The Nicodemus cyclone. [volume] (Nicodemus, Graham County, Kan.) 1887-1888, 1888-03-30


say: why you here? You are the last man
| ever expected to see at church, Come,
take this seat right down by the door, In
stead of saJ!ng: Good morning; am glad
Toa are here. Come; l will give you first
rate seat, right up by the pulpit" Well, the
meeting, and some Christian man, with
more zeal than -0nilIion sense, says: "Glad
to sep you; the dying thief was saved,
aHa l suppose there is mercy for you"
The young man, disguised, chilled, throws
| himself on his dignity, resolved he will never
enter into the house Of God again. perhaps
| not quite fully discouraged about reformation,
he sides up by some highly respectable man he
| used to know, going down the street; and inn
mediately the res spectacle man has an efrand
down sOfte other street WE'LL the prodigdl
wishing to return takes some member Of the
! christian association BY the hand or tries to.
The Christian young man looks at him, looks
at the faded apparel and the marks of dissipa-
ton, instead of giving him warm grip of the
| hand, offers him the tip ends OF the long fin
| gers of the left hand. which is equal to strik-
ing a man in the face! Oh how few Chriitian
people understand how much force aud gospel
there is in a good, honest Misunderstanding
! Sometimes, when you have felt the need of
encouragement and some Christian man has
! taken YOU heartily BY the hand have you not
! tet thrilling through every fibre Of your body
mind and soul an encouragement that was
! just what you needed? You do not know any
| tulnS al ali ABOUT JnlS unless you kDOW when
| man tries to return from evil courses of con-
| duct he runs against repulsiOns innumerable.
! We say of some man, lie lives a block or two
| from the church, or half mile from the
| church. There are people i'll our crowded
| cities who live thousand miles from church
! Fast deserts of indifference between them and
! the house of God. The fact is we must keep
| our responsibility though thousands and tens
of thousands perish. Christ sat with publ
cans and sinners But if there came to the
house of God man with marks of dissipation
! upon him. people almost threw up their hands
in horror as much as to say: Isn't it shock
ingF' How these dainty, fastidious
! Christians in all our churches are going
to get into heaven, | don't know, unless
| they have al especial train of cars, cush-
Toned and upholstered, each one car to
himself. They cannot go with the great
horde OF publicans and sinners. Oh9 We who
| curl your lip of scorn at the fallen, tell YOU
plainly, if you had been surrounded by the
same influences, instead of sitting to-day
amid the cultured, and refined, and the
! Christian, you would have been a crouching
wretch in the stable or ditch. covered with
! filth and abOmination. It 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 fallen?
think men are often hindered from return
| by the fact that churches are 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 to be baptized, whether by sprinkling
| or immersion, and what kind of church he
is going to join Oh my friends it is a poor
time to talk about Presbyterian catechism, and
Episcopal lturgies, and Methodist IOvefeasts,
and baptlstrieS to a man that is coming out
OF the darkness of sin into the glorious light
OF the Gospel Why, it reminds me Of a man
drowning in the sea, and life-boat puts out
for him, and the man in the boat SAYS to the
man out of the boat; Now, if get you ashore,
are you going to live on my streets" First get
him ashore, and then talk about the non
essentials of religion. Who cares what
church he joins, ii he only joins Christ and
starts for heaven! Oh! you ought to have,
my brother, an ilumined face and hearty
grip for every one that tries to turn from his
evil way. Take hold of the same
book with him though his dssipa-
tlons shake the book, remembering that "he
that converteth a sinner from the error of his
ways shall save soul from death and hide
multitude of sins"
Now, have shown you these obstacles be-
cause want you to understand | know all
the difficulties in the way; but / am now to
tell you how Hannibal may scale the Alps and
how the shackles may be unrivited, and how
the path of virtue forsaken may be regained.
First OF all, my brother, throw Yourself on
God. Go to Him frankly, and earnestly, and
tell Him these habits you have. and ask Him
II there is any help in all the resources of ON
nipotept love, to give it to you. Do not go
with long rigmarole people call prayer,
made OF ''ohs," and 'ahs," and 'fOrever and
ever, amens" Go to God and cry for help!
help! help! and if you cannot cry for help just
look and live. L remember, in the late wal, |
was at Antietam, and | went into the hospitals
after the battle and .said to a man: "Where
are you hurt!" He made no answer but held
swollen Sniutprpd
where he was hurt. The simple fact is, when
man.has wounded soul, all he has to do is
to hold 1t up before a sympathetic Lord and
get 1T healed. 1t does not take any long
PRAYER. Just hold up the wound Oh, it is no
small thing when man is nervous and weak
and exhausted coming from his evil ways to
feel that God puts two OmnipOtent arms
around him, and SAYS: Young man | will
stand by you The mountains may depart, and
| the hills be removed. but | will never fail
/ YOU" And then as the soul thinks the new
is too good to be true, and cannot believe 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, l
/ have no pleasure in the death of him that
! dieth." Blessed be God for such Gospel as
! this. "Cut the slices thin" said the wife to
/ the husband, "Or there will not be enough to
! 60 all around for the children cut the slices
! thin" Blessed be God there is a full loaf for
! every one that wants it. Bread enough and to
| remember when the Master Street Hospital, in
| Philadelphia was OpeEed during the war, tel
/ egram came, saying: There will be three hun
| dred wounded men tonight; be ready to take
! care of them" and from my church there went
| in 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 another, no one asked whether this man
was from Oregon, or from Massachusetts,, or
! from New York. There was a wounded SOL
| der and the only question was how to take
/ off the rags the most gently, and put on the
! bandage, and administer the cordial. And
when a soul comes TO God, He does not ask
| where you came from or what your ancestry
was. Healing for all your wounds. Pardon
for all your guilt. Comfort for all your trou
/ bles.
Then, also, counsel you, If you want to
| get back, to Quit all your bad associations
One unholy intimacy Will fill your soul with
moral distemper. In all the ages Of the
/ church there has not been an instance where
| a man kept one evil associate and was re-
/ formed. TO home to-day, open your desk
/ take out letter paper, stamp and envelope
| and then write letter something like this:
My Old Companions: | start this day for
heaven. Until | am persuaded you will join
me in this, farewell"
Then sign your name, and send
the letter BY the first post Give
UP your bad COMPANIONS or give IN heav-