Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-28

| the earth that is mysterious-noth-
| ing on earth but the deepest, the broad
est, the grandest OF blessings. How
many can fail to understand that?
Listen! If We confess our sins, He is
faithful and just TO forgive our sins and
cleanse the heart from all unrighteous-
ness.
"If we repent. Repentance? Give
| me your attention and I'll try TO make it
plain. Repentance, to man who is on
| his way to heaven, Is like the alphabet
to man of letters. Listen! The al
| phabet was the first thing l learned at
| my mothers knee. She taught
me them from A to and back again
and then she said: Now you'll learn
to spell. - Now, thought 1, TN get rid
! of the a-b-c, but when l begun to spell
! ] had to use the same alphabet. When l
| begun TO read it was the same, when 1
| took up arithmetic the letters were there,
when / took up grammar, the art of
writing and speaking correctly, which
I've never done to this day, I
/ found them there. l found them
| in Virgil and in Greek, only under a
| different name. And listen, the highest
| pinnacle of learning is built on these
same humble letters l learned at my
mothers knee. And what they are to
| OH Tie culture anu tedTuluS III luis
world so is repentance to him who would
| win the blessings of the next. The first
thing must be repentance and the last
thing must be repentance. 1t was the
first thing I did when I started on the
good way, l repent every day,
and 1 want it to be the last
thing before 1 go to heaven.
There Is no such thing as absolute per-
lection. That day Will never come hut
what you will need help, but God will
forgive and is ready, even to His utter
most. Be holy, be perfect as you can
be. The proof that you are sincerely
repententent lies in your recuperative
power. 1t is not that you never slip
down the bank, but that you spring up
and go on again. Like an India rubber
ball-every time you fall you rise higher
than before. That is perfection in its
best and erandest sense.
al am not one of those long faced
preachers who go about railing humanity
to their faces and whining that we are
nothing but poor, weak, unworthy
worms. It's Iiel You can be worthy
and noble if you will Oh, you men of
thought and sense, thousand times
have you wished that you were u better
man and you can be. Lay aside that
musty old chestnut-you can be if you
will! DOME belittle yourself. I think
1 hold the palm when II comes
to giving hypocrites their due. Your
own talk is only gag. The devil has
used it-yeur father used it! It's been
used for 5000 years. You say if hypo-
critics would only do so ana So. What
business is it of yours? Who made you
judge? You sit there and croak. I'll
tell you the fellow like. It's not the
kind that sit on the fence and point
out the weeds in the corn. It's the fell
low that gets down. takes a hoe and
helps to cut out the weeds. There are
5000 of you fellows sitting on the fence
and criticising. Who made you judge?
You lazy old dog, you'd better get
down and go to work. You ii never
get rid of impuritY and meanness by
criticism.
''You think just because you are not
IN the church you have license to do
wrong. That's the biggest mistake in
the world. I've got just as much license
TO go ont in the town and get drunk as
any man; I've got just as much right to
go out and gamble as any blockguaFd,
God being Judge. Who gave you the
power to pass Judgment God saith the
wicked shall die! License! That mis-
take is as big and long as eternity, and
mas COST IUduy u udu MS soul.
EDO as please! There is the trouble
and there are those who come into the
church and still say it. I've had storm
about my ears because 1 said that
. Young man who would go and sit down
beside pure young Methodist girl ana
persuade her to waltz is one who would
sneer at her virtue. It's & disgrace to
the church and pure womanhood. What
will debauch the church will debauch
virtue aud what will harm pure woman
hood will debauch the church, all things
being equal The young man who will
do that only desists from the girls virtue
because of the shotgun IN her fathers
hands, and anybody who will debauch
the church will debauch pure woman
hood. The church ought to be as pure
as womanbood. Whenever you sit down
and try to persuade that innocent girl to
dance, your efforts are to debauch her
virtue.
At this point Rev MIR. Jones turned
suddenly around and faced the big body
of ministers who sat on the stage.
''Why don't you all say amen?' he
asked, abruptly. s'It's a good place to
put il in. This was followed by a
startled burst of amens, and NJ. Jones
continued: ''When you see q good
place you can jump in and
help me. Don't you see I'm pulling
against the stream2 Here, Brother
Wells, what are you doing out there
among the sinners?' he called out as he
caught sight of j Morgan Wells out in
the side. 81 want you to scotch for me
occasionally. - During this period the
ministers seemed more taken aback than
the dancing sinners in the audience. The
preachers abrupt call for help had an
edge on it which cut both ways.
The sermon went on: GAS sure as you
live no man has a right to do what the
church cannot do. Quit getting comfort
from that mistake. You IL all go to the
same bell.
Repentance? One old woman told
me it was being so sorry for your sins
that you ID never do so any more. That
definition beats the books. And religion
was being so sorry for your sins that
you ID never wish do so any more. That
it, the whole Gospel plan. a plain
definition of repentance is, quit your
meanness right short off. It
makes me tired to hear YOU say can't |