The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-07-17

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the distressed, and dono muca to excite tho
aimiratiou Of tho good aud tho great. il ho
| hayo no intimate relation to jesus Christ.
| There is q prideanda depravityin his soul that
ho has never discovered. A brilliant outside
will be no apology for n depravol inside. It's
no theory of mine, but an announcement OF
God, who cannot Ie "By tho deeds OF tho
law shall no flesh living he justiliei." OP'n
the door OF heaven and look i'll. Howard i
there, but he did not secure his entrance by
the dungeons he illumhed aui the azz1rct.
tos into which lie carried tho medicines.
| Paul is there, but Ilo did not earn his way III
by tho shipwrcsks and imprisonments an
scourglngs. On a throne overLoppiug por-
haps all others, except Chrsts, tho oil mis-
sionary exclaiuls: "By the grace Of Col an
what am."
Again, exalted social position will be no
| cloak for sin. Mon look through tho wicket
door of prisons, and seeing tho in2arcoratel
wretches exclaim, "Oh, how much vice there
is in the wordp And thcy pass through tho
degraded streets Of city, anl looking into
the doors of novels and tho dens Of cvrrup-
tion they call them Gol-forSaken aboloS.
But you might walk along tho avenue,
through which the opulent roll i'll their Hour
iShing pomp, and into mansions elegantly
adorned, and find that even i'll the admired
walks of life Satan works mischief and death.
| The first temptation Satan wrought i'll gar
den, and he understands yet most thorough y
how to insinnate himself iuto any door Of
else and s,'lentlor. Men frequently judge
Of sin by the places in which it is committed,
but iniquity in satin is to God as loathsomo
as iniqulty in rags, aud in tho Day of Judg-
ment the sins of Madison avenue and ELM
street will all be driven in one herd. Men
cannot escape at last for being respectfully
sinful. You know Dives was clothed in pur-
| pie and fine linen and faro1 sumptuously
every day, but his fin, clothes an COOL dim
ners did not save him. He might on earth
have drunk something as rich as champagne
AMI co5nac, but at last he asked for one
drop of water. You cannot trade OH
your attractive abode5 here for house
OF many mansions on high, aud
not warrant you a seat unler tho treo OF
| life. WheA God drove Adam and Eve out
Of Eden He showed that merely living in n
garden Of delights uni comforts will never
save man or woman. BY giving you Sd
much earthly luxury and refinement He in
timatel 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.
Gol now walks in your garden rs He dill in
Eden, and He stands by your we'll rs He did
by well in Samaria, and lie would make
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in heaven.
Furthermore, mere SCUM lness OF religious
belief will not hide our iniquities. There arc
men whose heads are as sound as Jonathan
Elwards's or John Wesley's, whose hearts
are as rotten as om Paine's or Charles
Guiteau's. 1t is important that we 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 bessins for lodging;
He made great pretension5 to religion.
asked where he went to church. Flo said:
Nowhere; bs!ong to liberal Christianity"
| But there arc those who never become
Chr stians, because their obstinacy pre-
vents them from ever taking fair
view of what religion is. They are
like q brute beast in the fact that
their greatest strength lies in their horns.
They are combataut, AMI all they are ever
willing to do for their souls is to enter an &C.
clesiastical fight. I have met mon VIII,
would talk oil day upon tho ninth chapter OF
Romans, who were thoroughly helpless BE-
foro the fourteenth chapter Of john. But
there arc those who, having escaped from
this condition, are now depending entirely
upon their soundness of religious theory.
The doctrines of mans depravity and Christs
atonement and Gods sovereignty aro
theoretically received by them. But, alas!
there they stop. 1t is only the shell Of
Christianity containing no evangelical life.
| They stand looking over into heaven
and admire its beauty aud its song, anl
are so pleased with the looks from the outside
| that they cannot be induced to enter. They
could make q better argument for truth
than ten thousand Christians who have in
their hearts received it. IL syllogis.ns and
tilomnlas 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
one sorrow for sin nor exercised momeles
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. Tho Saw
Jour described tho fate Of such one in
His parable: "Aud that servant which knew
his Lords will and prepared not himself,
neither did according to His will shall be
beaten with many stripes" Theories in rell-
gion have a beauty of their own but if they
result in no warmth in Christian life it is the
beauty of hornblende and feldspar. Do not
call such boldness and hardness religion. The
River of Life never freezes over. lcicles
never hang on the caves of heaven. Sound
ness of intellectual belief is 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 in-
iquities
NV friends, can it be that have been un-
kind, and torn from you some hope upon
which you were resting for time and eter-
nifty? Verify, would be uniind if, having
taken away your cloak, did not offer you
something better. This is cold world and you
20 MI
Christ offers you robe to-day. lie wove it
Himself, and He will now with His own
hand prepare it just to fit your SOUL
The Righteousness He offers is like the coat
He used to wear about Julea, without se1m
from top TO bottom. There is a day Of
doom. Coward would be If | did not dare
tell you this. 1t shall bo Il day of uuutter-
able disappointment to those who have
trusted III their official dignity, in their
elegant manners, in their outward morality,
in their soundness Of intellectual belief But
see soul standing before Col who once
was thoroughly dehlel. Yet look ut him
and you cannot find single transgression
anywhere about him. How is this, you ask.
Was he not once Sabbath breaker, BIAS
phemer q robbcr, a perjurer, thief, muir
dercr? Yes, but Christ hath clcansed him.
Christ hath lifted him up. Christ hath rent
off his rags. Christ hath clothed him in
spotless robe Of righteousness That is the
reason why you cannot sec his former desra-
dation. This glorious hope in Christs 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 compasson9
Doyou wonder at the earneStncss of those
who stand in pu;pits bcseeching men to be
rcconciIed to God? Nay, do you wonder at
the Importantly Of tho Holy Ghost who
now striveth with thy soul? In many of
the palaces of Europe the walls are mosaic;