Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-06-06


be wants no rescue; but II under the fash OF
Gods convicting spirit he shall see that by
reason Of sin he is dismasted and water
logged, and going down into the trough Of
the sea where he cannot live how soon he
puts the sea glass 10 his eye and sweeps the
horizon, and at the first sign Of help
cries out: al want to be saved. I
forever No sense Of danger, no applica-
Oh, that Gods eternal spirit would fash
upon us q sense of our sinfulnessl The Bible
tells the story in letters of fire but weget used
| 10 II, We joke about sin. Wemake merry over
It. What is sini Is it a trifing thingi Sin is q
vampire that is sucking out the life blood Of
your immortal nature. SIM It Is Bsstile
that no earthly key ever unlocked. Sini It
II is grand larceny against the Al
mighty, for the Bible asks the question:
''Win man rob GodT' answering it in the
| Affirmative. This Gospel is a writ of reple-
vim to recover property unlawfully detained
from God.
In the Shetland Islands there is man
with leprosy. The hollow of the foot has
swollen until it is fiat on the ground The
joints begin to fall away. The ankle
a wild beast. A stare unnatural
comes to the eye. The nostrl
is CONSTRUCTED. The voice drops to an
almost inaudible hoarsenesS. Tubercles blotch
the whole body, and from them there comes
an exudation that is unbearable to the be-
holder. That is leprosy, and we have all got
it unless cleased by the grace of God. See
Leviticus. See II Kings. See Mark. See
Luke. See fifty Bible illusions and confr-
nations
Tho Bible is not complimentary in its Ian
guage. 1t does not speak mincingly about
our sins. 1t does not talk apologetically.
There is no vermiion in its style. It does
not cover up our transgressions with bloom
ing metaphor. 1t does not sing about
them in weak falsetto; but it thunders out:
''The imagination of mans heart is evil
He has altogether become filthy. He is
abominable and filthy, and drinketh in in
iquity like water" And then the Lord
Jesus Christ filings down at our feet this hu-
initiating catalogue: 'Out of the heart
of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries,
fornication, murders, thefts, blasphemy."
There is text for your rational
IS ists to preach from; from; Oh, the dignity
semens human Of 1asnFe Ro%r science mesrs of
that the anthropologist never has had
Bible, in all the ms and outs Of the
most forceful style, sets forth our natural
pollution, and represents iniquity as fright
full thing, as an exhausting thing, as a loath-
some thing. 1t is not mere bemiring of the
feet, it is not a mere befouling of the hands;
it is going down, head and ears under, in q
ditch. until our clothes abhor us
My brethren, shall we stay down where sin
thrusts us? shall not if you do. We can
not afford to. have to-day to tell you that
there is something purer than snow water,
something more pungent than alkai, and
that is the blood Of Jesus Christ that
cleanseth from all sin. Ay, the river
of salvation, bright, crystalline and heaven
born, rushes through this audience with bill
lowy tide strong enough to wash your sins
completely and forever away. Oh, Jesus, let
the dnm that holds 1t back now break, and
the foods Of salvation roll over us.
Let the water and the blood,
From thy side healing flood,
Be OF sin the double cnre,
Save from wrath and make me pure.
Let us get down on both knees and bathe in
that blood of mercy. Ay, strike out with
both hands and try to swim to the other shore
Of this river. of Gods grace. To you is the
word of this salvation sent. Take this
largess of the divine bounty. Though
you have gone down in the deepest ditch
of ibidinous desire and corrupt be-
havior, though you have sworn all fblasphem-
les until there is not one sinful word left for
you to speak, though you have been sub
merged by the transgressions of lifetime,
though you are so far down in your sin that
no earthly help can touch yLr case
the Lord Jesus Christ bends over you
to-day, and offers you his right hand, pro-
posing to lift you up, first making you winter
than snow, and then raising you to glories
that never die. "Billy," said a Christian
bootblack to another, 'lwhen we come up to
heaven it won't make any difference that
we've been bootblacks here for we shall get in,
not somehow or other, but, Billy, we shall get
knew how full aad free and tender is the
offer Of Christ, this day, you would all
take Him without one single exception; and
if all the doors of this house were locked
save one and you were compelled to
make egress by only one door, and I
stood there and questioned you, and the
Gospel of Christ had made the right impress
sion upon your heart to-day, you would an
swer me as you went on, one and all: "Jesus
be the hour when you would receive
Him! It is not a Gospel merely for
footpads and vagrants and buc-
cancers; it is for the highly polished and the
educated and the refined as well. Except a
man he born again, he cannot see the king
dom of God" Whatever may be your
associations, and whatever your world
ly refnements, l must tell you, as
before God I expect to answer in
the last day, that if you are not changed by
the grace Of God you are still down in the
ditch of sin, in the ditch of sorrow, in the
ditch of condemnation; ditch that empties
into deeper ditch, the ditch of the lost.
But blessed be God for the lifting, cleansing,
illustrating power of His Gospel
The voice Of free grace cries, Escape to the noun
tain;
For all that believe, Christ has opened fountain
HalleluJahl to the Lamb who has bought us oua
| pardon;
| Tpntll yI.a..x