Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-08-01

l
sgeinw Years ago there were some
Princeton students who were skating, and
the ice was very thin, and some one
warned the company back from the air
hole and finally warned them entirely to
leave the place. But one young man with
bravado. after all the rest had stopped,
cried out: ''One round more" He swept
around and was brought out a corpse My
friends, there are thousands and tens of
thousands of men losing their souls in that
way. 1t is the one round more
have also to say that if q man wants
to return from evil practices society re-
pulses him. Desiring to reform he says:
'.Now 1 will shake of my old associates
and will find Christian companionship"
And he appears at the church door some
Sabbath day and the usher greets him
with a look as much as to say: why,
you here: You are the last man ever
expected to see at church! Come. take
this seat right down BY the doorp In
stead Of saying: Good morning: am
glad you are here. Come, l will give you
first rate seat right up by the pulpit"
Well, the prodigal, not yet discouraged.
enters the prayer meeting, and some
Christian man with more zeal than COM
mon sense says: Glad to see you. The
dying thief was saved and l suppose there
is mercy for youW The young man, dis
gusted, chilled. throws himself back on
his dignity, resolved he will never enter
the house of Gcd 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 Immediately the respectable
man has an errand down some other
street.
Well the proiigal, wishing to return,
takes some member of a Christian asso-
citation by the hand, or tries to. The
Christian young man looks at him, looks
at the faded apparel and the marks OF
dissipation, and instead of giving him a
warm grip Of the hand offers him the tip
end Of the long fingers Of the left hand,
which is equal to striking a man in the
face. o, how few Christian people under
stand how much force and Gospel there is
in good handshaking! Sometimes when
you have felt the need OF encouragement
and some Christian man has taken you
heartily by the hand, have you not felt
that thrilling through every fiber Of your
body, mind and soul, an encouragement
that was just what you needed?
You do not know any thing at all
about this unless you know when
man tries to return from evil
courses of conduct he runs against repul-
sions innumerable. We say of some 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 a
thousand miles from the church Vast
. I'D AnA- i
the house of God. The fact is we must
keep our respectability though thousands
and tens of thousands perish. Christ sat
with publicans and sinners. But if there
comes to the house of God a man with
marks of destination upon him people
thro" up their hands in horror, as much
as to say: "Isn't it shocking;" How
these dainty, fastidious Christians in
all our churches are going to get
into Heaven l don't know, unless
they have an especial train of
cars, cushioned and upholstered, each one
a car to himself! They can not go with
the great herd Of publicans and sinners.
o, We who curl your lip of scorn at the
fallen, tell you plainly, if you had been
surrounded by the same influences, in
stead of sitting to-day amid the cultured
and the refined and the Christian, you
would have been a crouching wretch in
stable or ditch. covered with filth and
abomination! 1t 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 cir
cles and watched by Christian parentage,
you should be so hard on the fallen:
think men also are often hindered from
return by the fact that churches are too
anxious about their membership and too
anxious about their denomination an d
they rush ous when thev see a man about
to give up his sin and return to God and
ask how he is going to be baptized, wheth-
er by sprinkling or by immersion, and wha
kind of a church he is going to join. o,
my friends! 1t is poor time to talk about
Presbyterian catechisms, and Episcopal
| liturgies, and Methodist love feasts and
! baptisteries to a man that is coming out oi
the darkness of sin into the glorious light
of the Gospel. Why, it reminds US of a
man drowning in the sea. and lifeboai
puts out after him, and the man in the
boat says to the man out Of the boat:
'rNow, if 1 get you ashore are you going
to live in my street," First get him
ashore and then talk about the nom essen
tials of re ligion. Who cares what church
he joins, if he only joins Christ and starts
for Heaven? o, you ought to have, my
brother, an Illuminated face and a hearty
grip for every one that tries to turn from
his evil way! Take hold of the same book
with him, though his dissipat ions shake
the book, remembering that he that con-
verteth a sinner from the error of his ways
r. Aa
multitude Of sins.
Now, have shown you these obstacles
because / want you to understand l know
all the difficulties in the way; but l am
now to tell you how Hannibal may scale
the Alps and how the shackles may be un-
riveted and how the paths Of virtue for
ssksn 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, if
there is any help in all the resources Of
omnipotent love, to give it to you. Do
not go with a LONG rigmarole people call
prayer. made up of ''ohs" and ''ahs" and
forever and forever amenw Go to God
and cry for help! help! help! and If you
can not cry for help just look and live. 1
remember in the war l was at Anuetam
and said to a man: ''Where are you
hurt?" He made no answer, but held up
his arm swollen and splintsred. l saw
where he was hurt.
The simple fact is when a man has q
wounded soul all he has to do Is to hold it
up before a sympathetic Lord and get it
healed 1t does not take any long prayer.
Just hold up the wound. 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 omnipotent arms
around about him and says: young
man, will stand by you'll The mountains
NAV danart and the hills be removed. but