The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-09-01

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great delight. want you by experiment to
try tile power Of Christ's religion. If should
come to you and you were very sick, and doc
tors had given you up and said there was no
chance for you, and should take out n little
bottle and say: "Here is a medicine that will
cure you: it has cure1 fifty people and it will
dence in it." Iw,nld saw: "Wont you take
it to oblige me,' "Well," you would say, "if
it's any accommodation to you III take it."
Nv friend, will you be just as accommodating
in matters of religions
There are some Of you who have found
out that this world cannot, satisfy Your soul.
You are like the man who told me after the
servi"e was over: 81 have tried this world
anil found it an insufficient portion. Tell
me Of something better" You have come
medicament. Now, come and tell you OF
a physician who will cure you, who has
cured hundreds and hundreds who were sick
as YOU are. "Oh," you say, 81 have no con-
fidence in him." But will you try himl Ac-
commoiate me in this matter; oblige me in
this matter; just try him. am very, GER
tain he will cure you. You reply. Il have
me as matter o. accommodation, introduce
him." So 1 introduce him-Christ, the
physician who has cured more blind eyes.
and healed moro gbaStly. wounds. and bound
up more broken hearts, than all the doctors
since the time of Esculapius.
The Divine Physician is here. Are you
not ready to try him3 Will you not, as q
pure matter of experiment, state your case
before him now! Holding nothing back
from Him. If you cannot pray, il you do
not know how to pray any other way, say
:sOh, Lord Jesus Christ, this is a strange
thing for mo to do I know nothing about
the formula of religion. These Christian
PEOPLE have been talking so long about what
thou canst do for me, l am ready to do what
ever Thou commandest me to do. lam ready
to take whatever Thou commandest me to
take. If there be any power IN religion, as
these people say, let me have the advantage
of it,"
Will you try that experiment. do not at
this point Of my discourse say that there IS
anything in religion; but simply say try it
try it. Do not take my counsel, or the
counsel of any clergyman, if you despise
clergymen. Perhaps we may be talking pro.
fessionelly; perhaps we may be preJudiced
in the matter; perhaps we may be hypocritlcal
worth taking. Then take tho counsel OF some
very respectable layman-as John Milton,
tho poet; as William Wilberforce, the states
man: Us Isaac Newton, the astronomer: as
Robert Boyle, the philosopher; as Locke, the
metaphysican. They never preached or
pretended to preach; and yet putting down,
one his telescope and another his parlia-
mentary scroll, and another his electricians
wire, they all declare the adaptlveness OF
Chrst's religion to the wants and troubles
of tho world. If you will not take the
gospel, then take the Recommendation OF
highly respectable laymen. Oh, men, skepti,
cal and struck through with unrest, would
you not like to have some of the peace which
broods over our souls to-day? l know all
about your doubts. I have boen through
them all. I have gone through all the cur
riculum 1 have doubted whether there Is q
God, whether Christ is God I have doubted
whether the Bible was true. have doubted
the Immortality of the soul. have doubted
my own existence. I have doubted every
thing, and vet, out Of that hot desert Of
doubt, Ihave come into the broad, luxuriant
sunshiny land of gospel hope, and peace, and
comfort: so have confidence in preaching to
you, and asking you to come in. However
often you may have spoken against the Bible,
or however much you may have caricltured
religion, step ashore from that rocking and
tumultuous sea. If you go away adheling to
your infidelities, you will not sleep one wink
to.ni3ht. You do not want your children to
come up with your skepticism. You caunot
afford to die in that midnight darkness, can
you! If you do not believe in anything else,
YOU believe in love-a fathers love, q moth
er's love, a wife's love, child's love. Then
let me tell you that God loves you more than
they do. Oh. you must come in. You will
come in. The great heart of Christ aches to
have you come in, and Jesus this very mo-
ment-whether you sit or stand-looks into
your eyes and says: ,9ther sheep haVe'
3. Again, remark, that tho Heavenly
Shepherd is going to find a great many sheep
among those who have been flung Of evil
habit Itmakes me feel mad to see Christian
people give up prodigal as lost. There
are those who talk as though the grace
of God were chain of forty or fifty
links, and after they had run out there
was nothing to touch very bad case. II
they were hunting and got off the tratk OF
the deer, they would look longer among the
banks aud the bushes for the lost game than
they have been looking for that lost soul.
People tell us that if e man has delirium tre-
mems twice that he cannot be reclaimed; that
after woman has fallen from her integrity
she cannot be restored. The Bible has dis
tinctlv intmated that the Lord Almighty is
ready to pardon 490 times: that is seventy
times seven. There are men before the throne
of Gcd who have walowed in every kind
of sin: but, saved by the grace of Jesus, and
washed in his blood, they stand there radi.
the very lowest he Of abomination, who for
tho tenth timo have been lifted up and,
finally, by the Craze of God, they stand in
Heaven gloviously rescued by the grace prom
ised to the chief OF sinners. Iwant to tell you
that God loves to take hold of very bad case.
When the church casts You off, and when the
club room casts you off, and when society
casts you off, AMI when business associates
cast you Off, and when father casts you off.
when everybody casts you off. your first cry
for help will send the eternal God clean dowr
into the ditch oil your suffering and shame.
The Good Templars cannot save you, although
they are a grand Institution. The Sons OF
Temperance cannot save you, although they
are mighty for good. Signing tho temperance
pledge cannot save you, although believe in
it. Nothing but the grace of the eternal God
can save you. and that viii if you will throw
yourself on it. A man said to me: "Unless
God helps me I cannot be delivered. have
tried everything, sir; but now I have got into
the habit of prayer, and when come to a
drinking saloon I pray that God will take me
saEely past, and pray until am past. He
does help me-" For every man given to
strong drink there are scores of traps yet;
and no one bat the everywhere present God
can see that man throlgh Oh! they talk
about the catacombs Of Naples, aud the cata-
combs Of Rome, and the catacombs OF Egypt
the burial places under the city whore the
dust of great multitude lie-but tell you
New York has its catacombs, Nashville has
its catacombs, and New Orleans its cata-
combs, and Boston its catacombs, and Phila-
1elphia it's catacoubs aud every town and
city neighborhood its catacombs. They are
the underground restaurants, full Of dead
mems bones and all uncleanness. Young
man, you know it. God help you! There
is no need OF going. into the art