The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1891-01-22

test, discard it; if it does, receive it.
! II you were very sick, and you had
been given up OF the doctors, and /
came to you and took a bottle of
medicine from my pocket and said,
Here is a medicineI am sure will help
you; it has cured SO people," YOU
would say, ooh, haven't any conf
dence in it, they tell me all these medi-
clnes will fail me-" "Well," I say,
"Wlll you not, as matter of accom-
mediation to myself, just try it,"
".Well," you say, II have no objec-
ton to trying it; if it will be any salts
faction to you will try it," You
take 1T. Now you are sick in Dispute
| tude, sick in sin. You are not happy.
| You laugh sometimes when you are
miserable There come surges of I'M
| happiness over your soul that almost
swamp you. You are unhappy, struck
through with unrest. Now will you
not try this solace, this febrifuge, this
anodyne, this gospel medicine? "Oh,"
you say, 81 haven't any faith in it"
! AS a matter of accommodation, let
me introduce you to the Lord Jesus
| Christ, the Great Physician. "Why,"
you say, 81 haven't any faith in him.
| Well, now, will you not Just let him
come and try his power on your soul?
Just let me introduce him to you. I
40 not ask you to take my word for
| it. do not ask you to take the ad-
vice OF clergymen. Perhaps the clergy
men may be prejudiced; perhaps we
may be speaking professionally; per-
haps we may give you wrong advice;
perhaps we are morbid on that sub
ject; SO l do not ask you to take the
advice of clergymen. 1 ask you to
take the advice of very respectable
laymen such as William Shakespere.
the dramatist; as Wilberforce. the
statesman; as Isaac Newton, the as
| tronomer; as Robert Boyle, the phil
osOpher; as Locke, the metaphysician;
| as Morse, the electrician. These men
never preached-they never pretended
| to preach-but they come out, and
putting down, one his telescope and
another the electricians wire, and an
| other the parliamentary scroll-they
come out and they commend Christ
| as a comfort to all the people. q
Christ that the world needs. Now, I
| do not ask you to take the advice of
clergymen Take the advice of these
laymen. It does not make any differ
WV
have said against the Bible; it doesnot
make any difference to me at this
Juncture how you may have carica-
tured religion. Take the advice of
men who are prominent in secular al
fairs, as these men whom | have men,
toned, and others who Immediately
occur to your mind. You see | do not
scott at scepticism. had a good rea-
son for not scotfing. l have been a.
natural sceptic. do not know what
the first word was that l uttered after
entering this world but I think it
must have been 'why?" There were
| times when doubted the existance of
God, when l doubted the divinity of
Christ, when doubted the immortali-
ty OF the soul, when doubted my own
eNistance, when doubted everything.
have been through the whole curric-
ulum OF doubt, and you can tell me
nothing new about it. | have come
out from a great Sahara desert into
the calm, warm, sunshiny land OF the
gospel. know about the other land.
have been there You can tell me
nothing new about it; and l know all
about the other condition of which
you do not know anything peace,
the comfort, the Joy, the triumph of
trusting in God and in Jesus Christ
whom he has sent. So am not SCOT
fling in regard to it.
There are some things | believe that
you do not; but there are some things
that | believe that you do believe.
You believe in love-a fathers love, a
mothers love, a wife's love, a child's
love. Now let me tell you, God loves
you more than all of them together;
and you must come in, you will come
in. Christ looks in all tenderness,
with the infinite tenderness of the Cos
pei, into your soul and he says, This
is your time for heaven" and then he
waves his hand to the people of God,
and he says, "Other sheep have
which are not of this fOld.'
| Again [ remark, the Heavenly Shep-
herd is going to get many of his sheep
among those who have been flung of
evil habit.
1t outrages me to see how soon
Christian people give up the prodigal.
| hear Christian people talk as though
they thought the grace of God were a.
chain of 40 or SO links, and when
they had run out then there was
nothing to touch the depth OF
a mans iniquity. If a man were
out hunting for deer, and 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
delirium tremens twice he cannot be
cured. They say if woman has
fallen from integrity she cannot be
redeemed. All of which is an infinite
Islander on the gospel of the Son
OF God. Men who say they know
nothing about practical religion in
their own hearts. How many times
will God take back man who has
fallen? Well, I cannot give you the
exact figures, but I can tell you at
what point he certainly will take him
back. Four hundred and ninety
times. Why do say 400 times? Be-
cause the Bible says 20 times7. Now,
figure that out, you who do not
| think a man can fall four times. eight