Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-23

man. 1t is only those who
choose who ever became religious. Sup
| pose there was an apple and a banana
! on this platform, and you would say to
| me: Jones, choose which you will
| have Now, would understand by that
! that you wanted me to take the apple
and leave the banana, or take
the banana and leave the apple.
! wouldn't expect to take both. This
] thing of religion is a matter of choice be-
tween God and the devil. What would
| you think of me when you asked me to
! choose, If l took both the apple and
| some OF you do. You say,
/ give me the whole thing-give me God
/ and the devil both?' You want the
church and you want the world. Choice
is a deliberate act of the will after sur
| veying the whole field and saying, This
take, you may have all that is left.
''The minute q man chooses to be re-
| ligious he ia IN such an attitude toward
| God that religious life may begin that
! moment. / believe in the omnipotence
| and OmnIscience of God as much as any
! mau living, but do not believe God can
make man religious until the man him
self chooses to be so. Let
US take sense and religion both
at the same time. Suppose, now,
have a son, q. young fellow of twenty
| one years of age, say; and l want to
make farmer out of him. I go to you
and ask you how l had better go about
it to make q farmer out OF him.
You say: Buy him farm
and some mules, and build house and
barn on it, and you are all right 1
take your advice. 1 buy the farm of 500
acres and build the house and barn and
buy the mules. But here is my young
son in town driving around in a hack and
drinking and playing billiards. How do 1
make farmer out of him? If l want t o
make lawyer out of him you tell me to
rent him an Office and furnish him good
library Of law books, and l do SO, but
my boy is laying around the saloons
drinking and gambling until midnight
every night and sleeping until
the afternoon each day. Ain
l making lawyer out of
him? No, sir. All the fine law officers
in the world, and all the legal lore you
could buV would not do it unless he
chose to become lawyer himself. say
If God can t make Christian out of you
until you choose, how can [ do it?
If buying a church and hiring
a preacher would make a Teller religious
every man in this hull town would he a
Christian to-day. But you have to make
a choice. II my boy chooses to be
farmer he will soon find himself behind
pillow, or if he chooses to be
lawyer he will soon crawl
into an opening. He dom need
no help from me. 1 needn't start him
out. If you choose to be u Christian,
you needn't wait for some one to
buy you a church and hire you a
preacher - you can fall right
down and accept Christ, and be
Christian till you die. Some
Of you think that the Lord will let you
know when he wants you-you are wait
ing for the Lord S own time. All right.
Ii you look at it that way you are per-
fectly safe. God has made provision for
idiots, and you will get into
heaven on the score that you
are not responsible for your
acts. That is my candid opinion. The
HardsheI Baptists are all right. They
will get into heaven. Their idea is that
what is. is, and 1t can't be helped.
They are dead safe for heaven. One
half of them are really religious people,
and will be received on that
account, and the other half are not re-
sponsible for their acts, and will get in
on that line. 1 once heard of an old
Hardshell who was asked by friend
If he had given himself to God.
Ono, he replied. 1 have been wait
ing for the still, small voice to call me.
"'How long have you been waiting
for the call?' was asked.
90 About thirty years
&c Then, my friend, was the advice
given him, you had better either draw a
little higher or else clean out your
ears
elf you want to be good, God will help
you. If you want to be bad the devil
will help you. l suppose I needn It tell
you the last fact, for most of you have
been running with the devil long enough
to know all about it.
"You can also choose exactly what
sort of a Christian you will be. If you
want to be first-class Christian the way
is open to you. If you want to be a sec
ond-rate Christian that way is also open
to you. And if you want to be a tenth
ate Christian you can be it, but want
to advise you that that place is
pretty well filled. The jobs of that kind
are about all taken. You will be crowded
nightly. There are a great many in
the place, and if you are tenth-rate
Christian God can t raise you to higher
grade unless you so choose; but, if you
want to, you can do it yourself in spite
of God. God can t prevent you if you
choose.
"What sort of a Christian are you,
and you, and you? 1 don't mean that
man behind you, nor in front of you, but
you. You are just the kind you set out
to be, now amt you? You needn't
look me in the face and say, Il
have done the best I could. but
still am poor worm of
the dust. How did you come TO be a
wormP worm, indeed Suppose you
got a letter from your wife and she ad-
dressed you as Dear Poor Old Worm!'
How would you like it? Old Brother
Worm and old Sister Worm! audience
in commissions herel.
'You can choose whether you will be
a Christian, and what sort of Christian
you will be; and you can also choose how
long you will be a Christian. You can
be Christie as long as you want to,
and, speaking as Methodist,
you can quit when you want to-
AS general principle / hold
that If a fellow is perseveriHg
he is persevering, and if he amt, he
amt. Isn't that sense? 1 believe a
10 oOod he