Connecticut western news., 1891-01-14

medicine from my pocket and said, "Here is medicine an sure will help you; it has cured fifty people" you would say, ''Oh, I haven't any conf dence in it; they tell me all these med icines will fail me-" We'll" I say, will you not, as a matter of accom- modation to myself, just try ita' Well" you say, II have no objection to trying it; if it will be any satisfac- tion to you will try it." You take it. Now you are sick in disquietude, sick in sin. You are not happy. You laugh sometimes when you are miserable. There come surges of unhappiness over your soul that almost swamp you. You l are unhappy, struck through with un rest. Now, will you not try this solace, l this febrifuge this anodyne. this Cos l pei medicine2
 .Oh," you say, II haven't any faith in it." As a matterof accommodation, let me introduce you to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Physician. Why" you say. Il haven't any faith in him." Well. now, will you not just let him come and try his power on your soul2 | Just let me introduce him to you. l l do not ask you to take my word for it. do not ask you to take the advice of clergymen. Perhaps the clergymen may be prejudiced; perhaps we may be speaking professionally; perhaps we may give you wrong advice; perhaps we are morbid on that subject; so I do not ask you to take the advice of cler l gymen. ask you to take the advice of very respectable laymen, such as 1 William Shakespeare, the dramatist; as William Wilberforce, the statesman; as Isaac Newton, the astronomer; as Robert Boyle. the philosopher; as Locke, the metaphysician; as Morse, the electrician.
 l 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 another the parliamentary scroll-they come out, and they com mend Christ as comfort to all the peo- pie, a Christ that the world needs. Now do not ask you to take the ad- vice of clergymen. Take the advice of these laymen. It does not make any difference to me at this juncture what you have said against the Bible; it does not make any difference to me at this juncture how you may have cari- catured religion. Take the advice of men who are prominent in secular af- fairs, as these men whom I have men, toned and others who immediately oc- cur to your mind. You see I do not scoff at skepticism. never scoffed at slzepticisn. I have been a natural skeptic. do not know what the first word was that uttered after entering the world, but I think it must have been ''why9"
 There were times when doubted the existence of God, when I doubted the divinity of Christ. when doubted the immortality of the soul, when doubted my own existence, when I doubted everything. have been through the whole curriculum of doubt, and you can cell me nothing new about it. I have come out from great Sahara desert into the calm, warm, sunshiny land of the gospel. 1 know about the other land. I have been there. You can tell me nothing new about it. And know all about the other condition of which you do not know anything-the peace, the comfort, the joy, the triumph of trusting in God and in Jesus Christ whom he has sent. So am not scoff. ing in regard to it.
 There are some things I believe that you do not, but there are some things that believe and you do believe. You believe. in love-a fathers love, a mothers love, wife's love, child 8 love- Now let me tell you God loves you more than ali of them together, and you must come in, you will come in. Christ looks in all tenderness, with the infinite tenderness of the gospel 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 I 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 of evil habit.
 It outrages me to see how soon Chris. tian people give up the prodigal. l hear Christian people talk as though they thought the grace of God were a chain of forty or fifty links, and when they had run out then there was noth- ing to touch the depth of a mans in iquity 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 would look for lost soul.
 They say if man has had the de- irium tremens twice he cannot be cured. They say if a 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 that know nothing about practical religion in their own hearts. How many times will God take back a man who has fallen2 We'll, I cannot give you the exact figures, but cssn tell you at what point he certainly vii! take him back. Four hundred and ninety times. Why do say four hundred and ninety times? Because the Bible says seventy times Scycn.
 Now figure that ort, you who do not think 9 man can fall four times, eight times, ten times, twenty times, one hundred times, four hundred times, and yet be saved. Four hundred and nine ty times! Why. there is a great multi tude before the throne of God who plunged into all the depths of iniquity.