The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-08-07


the man who went forth to SOW, and talked
with the fishermen about the drawn net
that brought in fish OF all sorts, and talked
with the vine dresser about the idler
In the vineyard, and talked with those
newly affianced about the marriage supper,
and talked with tho man crampcd in money
matters about the two debtors and talked
with the woman about the yeast that leav-
ened the whole lump, and talked with the
shepherd about the lost sheep o, we
might gather even the stars of the sky and
twist them like forget-me- nots in the gar
land OF Jesus. We must bring every thing
to Him--the wealth OF language, the tender
ness Of sentiment, the delicacy OF morning
dew, the saffron Of floating cloud, the
tangled surf Of the tossing sea, the bursting
thunderguns of the storms bombardment
Yes, every star must point down to Him,
every heliotrope 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 world re-
deemed.
Now, all this being so, what is the COM
man sense thing for you and for me to dot
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 an imperfect and asin-
! full being is simply fool and not TO be
argued with. We all feel that sin has dis
organized 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 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
mo TO quit sin, take Christ, and take
| Him now. Suppose some business man in
whose skill you had perfect confidence
should tell you that tomorrow Monday
morning between eleven and twelve O'Clock
| you could by financial transaction make
| 5000, but that on Tuesday perhaps you
might make 1t, but there would not be any
posiliveness about it, and on Wednesday
tht re would not be so much, and Thursday
less, Friday less, and so on less and less
when would you attend 10 the matteri
Why, your common sense would dictate:
Immediately will attend to that matter
between eleven and twelve o'clock to-mor-
row (Monday) morning. for then l can
surely accomplish it, but on Tuesday may
not, and on Wednesday there is less pros
pect. will attend TO 1t tomorrow" Now
let US bring our common sense into this
matter Of religion. Here are the hopes Of
the Gospel. We may get them now. To
morrow we may get them and we may not.
Next day we may and we may not The
prospect less aud less and less.
The only sure time now--now. / would
not talk 10 you in this way If did not know
that Christ was able TO save the people, and
( save thousands as easily as save one. l
would not go into hospital and tear of the
bandages from the wounds II had no balm
TO apply Iwould not have the face TO tell
man he is sinner unless had at the same
time the authority OF fsaying he may be saved.
Suppose in Venice there is a Raphael, q
faded picture, great in its time, bearing
some marks Of its greatness. History de-
scribes that picture. 1t is nearly faded
away. You say; 10, what pity that SO
wonderful picture by Raphael should be
nearly deiacedI' After while man comes
up, very unskillful in art, and he proposes
TO retouch 1t. You say: "Stand ohl i
would rather have IL Just as it Is; you viii
only make IL worse" After while there
comes an artist who was the equal Of
Raphael. He says: II will retouch that
picture and bring out ali its 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 1t is complete in all its
original power. Now God impressed
/ l. hntt hoN fraQ hao
been defaced for hundreds and for thou
sands 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
image Of the One who drew the image Of God
in our soul. He touches this sin and II Is
gone, that transgression and 1t disappears,
and all the hedefacement vanishes, and "where
sin abounded grace doth much more
abound" viii you have the defacement
or will you have the restorationl am well
persuaded that IL l could by a touch Of
heavenly pathos in two minutes put before
you what has been done 10 save your soul,
there would be an emotional tide overwhelm-
ing you. Mamma said little child TO her
mother when she was being put 70 bed at
night, mamma, what makes your hands 50
SCARED and twisted and unlike other peo-
ples hards." "Well," said the mother,
''my child, when you were younger than you
are now, years ago, one night after had put
you TO bed heard q cry, shrek upstairs.
came up and found the bed was on fire, and
you were on fire, and took hold Of you and
tore OF the burning garments, and while ]
| xvas tearing them of and irving To get YOU