Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1889-08-08
A STRONG SERMON.
Synopsis of q Recent Address by
M. Y. Duncan, Esq, of
This City.

! SAh"" ~ AA~ pa ~ NNN~
sermon by NJ. Y. Duncan at Red
Top Church, Boone county, Mo-,
on the afternoon of July %, 1889:
Subject: "The nine cases of
conversion recorded in the Acts of
the Apostles" First, Penticost;
second, Sarnaria: third. The Ethi-
opian; fourth, Saul; fifth, Come
Illus; sixth, Lydia and her house
hold; seventh, the Jai!er and his
household; eighth, the Corenthl-
ans; ninth, the twelve Ephesians.
| 1t will be observed that in each
of these cases one prominent rule
always obtained. Under the guild
ance of the Holy Spirit each and
every one of these cases were
brought under the same rule. The
beginning had to be at Jerusalem.
This was the one weIl-defined gov
ernment corner for all Apostolic
surveys. The Holy Spirit was the
real surveyor-general. The Apostles
were only instruments in his hands.
Straight lines must be run. No
crooking either to the right or left
on any account. No offsets to be
made in the lines. No such work
as Maj. Jack Anderson was report
| ed to have done in the early land
surveys in Audrain county, when,
for pittance, he would run around
a lot of timber SO as to include a lot
of board timber. None of that.
These lines were both inclusive
and exclusive. They were address
ed to men of common-sense, OF Or
dInary reflection, of mature yeara.
In other words, they included those
capable of hearing and believing,
and they excluded all such as
idiots, infants and lunatics.
At Penticost it embraced such as
"gladly received the word"
At Solomon's porch many of
them which heard the word be-
lieved. This necessarily excludes
all such as are incapable of hearing
and believing.
When Phillip went down to Sa-
maria and preached Christ unto
them and the people with one ac-
cord gave heed unto those things
which Phillip spake, hearing and
seeing the miracles which he did,
but when they believed Phillip
preaching the things concerning
the Kingdom of God and the name
of Christ they were immersed, Chat
is what the word means.) This
includes believers only, and ex-
cludes all others; such as infants,
idiots and iunatics. When Phillip
sat with the Ethiopian nobleman,
after preaching unto him Jesus,
they came to certain water, and
the Eunuch said: What doth him
der me to be immursed? And Phil
lip said: eff thou bel1evest with all
thine heart thou mayest. " This in
cludes believers and excludes un-
! believers; no matter from what
cause; no two ways about this; no
room for a doubt. The order was:
First, preach the gospel; second, it
must be heard; third, it must be
believed. What sense would there
be in telling anything if no one was
to hear? What use in hearing if
men could not believe? The order
was: First, to preach; second, the
word preached must be heard, and,
lastly, this hearing produced faith.
Faith comes by hearing and hear
ing by the word of God. The case
of Saul was in harmony with all
the other cases. He saw the light
that shown about him. He heard
the voice saying: "Saul !Saul Why
persecutest thou me?" Trembling,
Saul said: "Lord, what wilt thou
have me to do?" After he was i'm
mersed by Ananias, he preached
the word of the Lord boldly to
others at Damascus. Cornelius
was the next case. He was direct
ed to send for Peter, who would
tell him what he ought to do.
Peter spoke the word. Cornelius
heard. believed and obeyed.
Lydia heard whose heart the
Lord opened that she attended un-
to the things spoken of Paul. Same
order here. Paul spoke the word.
Lydia and other women present
heard it, believed it, and she was
immersed. Nothing but believers
included in any of these cases.
The Jailer and those with him
are precisely in the same line.
They spoke unto him the word of
the Lord, and to all that were in
his house. Of course they made
no speech to infants. idiots or lun-
atics, if any were there. That was
mentally impossible. Make
speech to a babe in its mothers
arms I! Argue with lunatic or an
idiot Of course not. 1t would be
a waste of breath, and besides. non
constat, that any of them were
present.
Many of the Corinthians, hear
ling, believed and were immersed.
Acts IS: s. The ninth and last
case was the twelve Ephesians.
Paul said unto what were yet bap-
tized, and they said Johns bap-