The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-07-16

given all his estate to beneVolent pur.
posess and passed his life in the visiting OF
the distressed, and done much to excite tne
admiration Of the good and the great, II he
have no intimate relation to Jesus Christi
There Is prideanda depravity In his soul tha
he has never discovered. "A brilliant outaid5
will be no apology for q adepraved inside. Its
no theory Of mine, but an announcement OF
God, who cannot lie: "By tho deeds OF the
law shall no flesh living be justified" Opsn
the door Of heaven and look In. Howard 10
there, but he did not secure his entrance by
the dungeons he illrmined and the lazzaret- Z
tos into which he carried the medicines.
by the shipwrecks and imprisonmenH and
haps all others except Christs, the old mis-.
sionary e1clainns: "By the gracs Of God I am
what am."
Again, exalted social position will be no
cloak for SIN. Men look through the wicket
door Of prisons and sesiny the incarcerated
wretches exclaim, "Oh, how much vics thare
Is In the worldp And they pass through the
degraded streets OF city, and looking into
the doors OF novels and the dens OF corrup-
ton they call them God- d-forsaken abodes.
But you might walk along the avenues
through which the opulent roll In their Hour
ishing pomp, and into mansions elegantly
tuOTucu, duQ uuu Ltldb Ofou Al C1o oAnAnS 80 !
walks Of life Satan works mischief and death.
The first temptation Satan wrought In gar
den, and he understands yet most thorough y
how to insinnate himself into any door OF
ease and splendor. Men frequently. Judge.
OF sin by the places in which it is committed,
but iniquity In satin is to God as loathsoma
as iniquity in rags, and in the Day Of Judg-
ment the sins Of Madison avenue and Elm
street will all be driven in one herd. Mem
cannot escape at last for being raspsctably
sinful. You know Dives was clothed in pur-
pie and fine linen and Jared sumptuously
every day, but his ins clothes and good din
ners did not save him. He might on earth
have drunk something as rich as champagne. j.
and cognac, but at last he asked for one
drop Of water. You cannot trade Of
your attractive abodes here for house
of many mansions on high, ,andsS
your elegant shade groves here will
not warrant you seat under the tree Of
life. When God drove Adam aud Eve out
Of Eden he showed that merely living in q
garden Of delights and comforts viii never
save man or woman. By giving you so
much earthly luxury and refinement BE In
timated that Hs would have you enjoy your
selves, but he would not have you wrap your
self up in them as q cloak to hide your sins
God now walks in your garden as He did in
Eden, and He stands by your we'll as He did
by we'll in Samaria, and lie would make
your comfort on earth type Of your rapture
In heaven. .
Furthermore, mere sounduess Of religious :
belief will not hide our iniquitiea Theirs are
men whose heads are as sound as Jonathau
EdwardSs or John Wesleys, whose hearts
are as rotten as Tom Painss or Charles
Guiteau's. 1t is important that we bs theo-
retical Christians. It is utter folly In this
day for man to have no preference for any
form Of faith when it is 50 easy to bscome
conversant with tae faith OF the different
sects. An intoxicated man staggered into
my house one night bsgging for lodging.
he made great pretensions to religion.
asked where he went to church. He said:sl
Nowhere; bs!ong to libsral Christianity"
But there arc those who never become
hr'stians, because their obstinacy 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, an all they are ever
willing to do for their souls Is to enter an &c.
clesiastical fight. have met msn who
would talk all day upon the ninth chapter Of
fore the fourteenth chapter Of John. But
there arc those who, having escaped from
this condition, arc now depending entirely
upon their soundness Of religious theory.
The doctrines Of mans depravity and ChrisHs
atonement and Gods sovereignty are
theoretically received by them. But, alasi
there they stop. 1t is only the shell Of
Christianity containing no evangelical life.
They stand looking over into heaven
and admire its beauty and its song, and
are so pleased with the looks from the outside
that they caunot be induced to enter. They
could make better argument for truth
than ten thousand Christians who have in
their hearts received it. II syllogisms and
dilemmas and sound propositions and logical
deductions could save their souls they would
be among the best Of Christians. They could
correctly define repentance and faith and
tho Atonement, while they have never felt
one sorrow for sin nor exercise1 moments
confidence in the great sacrifice. They are
almost immovable in their position. Wecan-
not present anything about the religion OF
Christ that they do not know. The Saw.
Jour described the fate Of such one In
His parable: sand that servant which knew
his Lords will and prepared not himself,
ueither did according to bis will, shall be
beaten with many stripes" Theories in reli-
yion have O be luty Of their own, but IL they
result in no warmth in Christian life it is the
beauty Of hornblende and feldspar. Do not
all such boldness and hardness religion. The
River Of Life never freezes over. -Icicles
aeSs Of intellectual belief is beautiful
cloak, we'll woven and well cut but in the
hour when God shall demand our souls it
will not of itself bs sufficient to hide our in
tquities. - -, *
My friends, can it be that have been un-
kind, and torn from you some hope upon
which you were resting for time and etar-
nityi Verify, I would be unkind if, having
IL Ill II Il ~ kNfPa
something better. This is cold world and you
want something to wrap around your spirit.
Christ offers you a robe to-day. he wove it
Himself, and he will now with His own
hand prepare it just to fit your soul.
The Righteousness BE offers Is like the coat
He used to wear about Judea, without seam
from top to bottom. There is day Of
doom. Coward would be If did not dare
tell you this. 1t shall bs day Of unutter-
ablo disappointment to those who have
trusted in their official dignity, 10 their
elegant manners in their outward morality,
in their soundness Of intellectual belief. But
I see soul standing before Col who once
was thoroughly dedle1. Yet look at hi1
and you cannot find single transgressiohl
anywhere about him. How is this, you ask
Was he not once Sabbath breaker, q bias
phemer, a robber, a perjurer, a thief, mur-
derer? Yes, but Christ hath cleansed him.
Christ hath lifted him up: Christ hath rent
off his rags. Christ hath clothed him in q
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 you
wonder that So many with bitter weeping
have besought it, and with a very enthusi.
asm Of sorrow cried for divine compassion?
Do you wonder at the earnestness OF those
who stand in puIpits beseechinG men to be
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