The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1886-12-09

| ueTei Aou are Ihe last man ever expect
cd to see at church! Come, take this seat
right down by the doori" instead Of say.
ing: GOOD morning am glad you arc
here, Come, / will give you q first-rato
seat, right BY the pulpit" Wen, the prod
/ igsl, not yet discouraged, enters e prayer
meeting, and some Christian man. with
more zeal than common sense, says: ''Glad
TO see you. The dying thief was saved, and
| / suppose there ia mercy for YOU" Tho
| young man, Disguised, chilled, throws him.
self back on his dignity, resolves he new er
! will enter the house Of God again Per-
haps not quite fully Disguised about refor-
nation, he s!Ges up by some highly respect
able man he used to know, going down the
street, and Immediately the respectable
man has an errand down some ether street.
| Well, the prodigal, WISHING 70 return, takes
| some mem Der OF Q Christian Association by
the hand, or tries TO. The Christian Young
man looks at him, looks at the faded apparel
andIthe marks Of dissipation, and instead Of
| giving him warn grip Of the hand offers
him the tip end of the long fingers Of the left
band, which is equal TO striking a man in
the face.
oh, how few Christian people Under
stand how much force and sosprl there is
in good, honest hapt-shaking! Some
| times, when ycu have felt the need Of en-
enlargement, and some Christian man has
taken yor heartily by the hand, have you
not felt thrilling through every fiber
OF your be6y, mind and soul an encourage
peat that was just what you necdadl You
/ do not know any thing at all about this un-
| less you know when man tries to return
| from evil courses Of conduct no runs
| against repulsions inuumerable We say
Of somo man, he lives a block or two from
! the church, or half mile from the church.
| There are people in our crowded cities who
! live one thousand miles from church. Vast
deserts Of indifference between them and
! the house OF God. The fact is. we must
keep our respectabilitr. though thousands
and tens Of thousands perish. Christ sat
| WITH puDlicans and sinners. But if
there come to tho house Of God a
| man with marks of dissipation upon
him. people throw up their hands in horror
| as much as to say: Isn't IL shockingW
How these dainty, fastidious Christians in
all our churches are going TO get TO Heaven
| do not know, unless they have an especial
| train Of cars Cushioned and upholstered,
each enc a car TO himself They can not go
With the great herd Of publicaus and sin.
| ners. o ye, who curl your lip with scorn at
the fallen, ! tell you plainly, il you bad
| been surrounded by the same influences.
instead OF sitting to-day amid the cultured
| and refined and the Christian, you would
| have been u crouchng wretch in stable or
| ditch, covered with filth and abomination!
| j 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 be so hard
! on the Talent
Think men also are often hindered from
return by the fact that churches ara too
| anxious about their membership and too
| anxious about their denomination, and
| they rush out when they see man about
TO give up his sin and return to God and ask
him how he is going 10 be baptized, whether
! by sprlnkling or by immersion, and what
| kind OF church he IS going 70 Join. o my
| friends! it is poor time to talk about
| Presbyterian Catechisms, and Episcopal
| liturg!es, aul Methodist loye-feasts and
| TAPESTRIES, to q man that is coming out of
| the darkness Of SIN into the glorious light
| of the Gospel Why, il reminds NE OF a man
drowning in the sea, ami life-boat puts
| out for him and the man in tho boat saws 10
| the man out Of the boat: Now, if l get
! you ashore, are you going to live in my
streets" First get him ashore. and then
| talk about the non essentials of religion.
VINO cares what church he joins, il he only
| joins Christ ana starts for Il aaven? q, YOU
! ought to have, my brather! an illumined
lace and heer:, grip for every one that
tries t9 ttfn FROM hls ii way. Take hold
! % fae saEi7 book with him, though his dis
| sipatons shake the book, remembering
! that he that cOnverteth sinner from the
| error Of his way fNal! save soul from
, ;eath and hide q multitude OF sins.
Now. nave shown YOU those obstacles
because want you to understand / know
| ell the difficulties in the way; but am now
| TO tell you how Hannibal may scale the
! Alps. and how the shaCk.es NAV hc unrlv-
ctci, and how the paths cI virtue forsaken
may be Ir9Hirec,
fifst oi all, NV brother, throw yourself
Oh God. Go to Him frankly and earnestly,
| ANA tell Him those habits you have, and ask
Him il there is any help in all the resources
or OnnipJtent love, 10 give it to You Do
not go with long rgmarUie people call
prayer made up Of obs nni abs" and
forever and tol'erer Gmensv Go to God
ana cry for Heip! hel3! help! and if you
can re- cay for help, just look and live. !
remember in the late war / was at Antie-
tain, and went into the hospitals after the
battle, and | said to a man: " Where are
you hurtH' He made no answer but held
! where l'e was hurt.
lhe simple fact IS, when a Inaa has a
wounded soul, all he has to do is to hold it
Np before sympathetic Lord and get it
! healed. Oh, it is no small thing, when a
man is nervous, and weak and exhausted,
coming from his evil ways, to feel that God
puts two Onnipotcnt arms around about
him, and says: Young man, l will stand
by You. The mountains may depart and
the hills he removed, but l win never fail
YOU And then, as the soul thinks the
news is too good to be true, and can not be-
lieVe it, and looks up in Gods face. God
| lifts His right hand and takes an oath, an
affidavit, saying: "As live, saith the Lord
God, | have no pleasure il the death OF HIM
! that dieth.n
Blessed be GOD for such a Gospel as this
| "Cut the slices thin said the wife to the
| husband, for there will not be enough TO
! 60 all arou ID for the children; cut the
slices thin" Blessed be God there is full
| loaf for every one that wants thread
enough and TO spare. No thin slices at tho
| Lords table. l remember when the
Master Street hospital in Philadelphia was
opened during the war Il telegram came
saying: There will be three hun
bred wounded men tonight, be ready
to take care of them" and from
my church there went 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 an
other. no one asked whether this man was
from Oregon, or Massachusetts, or Mime
sofa, or from New York. There was
wounded soldier, and the only question was