Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-08-15

money matters about the two deot.
ors, and talked with the women about
the yeast that leaventd the whole lump,
and talked with he shepherd about the
lost sheep o, we might gather even the
stars OF the sky and twist them like for
get -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 hello
trope must breathe His praise. every drop
| IN the summer shower must fash His
glory, all the tree branches of the forest
must thrum their music in the grand
march which shall celebrate a world re.
deemed
Now, all this being so, what is the COM
mon sense thing for you and for me to dor
What we do think will depend upon three
great facts. The first fact that sin has
ruined US. 1t 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 as imperfect and
a sinful being is simply a fool and not to
be argued with. We all feel that sin has
disorganized our entire nature. That is
one fact. Another fact is that Christ
! came to reconstruct. to restore. 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 us to do in view of these three facts:
| You will agree with me to quit sin, take
Christ and take Him now. Suppose some
business man in whose skill YOU hal per-
feet confidence should tell you that to-
morrow (Monday) morning between
eleven and twelve O'Clock you could bv
certain financial transaction make S. 900,
but that on Tuesday perhaps you might
make it, but there would not be anv pos
itiveness about it, and on Wednesday
there would not be so much, and Thurs
day less, and Friday less, and so on less
and lsss-when would you attend
to the matter? Why your COM
mon sense would dictate: '.Immedi-
ately L will attend to that matter
between eleven and twelve O'Clock to-mor-
row (Monday) morning. for then l can
surely accomplish il. but on Tuesday |
may not and on Wednesday there is less
prospect. I will attend 10 it Tomorrow"
Now, let US bring our common sense in
this matter OF religion. Here are tie
hopes of the Gospel. We may get them
now. Tomorrow we may get them and
we may not y xt day we may and we
may not The prospect less and less and
less and less.
The only sure time now-now. I would
not talk TO You in this way if did not
know that Christ was able TO save all the
people, and save thousands as easily as
save one. would not 20 into a hospital
and tear off the bandages from the wounds
if l had no balm 20 apply. would rot
have the face to tell man he is q sinner
unless l had at the same time the author
lty of saying he NAV be saved. Suppose
N Venice there is a Raphael, a faded
picture. 1t is nearly faded away. You
say: 20. what pity that so wonderful a
picture by Raphael should be nearly de-
facedH After a while man comes up,
very unskillful in art, and he proposes to
retouch it You say: Stand off! l would
rather have it just as It is; you will only
make it worse"
After while there comes an artist who
was the equal of Raphael. He says: ~
will retCUch that picture and bring out all
its original power" You have full con-
fidence in his ability. He touches il here
and there. Feature after feature comes
forth and when he is done with the pict-
ure it is complete in all its 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 a divine Raphael. He says: Il can
restore that p.c;ure." He has all power
in Heaven and on earth. He is the equal
Of the One who made the picture, the
image of God in our soul. He touches this
sin and it l. gone, that transgresSion and
it disappears and all the DETACHMENT van
ishes and where sin abounded grace
doth much more abound" Will you have
the deface m mt or will you have the res
toration: L am well persuaded that if l
could by a touch of Heavenly pathos in
two minutes put before you what has been
done to save your soul there would be an
emotional tide overwhelming. Mamma"
said a little child to her mother
when she vas being put to bed at
night, mamma, what makes your hand
so SCARED and twisted and unlike other
peoples hands," well" said the
mother, my child, when you we're |
younger than you are now. years ago.
one night after l had put you to bed |
heard a cry, shrek, upstairs. l came |
up and found the bed was on fire and / !
took hold of you and tore off the burning |
garments, and while was tearing them of |
and trying to get you away l burned my |
hand and it has been burned and SCARED |
ever since and hardly looks any more |
like hand, but got that, my child, in |
trying to save you" o man! o womanI !
l wish to-day l could show you the burned |
hand of Christ-burned in plucking you |
out of the fire, burned in snatching you |
away from the fame. Aye, also the |
burned foot and the burned brow, and |
the burned heart-burned by you. by |
His stripes We are healed"