innn-
meraple. We say OF some man, he lives a
| block or two from the church or half a mile
from the church. There are people in our
crowded cities who live a thousand miles
from church. Vast deserts of Indifference
| between them AM the house of God! The
fact Is, we must keep our respe ectability,
though thousands and tens of thousands
perish. Christ sat with publcians and sim
ners. Put if there come to the house Of God
man with marks of dissipation upon MIN,
people almost throw up their hands in horror,
as much as to say: Isn't it shocking' How
these dainty in oil
churches are going to get into heaven don't
know, unless they have an especial train of
cars, cushioned and upholstered, each one a
Cur to himself! They cannot go with the
| great herd of publcans aud sinners Oh We
who curl your lip of scorn at the fallen, tell
| you plainly, if you had been surrounded by
the same influences, instead. of sitting to-day
amid the cultured, and the refined, and the
Christian, you would have been q crouching
! wretch in stable or ditch, covered with filth
and illumination. 1t is not because you arc
naturally any better but be ,auss the mercy
of God has protected you. Who are you that,
brought up in Christian circles, and watched
| by Christian parentage, you should be so
hard on the fallen! | think men also
are often hindered from return by the fact
| that churches ara too anxious about their
me nbership and too anxious about their de-
nomination, and they rush out when they
see man about to give up his sin and return
baptized, whether by sprinl.ling or INNER
sion, and what kind of church he is going to
| join. 0, my friends! 1t is q poor time to
! talk about Presbyterian catechisms, and
Episcopal liturgies, and Methodist love feastS
aud baptistries, to man that is coming out
! OF the darkness of sin into the glorious light
of the gospel. Why, it reminds me of man
drowning in the sea, and lifeboat puts out
Tor MIN, and the man in the boat says to the
| man out of the boat: "Now, il get you
ashore, are you going to live in my streetN
First, get him ashore and then talk about the
non-essentials of religion. Who cares what
church he joins if he only joins Christ and
starts for heaven! o, you ought to have,
my brother, an illumined lace ami a hearty
! grip for every one that tries to turn from
| his evil way Take hsl1 af the same bool,
with him, though his designations shake
the book, remembering that he that
! converteth sinner from the error of his
ways shall save soul f.om death, and hide
a multitude of sins Now, have shown you
these obstacles because want you to under
stand | know all the dificu ties in the wav;
but l am now to tell you how Hannibal may
scale the Alps, and Low the shackles may be
unriveted, and how the paths of virtue for
saken may be regained. First of all, my
| brother, throw yourself on God. Go to him
frankly and earnestly, and tell Him these
habits you nave, and ask Him il there is any
help in all the resources of omnipotent love-
to give it to you. Do not go with long
rigmarole people call prayer, made up Of
''ohsh Gnd ''ahSn and "forever and forever,
amensln Go to God and cry for help! help
help and il you cannot cry for help, Just
look and live. Irene nber in the late war |
was at Antietam, and l went into the hosot-
tails after the battle, and | said to man.
"Where are you hurtN He made no an
swer, but held up his arm, swollen and
splintered. l saw where he was hurt, The
Ins.,. L. g,n a ,lo,. ,El,rI
soul, all he has to do is to hold it up be-
fore sympathetic Lord and get it healed. 1t
does not take any long prayer: Just hold up
the wound. o, it is no small thing when a
man Is nervous and weak and ex-
hausted, coming from the evil ways,
to feel that God puts two omnipotent
arms around about him and says
mountains may depart and the hills be re-
moved, but will never fail you" And then,
as the soul thinks the news is too good to be
true and cannot believe it, and looks up in
Gods face, God lifts his right hand and takes
an oath, an affidavit, saying: las live,
saith the Lord God, | have no pleasure in the
death of him that dieth." Blessed be God
for such a gospel as thisl Cut the slices
thin,n said the wife to the husband, ''or there
will not be enough to go all around for the
children; cut the slices thin Blessed be
God, there is q full loaf for every one that
wants it; bread enough and to spare. M
thin slices at the Lords table. | re-
member when the Master Street Hospital
in Philadelphia, was opened during tho
war; a telegram came saying: There will
be 800 Nounde men tonight, be ready to
take care of them;" and from my church
there went in some twenty or thirty men
and women to look after these poor wounded
fellows, As they came, some from one part
of the land, some from another, no one asked
whether this man was from Oregon, or from
Massachusetts,, or from Minnesota, or from
New York. There was wounded soldier,
aud the only question was how to take of
the rags most gently, and put on
tho bandage, and administer the cordial
And when a soul comes to God,
He does not ask where you came
from or what your ancestry wa. Healing
for all your wounds. Pardon for all your
guilt. Comfort for all your troubles. Then,
also, counsel you if you want to get back,
to quit all your bad associations One unholy
intimacy will fill your soul with moral dis
temper. 1t all the ages of the church, there
has not been an instance where a man kept
one evil asso ,iate and was reformed.
Among the 400, 100000 of the race not
one instance. Go home to-day, open your
desk, take out letter paper, stamp and en-
velope, and then write a letter something
like this; "My old companions: l start
this day for heaven. Until 1 am pursnaded,
you will join me in this, farewell.
Then sign your name, and send the letter
with the first post. Give up your ba COM
panions or give up heaven. It is not ten bad
companions that destroy man, nor five bad
companions, nor three bad companions; but
one. What chance is there for that young
man l saw along the street, four or five young
men with him, halting in front of grog-
shop, urging him to go in, he resisting vio-
lently resisting, until after while they
forced him to go inl Itwas a summer night,
and the door was left o3en, and l saw
the process They. held him fast, and they