Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-12-06


| wild and bloodthirsty, going at
! death leap. How many there
! are VINO resolve on better life and say
I when shall i awaken but, seized on by
their old habits, cry: 81 Will try it once
more; will seek it yet againp Years
| ago there were some Princeton students
! who were skating, and the ice was very
! thin, and someone warned the company
| back from the sir-hole, and finally
| warned them entirely TO leave the place.
| But one young man with bravado, after
all the rest had stopped, cried out: some
round morer' He swept around and
went down, and was brought out a
corpse. My friends, there are thousands
and tens'Of thousands Of men losing their
souls in that way. 1t is the one round
more.
l have also to say that il man wants
to return from evil practices society re-
pulses him. Desiring to reform he says:
Now 1 VIII shake on my old associates,
and | VIII find Christian companionshIp."
And ne appears at the church door some
| Sabbath day, and the usher greets him
with iook, as much as TO say: "Why,
you here? You are the last man | ever
expected TO see a. church! Come, take
this seat right down by the door - instead
OF saying: "Good morning; am glad you
are here. Come; L will give you first
rate seat, right up by the pulpit" Well,
the prodlgal, not yet discouraged, enters
prayer meeting, and some Christian
man, with more zeal than common
sense, SAYS: "Glad to see you. The dying
thief WAS saved, ard l suppose there is
mercy for youw The young man, dis
gusted, chilled, throws himself back on
his dignity, resolved he will never
enter the house of God again. Perhaps
not quite fully discouraged about reform
alton, he sides up by some highly respect
al. 4 hafN cnd IN 1nKu
the street, and Immediately the respect
able man has an errand down some other
street. Well, the prodigal, wishing to
return, takes some member Of Christian
association by the hand, or tries to. The
Christian young man looks at him, looks
at the faded apparel and the marks OF dis
sipation, and instead of giving him
warm grip of the hand, offers him the tip
end OF the long fingers of the left hand,
when is equal 10 striking man in the
face.
Oh, how few Christian people under
stand how much force and gospel there is
in q good, honest handshaking! Some
times, when you have felt the need of en-
couragement, and some Christian man
has taken you heartily by the hand, have
you not felt that thrilling through every
fbre of your body, mind and soul, an en-
couragemrnt 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 of
conduct he runs against repulsions innu-
merable. 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 thousand
miles from church. Vast deserts of In-
difference between them aad the house OF
God. The fact is, we must keep our
respectability, though thousands and tens
OF thousands perish. Christ sat with
publicans and sinners. But if there came
to the house Of God a man with marks OF
dissipation upon him, people almost
threw up their hands in horror, as
much as to say: Isn't it shock
ingp' How these dainty, fastidious
Christians In all our churches are going
TO get into heaven | don't know, unless
they have an especial train of cars, cush-
Toned and upholstered, each one a car
to himself They cannot go with the
great herd of publicans and sinners. o
ye VINO curl your lip Of scOrn at the fallen,
| tell you plainly, if you had been sur
rounded by the same influences, instead
of sitting to-day amid the cultured, and
the refined, and the Christian, you would
have been crouching wretch in stable
or ditch, covered with filth and abomina-
ton! 1t is not because you are naturally
any better, but because the mercy of God
has protected you. Who are you that,
brought up in Christian circles and
watched by Christian parentage, you
should DO so hard on the fallen2
think men also are often hindered
from return by the fact that churches are
TOO anxious about their mem bership, and
too anxious about their denomination
and they rush out wnen they see man
about to give ND his sin and return to
God, aud ask him how he is going 10 be
baptized, whether by sprinkling or i'm
merslon, and what kind OF church he is
going TO join. o, my friends! it is a poor
time to talk about Presbyterian cate
chisms, and Episcopal llturgies, and
Methodist lovefeasts and TAPESTRIES to
man that Is coming out of the darkness of
sin into the glorious light of the Gospel.
Why, IL reminds me of man drowning
in the sea, and lifeboat puts out Tor
him, and the man in the
boat says to the man out of
| the boat: snow, if / get you ashore,
are you going 10 live In my street7' 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 beaven? o, you
ought to have, my brotheri an illumined
face, and hearty grip tor every one that
| tries TO turn from his evil way. Take
| hold Of the same book with him, though
bering that he that converteth u sinner
| from tho error of his ways shall save a
| soul from death and hide a multitude of
| sins. -rr.,rt
| Now, have shown you these obstacle S
| because l want you TO understand know
| all the difficulties In the way; but l am
now to tell you how Hannibal may scale
the Alps, aud how the shackles may be
unriyeted, and how the paths OF virtue
| forsaken may be regaIned.
| First OF all, my brother, throw yourself
| on God. Go TO Him frankly and earnestly,
and tell Him these habits you have, aud
ask Him IL there is any help in all the
! resources of omnipotent love to give it
! TO you. Do not go with a long rigmarole
| people call prayer, made up OF "oh's" and
''ah's" and "torevor aud forever amensW
Go TO God aud cry for hello! helpl helpl
and II you cannot cry for help just look
and live. l remember in the late war
was at Antletam, and went into the
hospitals after the battle, and said to u
man: Where are you hurtY He made
no answer. but held up bis arm, swollen
and splintered. l saw where he was hurt
/ Tae simple fact 10, when a man has
! wounded soul, all ne has to do is to
hold it up before sympathetic Lord
/ and get IL healed. 1t does not take any
| long prayer. Just hold up the wound.
| a ~ 10 NH a.