Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-03-16
EVANGELIST'S MEETING,
GREAT INTEREST IN THE MEET.
INGS AT THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
Mr.. Hurlbutt Last Night Warned
The People Of the Danger--A
Synopsis OF His Sermon.

The meeting at the Baptist church last
night was in many respects very interest
ing one There was a good attendance,
and quite a number of persons were for
ward for the prayers of the church. The
music was good, the choir being led by
Mr. Frank Shannon, with Mrs Furlong
at the organ The evangelist, Mr. Hurl-
butt, is an excellent singer, and he some
times entertains the congregation with
some beautiful songs. in which he gener
ally asks the congregation to join in the
| chorus.
Mr.. Hurlbutt opened the service last
night by reading the 51st Psalm He then
preached from the third chapter Of John,
Verify say unto you, unless man be
born again he cannot see Cod \ corrupt
fountain cannot send forth pure water,
nor does a good tree bring forth
bad fruit 1t is important that
we comply with the conditions
and be in harmony with Gods law if he
would be born again. This question has
reached the brains Of philosophers in all
ages and they have not been able to solve
the problem. This subject however is
made plain in orr text that to obtain
eternal life we must be born again Peo-
pie generally concede that sin will bring
misery and they ask how can we escape
the conditions Of sin 1t is not baptism
that saves us but is being born again that
saves us You must be born again or you
cannot see God The Jews looked at this
matter in a philosophical way and reason
that they would be saved by virtue of
Abraham The first thing people want to
= IL. IL, IL -
seles, that they must depend upon Christ.
An artist may paint picture and it looks
nice and lifelike but at the same time it is
nothing but death.
remember once of seeing toy made in
the shane Of a man. 1t had no joints at
the wrist, but the knees and arms and
back would bend. Now, there was one
thing about this image that was remark
able. | would start at the top of a long
stairway and turn somersaults, coming
from the top to the bottom Of the stairs
1t was very precise and never missed
step.
And again l saw wax figure Of the
empress of France. She was said to be
very beautiful woman and this figure was
certainly very beautiful. 1t almost seemed
to speak. Now, these things, or images,
were not alive. There was nothing but
death in all these things You may claim
to be christian and be like these images
have no life in you. You may
have been baptised. and you may belong
to church. but if you have not the spirit of
God you are dead.
l once knew a young lady who incurred
the displeasure of her father. He would
not receive anything from her hand nor
would he speak to her, but fin
ally the young woman was converted and
when her father heard her pray he said,
Mary, if religion can make you pray like
that I will seek the Savior too. The
daughter had this life eternal life. Oh,
my friends, l would emphasize this text,
Unless you turn rom your present way
you cannot be saved. Unless you are
born again you cannot see God. Sin is not
a thing on your person that can DO washed
off, it is in the soul and nothing but the
power of Jesus can remove it,
Just how to receive salvation is all you
want to know. You do not want to seek
for something that will save you after
death. After you have received Jesus you
are born again and are saved now.
1t is more than madness to try to live in
TINS world even without THIS lie In the
soul. | once knew man who was con-
verified and said now there are few pas
sages of scripture that meant to EXPLAIN
and he turned over tho leaves of the Bible |
and ran his finger down along the page
and said, "here is one of them" Well"
l said, "read it" He read it over and
said: "Whv that seems plain enough |
now" And so after reading some
other passages he concluded they
sounded all right to him now.
There is no congeniality between the king |
dom of SIN and the kingdom of light. You |
ask why man can not be saved without |
this new birth, without being born again. |
tell you it is because of this uncongenial- |
ity. You must be born again in order to
get into this new kingdom, You do not be-
long to the kingdom of God until you are
born into it," The evangelist spoke at |
some length showing the uncertainty of |
human life, and appealed to his hearers |
not to put off salvation as they were in |
danger of being lost.