The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1890-07-10

hSalu, eAaitel social poSltion VIII DO NJ
cloak Tor sin. Men look through the wicket
door OF prisons, and seeing the incarceratel
wretches exclaim, "Oh, how much vice there
Il In the ,worldp And they pass through tho
degraded streets OF a city, and looking into
thu doors OF novels and tho deus of corrup.
ton they call them Gol-forsaken abodes.
But you might walk along the avenue,
through which tho opalent roll In their -four
ishing pomp and into mansions elegantly
adorned anl ilnd that even in ths admired
walks Of life Satan works mischief and DEATH
Tho first temptation Satan wrought in gar
don, and he understands yet most thorough y
how to insinuate himself into any door OF
osse ana spiendor. Man frequently judg,
OF sin by the places In which it is committed,
but iniquity in satin Is TO God as loath som,
MS iniqulty In rags, ani In tn, Day OF Jnls
ment the sins of Madison avenue and Elm
street will all bs driven in oas herd. Men
cannot escape at last for being respectfully
sinful You know Dives was cloth Il in par
pie aud fine linen AMI farrell sumptuouily
every day, but his lins clothes an | gooi din.
ners did not save him. He mi yht on earth
have drunk something as rich as champagne
and coSnac, but at last no aslse for on,
drop OF water. You cannot trads OF
your attractive abodes hero for a houio
OF many mansions on high, and
your elegant shade groves here will
not warrant you seat under the tree OF
life. When God drove Adam and Eve out
OF Eden He shovel that merely living in
garden OF delights aud comforts will never
save man or a woman. BY giving you 50
much earthly luxury and refinement He in
tmated that He would have you enjoy your
selves, but He would not have you wrap your
self up in them as cloak to hide your sins.
Col now walks in your garden as lis did in
Eden, and He stands by your well as He did
by well in Slmaria, and He would mako
your comfort on earth type Of your rapture
in heaven.
Furthsrrnore, mere souu lness of religious
belief Will not hide our iniquities. There are
men whose heads ara as sound as Jonathan
Eiwards's or John Wesley's, whose hearts
are as rotten rs Tom Paine's or Charles
Guiteau's. 1t is important that wa be theo-
retical Christians 1t is utter folly in this
day for man to have no preference for any
form of faith when it is 50 easy to become
conversant with the faith Of the different
sects. An intoxicated man staggered into
my house one night begging for lodging.
He made great pretensons to religion. |
asked where he went to church. He said:
'Nowhere; belong to liberal Christianity"
But there arc those who never become
Christians, because their obstnacy pre-.
vents them from ever taking a fair
view of what religion is. They are
like brute beast in the fact that
their greatest strength lies in their horns.
They are combatant, AMI all they ara ever
willing to do for their souls is to enter au e.
clesiastical fight. have met men who
would talk all day upon the ninth chapter of
Romans, who Were thoroughly helpless be-
fore the fourteenth chapter Of John. But
there are those who, having escaped from
this condition, arc now depending entirely
upon their soundness Of religious theory.
The doctrines of mans depravity and Christ's
atonement and Coils sovereignty are
theoretically received by them. Bat alas!
there they stop. 1t is only thu shell OF
Christianity containing no evangelical life
They stand looking over into heaven
and admire its beauty and its song, AMI
are so pleased with the looks from the outside
that they cannot be induced to enter. They
could make a better argument for truth
than ten thousand Christians who have in
their hearts received it, IT syllogsrns and
dilemuas and sound propositions and logical
deductions could save their souls they would
be among the best of Christians. They could
correctly define repentance AMI faith aud
the Atonement while they have never felt
one sorrow for sin nor exercised moments
confidence in the great sacrifice. They are
almost immovable in their position We can.
not present anything about the religion OF
Christ that they do not know. The Saw
Jour described the fate of such a one in
His parable: "And that servant which knew
his Lords will and prepared not himself,
neither did according to His will, shalt b.
beaten with many stripes" Theories in ret-
gion have beauty Of their own, but it they
result in no warmth in Christian life it is the
beauty of hornblende and feldspar. Do not
call such boIdness and hardness religion The
River of Life never freezes over. Icicles
never hang on the caves of heaven. Sound
ness Of intellectual belief is q beautiful
cloak, well woven and well cut, but in the
hour when God shall demand our souls it
will not of itself be sufficient to hide our i'll.
EQUITIES.
My friends, can it be that havo been IN.
kind, and torn from you some hope upon
which you were resting for tima and eter'
nifty, Verify, l would be unkind if, having
taken away your cloak, / did not offer you
something better. This is cold world and you
want something to wrap around your spirit
Christ offers SOU q robe to-day He wove it
Himself, and lie will now with His own
The Righteousness He offers is like the coat
He used to wear about Julea without seam
from top to bottom. There is q day OF
| doom. Coward would be If l did not dare
| tell you this. 1t shall b, day Of unutter-
able disappointment to those who have
| trusted i'll their Official dignity, in their
| elegant manners, in their outward morality,
| in their soundness of intellectual belief. But
| tsee soul standing before Col who once
vas thoroughly defilel. Yet look at him
and you cannot find single transgression
anywhere about him. How is this, you ask
Was he not once a Sabbath breaker, bias
phemer n robber, perjurer, a thief, MUIR
derer2 Yes, but Christ hath cleansed him.
Christ hath lifted him up. Christ hath rent
off his rags. Christ hath clothed him in 6
spotless robe of righteousness. That is the
reason why you cannot see his former degra
dation. This glorious hope in Christ's name
is proffered to-day. Wandering and way
ward soul, is not this salvation worth
coming for, worth striving for? Do yol
wonder that So many with bitter weeping
have besought it, and with very enthusi
assn Of sorrow cried for divine compassion
Do you wonder at the earnestness of those
who stand i'll pupits beseeching men to b.
reconciled to God? Nay, dc you wonder a
the Importantly of the Holy Ghost wht
now striveth with thy soul? In many o.
the palaces of Europe the walls are mosaic
Fragments of shells and glass are arranged
oy artists and aggregated into pretoria
,plen lor. What! made out of broken she'll
and broken glass Oh, yes; God grant tina
by the transforming power OF His Spirit w
nay all be made part. of the eterna
palaces our broken and fragmentary nature
polished and shaped and lifted up to make
part of the everlasting splendors of tn
heavenly temple!
For sinners, Lord, thou cam'st to bleed
And Pm a sinner vie indeed.
Lord, beve Thy graceis Tree;