The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1891-07-07
astray. o man! that was the last time


earthly fortunes, how could you get
along without God to comfort YOU, aud
God to deliver you, and a God to help
you, and God to save your You tell
me you bave been through, enough busi-
ness trouble almost to kill you. Iknow
1t. | cannot understand how the boat
could live one hour ip that chopped sea.
But do not know by what process you
got astray; some in one way, and some
In another, and If you could really see
the position some OF you occupy before
God this morning, your soul would burst
Into an agony of tears and you would
pelt the heavens with the cry, "God have
mercy" Sinai's batteries have been
unlimbered above your soul, and at
times you haveIbeard it,thunder: "The
wages OF sin is DEATH" Gall have sin :
ned and co lie short fthe glory of God. -
by one man SIN entered into the world,
and death by sin; and 80 death passed
u on all men, for that all have sinned.'
"The soul that sinneth it shall die"
When Sebastopol was being lombard.
ed, two Russian frigates burned all night
In the harbor throwing a glare upon the
trembling fortress, and some of you are
star ding in the night of your souls trou.
BILE. The cannonade and the confayra-
iion, the multiplication of your sorrows
and troubles l think must make the
wings of Gods lowering angels shiver
to the tip.
But the last part of my text opens a
door wide enough to let us all out and
to let all heaven in. Sound it on the
organ with all the stops out. Thrum it
on the harps with all the strings atune.
With all the melody possible let the
heavens sound it TO the earth and let
the earth tell it to the heavens. 1.-THE
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us
ALL" l am glad that the prophet did
not stop to explain whom he meant by
"him." Him of the manger, him of the
bloody sweat, him OF the resurrection
throne, HIM of the crucilixion agony.
"On him the Lord hath laid the lniquity
Of us ALL"
CHRIST COMES TO THE FALLEN.
"Oh," says some man, shat Is not
generous, that is not fair; let every man
carry his own burden and pay his own
debts" That sounds reasonable. If
have an obligation and L have the means
TO meet it, and come to you and ask
you to settle that obligation. you right
ly say, PAY your own debts" If you
and l walking down the street, both
hale, hearty and well, l ask you to car
ry me, you say, and say rightly, "Walk
on Your own feet!" But suppose you
and l were ia regiment and 1 was
wounded in the battle and 1 fell uncon-
scious at your feet with gunshot fractures
and dislocations, what would you do?
You would call to your comrades say
irg, "Come aud help, this man is help.
less; bring the ambulance, let us take
him to the hospital" and / would be O
dead lift in your arms, and you would
lift me from the ground where 1 had
fallen and put me in the ambulance and
take me to the hospital and have all
kindness shown me. Would there be
anything mean in your doing that?
Would there be anything bemeaning in
my accepting that kindness? Oh, no.
You would be mean not to do it. THAT
is what Christ does.
If we could pay our debts then it would
be better to go up and pay them, saying,
Here. Lord, here is my obligation;
here are the means with which L mean
to settle that obligation; now give mo a
receipt; cross 1t all out" The debt is
paid. But the fact is we have fallen in
the battle, we have gone down under thu,
hot fire of our transgressions, we have
been wounded by the sabers of sin, we
are help y. we are undone. Christ
comes. The loud clang heard in the sky
on that Christmas night was only the
bell, the rcsoundiEg bell, of the ambu-
lance. Clear the way for the Son of
God. He comes down to bind up the
wounds. and to oscatter the darkness, and
..c save the lost. Clear the way for the
Son of God.
Christ comes down to see us, and we
are dead lift. He does not lift us with
the tips of his fingers. He does not lift
us with one arm. He comes down upon
his knee, and then with dead lift he
raises us TO honor and glory and immor-
tality. The Lord hath laid on him the,
iniqu!ty of us all.' Why, then, will no
man carry his sins? You cannot carry
successfully the smallest sin you ever
committed. You might as we'll put the
Apennines on one shoulder and the
Alps on the other, How much less can
you carry all the sins of your lifetime!
Christ comes and looks down In your
face and says: II have come through
all the decorations of these DAYS and
through all the tempests of these nights.
l have come to bear your burdens, and
to pardon your sins, and to pay your
debts. Put them on my shoulder; put
them on my heart" "Onhim the Lord
hath lald the iniquity of us all.
NO REST FOR THE WICKED.
Sin has almost pestered the life out OF
some OF you. At times ithas made you
cross and unreasonable, and it has spoil
ed the brightness of your days and the
peace of Your nights. There are men
wlo have been riddled of sin. The
world gives them no solace. Gossamer
and volatile the world, while eternity,
as they look forward to It, is black as
midnight. They writhe under the stings
OF conscience which proposes to give
no rest here and no rest hereafter; and
yet they donotrepent, they do not pray,
they do not weep. They do not realize
that just the position they occupy is the
position occupied by scores, hundreds
and thousands OF men who never found
any hope.
1t this meeting should be thrown open
and the peopl. who are here could give
their testimony, what thrilling expert
ences we should hear on all sides! There
Is a man in the gallery who would say;
II had brilliant surroundings. had the
best education that one of the best col.
legiate institutions OF this country could
give, and | observed all the moralites OF
life, and | was self righteous, aud ]
thought was all right before God as /
| .,h .l.N Lap