The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-23
MR.. JONES'SCLOSINGSERVI
The Evangelist breaches His Last Ser
mon in This City to a Great Crowd.
CONTINUATION Of the Revival by Local Cler-
gymen-What the Preachers Think About
the Evanselists and Their Work.



Mr. Jones breaches His Farewell Sermon to
"a Great Crowd of People.
The last service of the Georgia evangelists
brought another great crowd of people to the
City Hall yesterday morning. Notwithstand-
Ing the hour 9 o'clock in the morning, more
than $500 persons were present. and the meet
ing was one of great interest as marking the
close of a remarkable season of religious
awakening-or rather, as many hope. the be-
ginning of season of Christian labor and sue
cess Prayer was offered by Rev. r. v. Hunter
His sentiment THANK God for the many
preiudices that have been broken and swept
away" received many fervent ''amens." Sew
eral gospel hymns among them Welcome
Home" Bringing in the Sheaves" and 1.-THE
Lily of the Valley" were sung.
AS Mr.. Jones sat upon the platform, looking
over the audience, his sallow face, sunken and
drawn tightly over his cheek bones, showed
him to be q worn man, feeble in body, but, as
he began to speak, his soul triumphed over his
eorporeal frailty, and he spoke with a clearness
and force that astonished and captivated his
hearers.
He said: l invite your prayerful attention
this morning to these words:
My ways ways Of pleasantness, and all my
paths are peace.
The Christians life and warfare are often
spoken Of in Scripture as '.way," and our
walking in that way" We are pilgrims and
strangers here and will soon be at our journeys
end. Jesus said to man, when He taught him
IN His own divine manner of teaching, II am
aha uavD auav. rnaope q fhorourhfara-a
Boad on which we may travel-a highway go
out east here few blocks, and drive across
railroad track. It is highway-a thoroughfare.
Let us suppose / never saw one before don't
know what it is for, and say / will investigate
this thing-I will find out 60 and get wheel
barrow, and roll it upon the track about ten
steps, and say, whatever else it was made for, it
wasn't made for wheelbarrow, and I lay my
wheelbarrow to one side. I try again. drive
. wagon upon that railroad, and don't drive
ten steps until / say this way wasn't made
FOR wagon-it doesn't belong to the
wagon, and the wagon doesn't belong to it.
Now step ever there to that round house and
look at that magnificent locomotive engine.
Look at its construction, believe that engine
must have been made for that track. put FIRE
nRder it, generate steam, bring it out upon the
track and see it runs with the velocity of the
wind, pulling its freighted tons. Then say that
sngine was made for that track and that track
was made for that engine. And will say this
much--a locomotive on the track is the most ON
nipotent thing ever looked at. But off the
track in the dirt, it is the most helpless thing
Bver looked at. Put it on a dirt road and it
won't run. A few turns of the wheels and it il
mired unable to move, much less to move the
freighted cars behind it. Jesus Christ says, Il
am the way, that is the practical road. An OK
IL not made for this way, horse is not made
for this way / take the measure of this track,
this highway, and move my soul up on it and
say, ''Well, this highway was made for my
soul and my soul for this highway
and my soul runs upon it grandy to glory and
to God. Let US try the soul on some of these
dirt roads. 1t doesn't run at all and in the end
IL mired down in dirt and shame. How slowly
she soul moves on the philosophy road. How
badly it moves on the dirt road of licentious-
ness, and how it is mired down in guilt and
shame On the infdelity road it doesn't run ten
steps until it finds the road is fenced I'D, and
there's no going forward
But put my soul on the highway of holiness,
and find my soul is adapted to the road and
the road is adapted to my soul, and have the
blessed assurance that I will make my way in
peace. / am sorry for the man who is not on
this highway. want you all to get up on this
highway. Keep in the middle of the road, and
some of these days you will run in safety to
glory forever [Amen.l Some people think they
know better way than this book points out
One day an express wagons came to my house
and put box on my back porch. went to work
and opened that box, and took out piece after
piece OF iron. some painted and some polished,
some wrought iron, some cast iron, and some
steel. I unloaded that box, and there was Just
Bhapeess lot of iron, with table and some legs
for table. called to wife Wife," says /,
s'what is this2 / never saw anything like that
before What do you suppose all this is?" We
don't know what to do with it: so we take that
box and put the iron back into it, and put it in
the lumber roam. About week after that
went to the postoffice and got pamphlet with
directions how to put together Singer sewing
machine. Hook through that pamphlet. and say,
"Wlfe look a-ffere. Why, here are illustrations
that look like the wheels we took out of that box
the other day. Tell Tom to go to the lumber
room and bring back that box, / think l have
found secret" sat down, and by the direc-
tions of that book, put that machine together
In perfect order. Then / say, ''Wife,
that's. sewing machine Go get some
Shread and CLOTH" She starts the machine
and how beautifully 1t sews. / say, ''Wife. we
didn't know what that thing was. But the man
who made it knew, and he knew how to put it
together. and the fellow who made that machine
made that book, too"
You take poor old humanity, and take this
blessed old book tholding up the Bible), and you
will find out if you get in tune and harmony
with 1t, that the same God who made you made
this book of instructions for you, old fellow. l
am sorry for any one who is trying to put up his
machine without knowing how to make one or
how one was made / would like to see little
faster movement to the good world. would
like to see every Christian running mile a
minute into the good world.
have heard people say, GIVE me the old
fashioned religion" Yes, the old fashioned re-
hgion that pays quarter of dollar a quarter
and keeps demijohn in the closet. daughter. |
II you talk about the old-fashioned religion of
1900 years ago, I'm with you, but am not with
that of fifty or sixty years ago. The man
who says the people were better then doesn't
know what he is talking about. People are get
ting better all the time; that is good people. but
f.,I~ L. fri