Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-01-16

"a lie
think it must have been "why?"
There We're times when doubted the
existence of God, when l doubted the di-
vinity of Christ, when doubted the inn
mortality of the soul, when l doubted
my own existence, when l doubted
everything. | have been through the
whole curriculum of doubt, and you can
tell me nothing new about it, l have
come out from great Sahara desert into
the calm, warm, sunshny land of tho
gospel. know about the other land. [
have been there. You can tell me moth
ing new aboutit. And know all about
the other condition of which you do not
know anything-thc peace. the comfort,
the JOY, the triumph of trusting in God
and in Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
So L am not SOOTHING in regard it.
There are some things l believe that
you do no not, but there ar, some things
that believe and you do believe. You
believe in love-a fathers love, moth
cr's love, q wifes love, chld's love.
Now letme 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 ten
derness of the gospel, into your soul, and
he says, s'Ihis is your time for heaven
and then he waves his hand to the pco-
pie of God, and he says, 'Othcr sheep
have which are not of this fold"
They say If u man has had the de-
lirium tremens tI1icc he cannot be cured.
They say if woman has fallen Srom in
tegrity she cannot be redeemed. All of
which is an infinite SANDER on the Gospel
OF the Son of God. Men who say that
know nothing about practical religion in
their own hearts. How many times will
God take back man who has fallen:
Well, l cannot give you the exact figures.
but can tell you at what point he GER
tainly will take him back. -Four hundred
and ninety times. Why do l say four
hundred and ninety times? Because the
Bible says seventy times seven.
Now figure that out, you who do not
think q man can fall four times, ei.ht
times, ten times, twenty times, one HIM
dred times, four hundred times and yet
be saved. Four hundred and ninety
| times! Why, there is q 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 aad washed of sonl, and they are
before the throne of God now forever
| A0PPy. say buUV W cuCOuIGSedu any man
who feels there is no chance for him.
Now there is only one class of persons
in this house about whom have any
dependency, and that is those who have
been hearing the gospel for perhaps
twenty, thirty, forty years. Their out
ward life is moral, but they tell you
frankly they do not love the Lord Jesus
Christ, have not trusted Him, have not
l NV hn Of Eol
They are gospel-hardened. The gospel
has no more effect upon them than the
shining of the moon on the city pave
ment. The publicans and the harlots go
into the Kingdom of God before they.
They went through, some of them, the
revival of 1857, when 500, 900 souls We're
brought to God. Some of them went
through great revivals in individual
churches. Still unpardoned, unblessed,
unsaved. They were merely spectators.
!, Gospel-hardened! After awhile we will
!, hear that they are sick, and that they
are dead, and then that they died with
} out any hope. Gospel-hardened!
But turn away from all such with a
thrill of hope to those who are not gospel
l hardened. Some of you have not heard,
perhaps, five sermons in five years. This
e 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: "Oh, my wasted life! Oh, the
bitter past! Oh, the graves l stumbled
over! Whittier shall fly? The future
is so dark, so dark, so very dark! God
help metz
Oh, am so glad for that last utter
ance! That was prayer, and as soon
as you begin to pray that turns heaven
this way, and God steps in, and He beats
back the hounds of temptation to their
kennels, and He throws all around the
pursued soul the covert of His pardoning
mercy. heard something fall. What
was it? 1t was the bars around the
sheepfold, the bars of the fence around
the sheepfold. The Heavenly Shepherd
let them fall, and the hunted sheep of
the mountain come bounding in, some
others with feet lame from the dogs, but
bounding in. Thank God! "Other sheep
have which are not of this fOld''
God forbid that any of you should have
the lamentation of the dying nobleman
who had had every opportunity of saliva
ton. but rejected all, and who wrote or
ceive this my final state will be deter
mined. am throwing my last stake for
eternity, and tremble and shudder for
the important issue. Oh, my friend, with
what horror do l recall the hours of
vanity we have wasted together; but 1
have a splendid passage to the grave.
die in state, and languish under gilded
canopy. am expiring on soft and downy
pillows, and am respectfully attended by
my servants and physicians. My depend
ants sigh, my sisters weep, my father
bends beneath load of years and grief.
But oh! which of these will answer my
summons at the high tribunal? And
which of these will bail me from the ar
rest of death? While some fattering
panegyric is pronunced at my interment,
Imay be hearing my just condemnation at
supreme tribunal. Adieu!'
Il An Unhappy Illustration.