Sharp County record., 1891-01-29

touch the depth Of a mans iniqultV' II
man were out hunting for deer, ana
got off the track OF the deer, he would
hunt amid the bushes and the brakes
longer for the lost game than he Will
look for a lost soul.
They say if a man has had the deli
rum tremens twice he can not be cured.
They say if a woman has fallen from
integrity she can not be redeemed. All
of which is an infinite slander on the
Gospel of the Son of God Men who say
that know nothing about practical re-
ligion in their owns heart How many
times will God take a man who has fall
en-? Well, can not give you the exact
figures, but l can tell you at what point
He certainly will take him back. -Four
hundred and ninety-nine times. Why dol
say four hundred and ninety-nine times?
because the Bible says seventy times
seven. Now figure that out, you who
do not think man can fall four times,
eight times, ten times, twenty times,
one hundred times, four hundred times,
and yet be saved. -Four hundred and
ninety-nine times! Why, there is a
great multitude before the throne OF
God who plunged into all the depths OF
iniquity. There were no sins they did
not commit, but they were washed OF
body, and washed of mind, and washed
of soul, and they are before the throne
of God now forever happy. l say that
to encourage any man who feels there
is no chance for him.
Good Templars will not save you al
though they are a grand institution.
Sons of Temperance will not save you,
although there is no better society on
earth. Signing the temperance pledge
will not save you, although tits grand
thing to do. No one but God can save
you. Do not put your confidence in
bromide of potassium, Or any thing that
the apothecary can mix. Put your trust
in God! After the church has cast you
off, and the bank has cast you Off and
social circles have cast you off, and
mother has cast you off, at your first
cry for help God will bend clean down
to that ditch of your iniquity to help
you out. Oh, what God He is! Long
suffering and gracious!
There may be in this house some
whose hand trembles so with dissipa-
ton that they could hardly hold ahymn
book. I say to such, if they are here,
"You will preach the Gospel yet; you
will yet, some of you, carry the Holy
Communion thl ough the aisles, and you
will be acceptable to every body, be-
cause every body will know youare saved
and purified by the grace of God, and a
consecrated man, wholly consecrated.
Your business has got to come up, your
physical health is to be rebuilt, your
family is to be restored, the church of
God on earth and in Heaven is to re-
joice over your coming. "Other sheep
have l which are not of this fold" If
this is not the Gospel, l do not know
what the Gospel is. 1t can scale any
height, it can fathom any depth, it can
compass any infnity, think one rea-
son why there are not more people
saved is we do not swing the door wide
enough open, Now there is only one
class of persons in this house about
whom 1 have any dependency, and
that is those who have been hearing
the Gospel for perhaps twenty,
thirty, forty years, Their outward
life moral, but they tell you frankly
they do not love the Lord Jesus Christ;
have not trusted Him; have not been
born again by the Spirit of God. They
are Gospel-hardened The Gospel has
no more effect upon them than the shin
ing Of the moon on the city pavement.
The publicans and the harlots 60 into
the Kingdom of God before they, They
went through, somcof them, the revival
of 1857, when five hundred thousand
souls were brought to God. Some Of
them went through great revivals
in individual churches. Still un-
pardoned unblessed, unsaved. They
were merely spectators, Gospel
hardened! After awhile we viii
hear that they are sick, ana
then that they are dead, and then that
they died without any hope. Gospel
But turn away from all
such with a thrill of hope to those who
are not Gospel-hardened. Some of you
have not heard, perhaps, five sermons
in five years. This whole subject has
been novelty to you for some time.
You are not Gospel-hardened; you
know you are not Gospel-hardened
The whole subject comes freshly to
your mind. | hear some soul saying:
80, my wasted life! o, the bitter pastl
D, the graves | stumbled Overt Whittier
shall fly? The future is so dark, SO
dark, so very dark. God help me.'
Oh, | am so glad for that last utter
ance! That was prayer, and as soon
as you begin to pray, that turns all
Heaven this way, and God steps in, and
lie beats back the hounds Of tcmpta-
ton TO their kennels, and lie throws all
around the pursued soul the covert OF
His pardoning mercy. | heard some-
thing fall. What YVES it? 1t was tho
bars around the sheepfold, The Heaven
ly Shepherd let them fall, and tho
hunted sheep Of the mountain came
l,o,,d;nr In soma with Nppop form ~