The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-08-07

equal to striking man in the face,
Oh how few Christian people understand
how much force and Gospel there is in
good, honest handshakingl 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 fibre of your body, mind and
you needed? You do not know anything at
all about this unless you know when a man
tries to return from evil courses Of conduct,
he runs against repulsions innumerable. We
say of some man, he lives block or two
from the church, or half mile from the
church. There are people in our crowded cit
les who live q thousand miles from the church.
Vast deserts Of indifference between them and
the house Of God. The fact is, we must keep
our respectability, though thousands and tens
of thousands perish. Christ sat with publ
cans and sinners. But if there comes to the
house of Coda man with marks of dissipation
upon him, people throw up their hands in
horror, as much as to say: "Isn't it shock
ing~ How these dainty, fastidious Chris
Sians In all our churches are going to get into
heaven don't know, unless they have an
especial train of cars, cushioned and up
holstered, each one car to himselfl They
cannot go with the great herd Of fpubhcans and
sinners. Oh, ye 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 the refined and the Christian, you would
have been O crouching wretch in stable or
ditch, covered with filth and abominatlon!
It is not because you are naturally any bet-
ter, but because the mercy OF God mas pro-
tected you. Who are you, that 6rought up
in Christian circles, and watched By Chris
tian parentage, you should be 80 hard on tho
fallen.
I think men also ore often hindered from
| return by the fact that churches are too anx-
ions about their membership and too anxious
about their denomination, and thcy rush out
when they soc O 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 by immersion, and what Kind of church
he is Going to ioin. Oh, my friends! 1t is q
poor time to talk about Presbyterian cate
chisms, and Episcopal iturgies, and Aetho-
| dist loye-feasts and baptisteries to man
that is coming out Of the darkness of sin into
the glorious light Of the Gospel. Why, it
reminds US of man drowning in the sea, and
| O lifeboat 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 in my street,
non-essentials Of religion. Who cares what
church he joins, if no only joins Christ and
starts for heaven? Oh, you ought to have,
my brother, an iluuined face, and
hearty grip for every one that tries to turn
from his evil wayl Take hold of the same
book with him, though his designations shake
the book, remembering that he that con-
vcrteth a sinner from the error Of his ways
shall save a soul from death, and hide q
multitude Of sins.
Now, I have shown you these OBJ
stacles because / want YOU to under
stand stand I Know know all the ANTIQUITIES in tho
way; but I am now to tell you how
Hannibal may scale the Alps and how
the shackles may be unriveted and
how the paths Of virtue forsaken may be re-
gained. First of all, my brother, throw
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 60 with long rigmarole
people call prayer, made up Of "ohsn and
'tahs" and forever and forever amensp Go
to God and cry for helpl help! help! and If
you cannot cry for help. just look and live.
Iremember in the war I was at Autietam,
and I won't into the hospitals after the
BATTLE and. I said to a man, "Where
are you hurt?" He made no answer,
but held up his arm swollen and spIntered.
I saw where he was hurt. The simple fact
is, when man has q wounded soul, all he
has to do is to hold it up before 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 man IS nerV-
ous and weak and exhausted, coming from
his evil ways, to feel that God puts two ON
nipotent arms around about him and says:
young man, will stand by you! The
mountains may depart and the hills be re-
moved, but will never fail you" And then,
as the soul thinks the news 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: Gas I live,
saith the Lord God, have no pleasure in the
death of him that dieth."
Blessed be God for such a Gospel as thisl
"Cut the slices thin" said the wife to the
| husband, ''or there will not be enough to go
all around for the children; cut the slices
thin" Blessed be God, there is full loaf for
every one that wants it; bread enough and
to spare. No thin slices at the Lords table.
| I remember when the Master Street hos
pital, in Philadelphia, was opened during the
war, q telegram came saying: "There will be
three hundred wounded men tonight; be
ready to take cnre 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, OF from
Massachusetts,, or from Minnesota, or from
| New York There was O wounded soldier,
and the only question was how to take off the
rags most gently, and put on the bandage,
and administer the cordial. And when
soul comes to God He does not ask where
yon came from or what your ancestry was:
Healing for all your wounds. Pardon for all
| your guilt. Comfort for all your troubles.
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
| O man kept one evil associate and was re-
formed. Among the fourteen hundred mill
| ion Of the race not one instance. 90 home
to-day, open your desk, take out letter paper,
stamp and envelope and then write letter
something like this:
"My old companions: I start this day for
heaven. Until am persuaded you will join
me in this, farewell"
Then sign your name, and send the letter
with the first post. Give up your Dad COM
nnnions, or give up heaven. 1t is not ten bad
companions that destroy man, nor hVe pad
companions, nor three bad companions,
but one. What chance is there for
that Young man saw along the street,
| four or five young men with him, halting IN
Sont of a grog shop, urging him to go IN, ne
! resisting, Violently resisting, until attcr
| while they forced him to go in? 1t was a
summer night and the door was lett open,
and saw the process. They held him fast,
and they put the cup to his lips, and thoy
forced down the strong drink. Whatchance
| is there for such young man!