Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1889-08-16

so far beneath me-" That manner al
ways dlsgusts. always drives men away
from the kindom of Jesus Christ in
stead of bringing them in. When was
a lad was one day in n village store, and
there was large group OF young men
there full of rollicking and fun. and
christian man came i'll. and without any
introduction of the subject, and while
they We're in great hilarity. said to one
step of wisdom?" George looked up
and said: Every man to mind his own
business" Well, it was very rough
answer, but it was provoked. Religion
mad been hurled in there as though it
were bombshell. We must be adroit
IN the presentation of religion to the
world.
Do you suppose that Mary in her con-
versation with Christ lost her simplic-
ity? or that Paul, laundering from
Mars Hill. took the pulpit tone? WHY
is it people cannot talk rs naturally in
prayer meeting and on religious subjects
as they do in worldly circles? For no
one ever succeeds in any kind of Chris
tlan work unless he works naturally.
We want to initiate the Lord Jesus
Christ, who plucked o poem from the
grass of the field. We all want to imi-
tate him who talked with farmers
about the man who went forth to SOW,
and talked with the fishermen about the
drawn net that brought in fish of all
sorts. and talked with the vine dresser
about the idler in the vineyard, and
talked with those newly afianced about
the marriage supper, and talked with
the man cramped in money matters
about tho two debtors, and talked with
the woman about the yeast that leavened
the whole lump, and talked with the
shepherd about the lost sheep. Oh. we
might gather even the.stars of the sky
and twist them like forget me-nots in
the garland of Jesus. We must bring
everything to him-the wealth of lam
guage, the tenderness of sentiment, the
delicacy of morning dew, the saffron of
floating cloud, the tangled surf of the
tossing sea, the busting thunder guns
| OF the storms bombardment. Yes, every
star must point down to him, every hello
trope must breathe his praise, every drop
glory, all the tree branches of the forest
must thrum their music in the grand
march which shall celebrate world re-
deemed.
Now, all this being SO, what is the
common sense thing for you and for me
to do? What we do think will depend
upon three great facts. The first fact
that sin has ruined us. 1t has blasted
body, mine. and soul. View no Bible
to prove that we are sinners. Any man
who is not willing to acknowledge him
self an imperfect and a sinful being is
simply fool and not to be argued with.
We all feel that sin has disorganized
our entire nature. That is one fact.
| Poo ;r lot
construct, to restore, to revise, to COR
rect, to redeem. That is a second fact.
The third fact is that the only time we
are sure Christ will pardon us is the
present. Now, what is the common
sense thing for us to do in view of these
three facts? You will all agree with ME
i, to quit sin, take Christ and take Him
now. Suppose some business man in
, whose skill you had perfect confidence
should tell you that to- morrow Monday
morning between II and - o'clock you
could by certain financial transaction
make five thousand dollars, but that OIL
Tuesday perhaps you might make it, but
there would not be any positiveness
, about it, and on Wednesday there wonld
not be so much, and Thursday less, Fri.
day less, and SO on less and less-whel
/; would you attend to the matter? Why
\ mediately Twill attend to that matte
between II and - o'clock tomorrow
3 (Ionday) morning, for then can surel.
; accomplish it, but on Tuesday I ma!
,, not, and on Wednesday there is less
prospect. will attend to it to-mor.
, row." Now let US bring our common
/ sense in this matter of. religion. Here
are the hopes of the Gospel. We may
get them now. Tomorrow we may gel
, them and we may not. Next day we ma!
!. and we may not. The prospect less an6
, less and less and less.
| The only sure time now-now.
would not talk to- you this way if / did
2 not know that Christ was able to save
, all the people, and save thousands as
easily as save one. 1 would not go into
a hospital and tear off the bandages
from the wounds if had no balm to ap.
) ply. would not have the face to tell q
, man he is sinner unless l had at the
same time the authority of saying he
} may be saved. Suppose in Venice there
!. is Raphael, faded picture, great in
its time, bearing some marks of its
greatness. History describes that pic
I: ture. 1t is nearly faded away. You
say: "Oh, what pity that so wonder
) full picture by Raphael should be
nearly defaced!" After awhile a man
/ comes up, very unsklllful Ill art, ana nc
, proposes to retouch it, You say: "Stand
off! would rather have it just as it is
you will only make it worse" After q
while there comes an artist who was the
, equal of Raphael. He says: Il will re-
touch that picture and bring ont all its
original power" You have full conf
dence in his ability. He touches il
{ here and there. Feature after feature
comes forth, and when he is done with
the picture it is complete in all its
original power. Now God i'm
pressed His image on our race, bu
that image has been defaced for hun
+ dreds and for thousands of years, get
ting fainter and fainter. Here comes
/ up divine Raphael. He says: II cal
> restore that picture He has all power
in Heaven and on earth. He is the
equal of the One who made the picture,
the image of the One who drew the i'm.
) age of God in our soul. He touches
this sin and it is gone, that transgres.
, sion and it disappears, and all the de
, facement vanishes, and where sin
, abounded grace doth much more
t abound" Will you have the defacemen