Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-03-09
MOODY AND SANKEY,
The Great Evangelists Hold a
. s eries of Meetings Ia
Sioux City.
Large and Interested Crowds ATTEND
Each Seftsice--.Mucil Religious
Enthusiasm.
fsioux City, low, correspondence1

evening, February 18th. The announce
ment OF Che coming of these renowned GER
tlemen was the signal for she gathering of
hundreds of strangers as we'll as the CITY
folks. and the large rink'wa INADEQUATE to
! accommodate the immense crowds that as
sembled at each service, and overflow
! meetings We're had in the various churches.
MIR. Moody has lost none of his old-time
vlSor and force, and seems to possess q
sort OF magnetism that captures his hear
ers and carries them along with him. San
keys voice has lost some of it's sweetness,
but none of it's eanestness.
The services We're not dissimilarte those
OF other large evangelical gatherings, a
stated programme being carried out, one
of the principal TEXTURES being the music
by the choir of some 800 voices. A char
aeterlstic sermon was delivered by Mr.
Moody the second evening before leaving,
of which the following is synopsis, he
basing his remarks on Luke 14th chapter,
10th to 9th verses:
feast had been made by one of the
lords of the land; but the hidden guests.
instead Of hocking in joyfully. sent various
excuses, and so the tables were filled with
ritf-raf, gathered from the highways and
bitches. Most men like to go to feast.
1t the mayor Of Sioux City should send
out such an invitation the police would BE-
necessary to prevent too great rush. Ex-
cuses for doing wrong things have always
been made. Adam made the meanest one
on record when he took shelter behind
Ewes pettieoats, saying The woman did
tempt me-" Of course the excuses made
by the hidden guests that Luke gives an
account OF were very flinsy. The man
who had bought the piece of land didn't
need'to 60 and look at it just at supper
time. The purchaser of oxen should have
proved them sound before he bought; and
the newly married mans excuse was the
thinnest, for he should have taken his
young wife along with him.
But poor as these excuses were thew
were far better than anybody can furnish
now for not coming to the feast to which
the Lord of hosts has hidden them. No
man in this audience can give as good a
one, though yoa've got them pat at your
tongues end.
One man doesn't understand the bible,
1t may be adultery, drunkenness or eamb
ling thatis his real excuse, but they are
cloaked under lack of understanding.
Probably he never read it. Plenty of men
stand ready to give their opinion of the
bible without having read it. I'm glad the
book is beyond me. II it wasn't it would
be'no better than some other books. You
send your little boy to school, and when
he comes home at night you say, My son,
geography, astronomy and philosophy?
What do you mean, father? I lust learned
A & G; what, is mathematics? And YOU
say, I'll take my boy out of that school.
They can't teach him anything. An infidel
don't understand the bible. How should
he, reading a little here and there? I'd
like to put all the intides on an island and
let them fight it out. I'll burn nv bible
when they'll give me better book.
Another man believes in election, and
says he has nothing to do with his saliva
tion;. that's Gods business. If it is fore
ordained that he will go to heaven, up he
goes; if to hell, down he goes, and nothing
can stop him. There is nothing in the BIZ
BILE about election for unbelievers, and
there's time enough to talk about that
when we've got you into the church. All
the foreordination IN the world won't carry
you out of this building and put you in
bed to -nightunless you move your feet.
God doesn't want any machines in heaven.
He wants the consent of mans will. Why
don't God make. you come to him? Of
course he could do it. You can make your
child do the.things you want it to do. Why
dontyou? Because You want the child to
be willing and to feel that it ought to do
right.
Then there is the excuse of the young,
who naturally want to have some fun, and
to be Christians they must wear long faces
and never laugh. 1t is SO hard to be
Christian! By the way, that is one of the
foulest and Blacklist lies out of hell. It is
the,way of the transgressor that is hard
Christ's yoke is easy and his burden is
light. The transgressor cannot escape
punishment. He may get clear of the
laws OF the state, but he cannot escape his
own conscience. 1t is easy to tell who has
the best,master. Take the best man in
your city and the worst one, stand them
up here'on this platform, look in their
faces, and glance will tell you who has
the.ightest burden. Take the testimony
of those who have served the god of this
earth and bhe God of heaven and there will
be no disagreement as to which is the
easier.
Another excuse is that there are hypo-,.
critics in the church. That is true. There
was enahypocrite among Christ's chosen
But Tire hypocrites are not all in the church.
The great majority are outside. Every |
liar, cheat and seducer is hypocrite.
They are in all kinds of business-lawyers.
doctors, groeers and all. They are in alls
political parties and secret societies. Wh.y
don't you quit Your business or profession
and leave your parties and secret societies.
because there are hypocrites in them? The
man who talks loudest about hypoclatas
generally lives pretty near one.
Lack Of time is another excuse. W,aat
have you done with all the time God has
given you? You have plenty of time, for
other things; yet there are people, in this
audience Tonight who never gave. ffhaen
minutes to- the consideration Of theissouls'
salvation. These same people. vial say
when the churches are dead and celia. that
nobody cares anything about themr-wlteth-
er they are saved or not--and when there
is a revival they say there is too much ex-
element. They had better go be. a, grave
yard to get converted aad sit aroHnd on the
tou.bstones.
Then there. are sosae wing, haxe got to
knock Off some of their sins first. All sin
is. against God, and there Will never be
a night when you c.sn go to him with less
sin than tonight. and ne wants you to
come in your sins and throw them all at
his feet. An artist in Florence was look,
ing for model for picture Of the prodiga1
sou he was going to paint. He searched
long time without finding one to suit unsil
one day he sav a beggar whose rags were
more tattere5 and VAS dutier than any of