The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-14


his lean form amid great laughter Take .
square look at me. Do look like bloated
bondholder?
Now let us all be quiet under all
circumstances. No matter what anybody
halloos on the outside or inside,
keep your seats and listen said, this afternoon,
that meant business, and want You to show
it tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. Come and
spend an hour in the house of God If | had
Gonld's fortune, and said / would give each per-
son who came 800, you would all be here.
If man can come for 500, why should he not
come for the salvation of his precious soul and
for his eternal spiritual goodf Let US see now
many souls we can get to Christ in week. In
an hours preaching in Jerusalem, Peter CON
verted three thousand souls to God. L
suppose, if some of the nineteenth century Chris
tians had been there, they would
have disputed the figures. just as
you say two thousond we're not converted in
month in Baltimore. | am ashamed OF any
Christian preacher who breaches a month and
does not convert as many In that time as Peter
in one hour want to see the time come when
every preacher in America will throw his hook
and line aside and grab the pole of great long
seine and enter this ocean of sin and throw out
every sinner to the shore of repentance.
Mr.. Jones then began his sermon. He said: l
invite your attention to these words:
GAS righteousness tenGeth to life he that pursu-
eth evil pursueth it to his own death"
When good man dies, as we say he not only
goes to heaven by the approval of God and an
gels, not only drawn thither by the natural force
of spiritual gravity. but when good man does
go, he goes to heaven by the common consent Of
every other man on the face of the earth; and
when bad man dies anywhere he goes to hell
by the approval of God and angels, drawn thith-
er by the natural forces and their spiritual grav
ity, but by the common consent of every other
man living on the face of the earth. If you ever
attend the funeral Of good mana man that
was known and read of all men pure and up
right-if you heard the minister say This is
the body Of our deceased brother; the spirit
is gone to live with God and the angels" when
you walked out and heard the comments on the
sidewalk you heard That's the truth; he was
good man, and he has gone home to God" But,
il you attended the funeral of doubtful char
acter, a man who didn't live right. and you heard
some minister say his body is dead and his spirit
is at home with God, when you walked out OF
the church and heard the comments of both
saints and sinners, you heard that the preacher
outraged the truth. That man is not gone to God,
and don't believe will ever hear that preach
er again. Humanity is outraged when anything
that Is not pure and good is said to be in heaven,
and humanity says of bad man that he has
gone to hell Good people go to the home of the
good and bad people to the home of the bad
Now, when bad man dies he goes to hell just
as naturally as this book would drop to the floor
1t would turn it loose When good man dies
he goes to heaven just as naturally as this book
would fall if would let it loose. A good man
goes to heaven because that is the center OF
gravity for goodness. and bad man goes to hell
because that is the center Of gravity for all that
is wicked and bad; and | am ready to say to you
tonight that do not believe God ever put any
man in hell, and do not believe the devil ever
kept any good man out of heaven. l believe it
is just as natural for a bad man to go to hell
when he dies as it is for good man to go to
heaven. We sometimes sing, Come, angel
band, come bear me away" Why, brother there
is not good man who ever left this world in
his flight to glory but what, with his
wings plumed, he could not outfy all the angels
III heaven, and his velocity would be such tie
angels could not keep in sight of him. We don't
need angels to guide us to heaven, and all the
angels in heaven could not keep as out of hell if
we are bad when we live and bad when we die. A
good man goes to heaven because he is good.
That is the logic of the whole question. bad
man, when he dies goes to hell because he is
bad, and not because God is mad with him, or
because God tied him hand and foot and pitched
him out into darkness: but that man went to
hell because he was bad, and a good man goes to
heaven because he is good. Now, as righteous
ness tendeth to lfe-as good man has the
promise of life, that is an everlasting life in
the world to come-so the wicked driven
away in and by their own wretchedness from the
home of the Lord.
Really, brethren, need no Bible or preacher
to convince me that sin will ruin can
walk the streets of the City of indianapolis
twenty-four hours and find living walking
demonstrations that sin is running, that sin is
booming, not only individuals, but whole .fami-
lies in this city. Every poor drunken wretch
that staggers along the streets of your city looks
out of his bleared eyes and tells me sin is ruin
ing him. Every thin, pale, hating woman,
whose character is gone forever, as she gazes at
me in her lost estate, tells me too plainly, II
ruined / am lost. world without end Brethreni it
is sin that dooms and sin that damns, and the du-
ration of hell will be determined by tie duration
of sin, of unpardoned sin. If you will tell me
how long that lie you told yesterday will last, I
will tell YOU how long hell will endure: if YOU
will tell me how long that act of murder COM
mitted will live in the annals of history, / will
tell you how long the punishment for that crime
will last. brother, for all sin is the very
of hell; and when l am delivered from sin [ am
delivered from hell It is sin fear and what
ever there is in hell is the natural, legitimate
consequences of sin.
rode in my buggy only two miles from my
own town, some months ago. at the request and
earnest solicitations Of wife and mother.
When l walked up on the front porch, the wife
met me, and the little chdren-six of them
stood around the mother and the wife, and the
children with the tears running from their eyes.
They looked up in my face, and spoke to them.
I thought in my heart ooh! what is the troubles
What is the matter?" I walked into the hall
and passed the first door aud entered the Sec
ond door, the wife leading the way, and when
we walked into the room there was the poor,
oeSotted, drunken husband lying on MS Ded;
and when looked at him and looked at his fam
lily. said in my heart, On, God! Sin is doom
ing and sin is damning this whole family; they
are being dragged down to death-down to death
and hell by the sin of the father" And we say
to you, brother, that the natural, legitimate end
of wicked life is hell-of good life is heaven.
Now, as righteousness tendeth to life SO he that
pusueth evil. pursueth it to his own death.
have not time or disposition tonight to stand
| here and discuss the meaning of this word
''evil" in the taxi. We have what we call de-
pravity moral evil, etc Some say we are
totally depraved; others say we partially de-
PRAYED; some say we are not depraved at all,
only as the depravity is developed. These three
theories find among men who claim to know
something of theology-and, brethren, am no
theologan; l never aspired to be one; leave
that both for men who have the time TO live in
there and work in there-but will say this to
you: whether depravity is partial or total, or
simply developed, this much / can look in the
face of every man and tell him: "You have got