The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1890-03-20

, arc those who would add unto the tcnt
, rather than subtract from them. Their
are thousands who would not accer
persons into church membership if the
drink wine, or if they smoke cigars, or
; they attend the theatre, or il they pla
cards, or il they drive fast horse. Now
do not drink wine or smoke or atten
tho theatre, never played a game of card
and do not drive fast horse, although
would il owned one. But do not sub
stitute tests which the Bible does no
establish. There il one passage Of scrip
ture wide enough to let all in who ough
20 entcr and to kesp out all who ough
to be kept out: "Belicvc in the Lore
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Get mans heart right and his life will
be right. But now that the old creed
have been put under public scrutin,
something radical must be done. Somt
would split them, some would carye them
some would elongato them, some would
abbreviate them. At the present momcn,
aud In the present shape they are hin
drancc. Lazarus is alive, but hampcred
with the old grave clothes. If you want
one glorious church free and unencum.
bcrea take OFF the etrcacnts Of old &C.
clesiastical vocabulary. Loose her, and
und let her go
Again there arc Christiana who arc
under scpulchral shadows sud bipdered
and hobbcd by doubts and fears and
sins long aga reprnted Of. What they
need is to understand the liberty Of the
sons Of God. They spend more time
under the shadow OF Sinai than at the
base Of Calvary. They have been sing
ing the only poor hymn that Newton
ever wrote:
"Tis point long to know,
Oft it causes me anxious thought
Do love the Lord or no,
Am his or am l not?
Long to know, do you2 Why do yon
not find outI Go to work for God and
you will very soon fad out. The man
who, all the time feeling Of bis pulse and
looking at his tongue to see whether it
le coated, is morbid, and cannot be
physically well. The doctors will say:
Go out into fresh air and into active
life, and stop thinking OF yourself, and
you Will get well and strong.' SO there
are people watching their spiritual
symptoms, and they call it self-examina-
hon, AID they get weaker and sieklicr in
something nobly Christian. Take holy
L..
instead of Newton's saturnine and bill
lious hymn that fret quoted, you will
sing Newton's other hymn:
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
Once was lost, but now I'm found;
Was blind; Tut now see.
What many Of you Christians need is
to get year grave clothes off I rejoice
that you have been brought from the
death of sis to the life of the gospel, but
you need to get your hands loose and your
feet loose and your tongue loose and
your soul loose. There is no sin that
the Bible SO arraigns and punctures and
fagellatcs as the sin Of unbelief, and
that is what is tho matter with YOU.
son." you say, 'rf you knew what l
once was and how many times 1 havo
grlevously straycd, you would under
stand why do not come cut brighter"
Then think you will call yourself the
chief Of sinners. am glad you hit upon
that term, for have promise that fits
into your case as the cogs in one wheel
between the cogs Of another wheel or as
the key fits into the labyrinth Of a lock.
a man who was once called Saul but af-
terwards Paul declared: This 10 a
faithful saying and worthy of all accep-
tation, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I ana
chief" Mark that-"of. whom l am
chief.' "Put down your ovcrceats and
hats and will take care Of them while
you kill Stephen"-so Saul said to tho
stoners of the first martyr-"I do not
care to exert myself much, but l will
guard your surplus apparel while YOU do
the murder" Tie New Testament &C.
count says: ''Thc witnesses laid down
their clothes at young mans feet
whose name was Saul" No wonder he
said: "Sinncrs, Of whom lam chief"
Christ is used to climbing. He climbed
to the top of the temple. lie climbed
to the top of Mount Oivct. He climbed
to the top cf the cliffs about Nazareth.
He climbed to the top of Golgotha.
And to the top ct the hills and the
mountains Of your transgrcssions and he
is ready to climb with pardon for every
one Of you. The groau Of Calvary is
mightier than the thunder of Sinai,
Full receipt is offered for all your in
dcb:cdness. If one throws stone at
midnight into bush where tho hedge
bird roosts, it Immediately begins to
sing; and into the midnight hedges of
your dependency these words I hurl.
hoping to awaken you to anthem. Drop
the tunes in the minor key and take the
major. DO you think it pleases the
Lord for you to be carrying around
with you the debris and carcasscs Of cid
transgrcssions9 You make me think of
some ship that has had tcmpestuous
time at sea, and now that it proposes
another voyage, keeps on its davits the
damaged lifcboats, and the aplinters of
a shivered mast, and the broken glass of
a smashed skylight. My advice is Clear
the decks, overheard with all the dam
aged rigging. brighten up the salted
emokestacks, open new log book, haul
in the planks, lay ont new course, aud
set sail for heaven. You have had the
spiritual dumps long enough. You will
please the Lord more by being happy
than by being miserable. Have you not
sometimes started out in the lain with
your umbrella and were busy thinking
and you did not notice that the rain had
stopped, and though it had cleared off
you still had your umbrella up, and
when you discovered what you were do.
ing you felt silly cnough7 That is what
some of you are doing in religious things.
You have got so used to sadness that
though the rain has stODDcd Won atill