The Russellville Democrat., 1889-08-15
PRICE FIVE CENTS.

l ClI Cl6Sf. EDT uO Ouc GNti SAIINthS
 in any kind of Christian work un- less he works naturally. We want to
 initiate the Lord Jesus Christ, who plucked a poem from the grass of the field. We ali want to initiate Him who
 talked with farmers about the man who
 went forth to SOW, and talked with the fishermen about the drawn net thaa | brought in fish of all sorts, and talked 1 with the vine e-dresser about the idler in the vineyard, and talkel with those new ly affianced about tho marriage supper, and talked with the man cramped in money matters about the 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 thern like forget-me. nots in the garland of Jesus. We must bring every thing to Him--the wealth of language, the tenderness of sentiment the delicacy of morning dew, the saffron of floating cloud, the tangled surf of the tossing sea, the bursting thunder guns of the storms bombardment Yes, every star must point down to Him. every helio- trope must breathe His praise, every drop | in the summer shower must flash His | 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 com- | nonsense thing for you and for me to | do? What we do think will depend up- on three great facts. The first fact that sin has ruined us. It has blasted body, mind and soul. We want no Bible to | prove that we are sinners. Any man who | is not willing to acknowledge himself an | imperfect and sinful being is simply a fool and not to be argued with We all feel that sin has disorganized our whole l nature. That is one fact Another fact is that Christ came to reconstruct, to re- store, to revise, to correct 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 as to do in view of these three facts? You will all agree with me 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) morn- ing, between eleven and twelve o'clock, you could by certain financial transac- tion make five thousand dollars, but that on Tuesday perhaps you might make it, but there would not be any positiveness about 1t, and on Wednesday, there would not be so much, and on Thursday less, Friday less, and so on less and less, when would you attend to the matter? Why, your common sense would dictate: I'm mediately will attend to that matter be- tween eleven and twelve o'clock ton row (Monday) morning, for then I can surely accomplish it, but on Tuesday I may not, and on Wednesday there is less prospect. l will attend to 1t 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 get them and we may not. Next day we may and we may not. The prospect less and less and less and less. The only sure time now now. l would not talk to you in this way if I did not know that Christ was able to save all the people, and save thousands as easily as save one. I would not go into hospital and tear off the bandages if I had no balm to apply. I would not have the face to tell a man he is sinner unless had at the same time the authority of saying he may be saved. Suppose in Venice there is n Raphael, a faded picture, great in it's time, bearing some marks of it's greatness. History describes that picture. It is nearly faded away. You say:
 "Oh, what pity that so wonderful a picture should be nearly defaced!"
 After awhile a man comes up, very un- skillful in art, and he proposes to retouch it. You say:
 "Stand off I would rather have it just as it is; you will only make it worse."
 After awhile there comes an artist who was the equal of Raphael. He says: 'T will retouch that picture and bring out all it's original power." You have full confidence in his ability. He touches 1t here and there. Feature after feature comes forth, and when he is done with the picture it is complete in all it's original power. Now, God impressed His image on our race, but that image has been defaced for hundreds and for thousands of years, getting fainter and fainter. Here comes up Divine Raphael. He says: II can restore that picture" He has all power in Heaven and on earth. He is the equal of the One who made the picture, the imaga of the One who drew the image of God in our soul. He touches this sin and it is gone, that transgression and it disappears. and all the defacement vanishes, and ''where sin abounded grace doth much more abound."l
 Wlli you have the defacement or will you have the restoration? am well per- suaded that if I could by a touch of Heav- enly pathos in two minutes put before you what has been done to save your soul there would be an emotional tide overwhelming.
 Mamma" said little child to her mother, when she was put to bed at night, mamma, what makes your hand so scared, and twisted and unlike other peoples hands," We'll" said the mother, "my child, when you were younger than you arc now, years ago, one night after l had put you to bed heard a cry, a shriek up- stairs. l came up and found the bed was on fire, and you were on fire, and I took hold of you and tore of the burn ing garments, and while I was tearing them of and trying Co get you away burned my hand. aud it has been burned and scared ever since, and hardly looks any more like haud; but got that my child, in trying to save you" o manl O womani wish to-day could show you the burned hand of Christ burned in plucking you out of the fire, burned in snatching you away from tho flame. Aye, also the burned foot, and the burned brow, and the burned heart--- burned for you. By His stripes ye arc healed.
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