The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1891-01-17

christianity. L do not know whether it
wasthrough hearing Theodore Parker
preach, or whether it was reading Re
mans Life of Jesus =" or whether it was
through some skeptic in the store or
factory. Or it may be--probably is the
case-that you were Disguised with re-
ligion and Disguised with Christianity
because some man who professed to be
Il Christian ~defrauded you, and he being
"A member of the church, and you tax
ing him as "a representative of the Chris
tian religion, you said: WELL, If that's
religion, l don't want any of it,"
l do net know how you came to reject
Christianity, but you frankly tell me
you do reject it. You do not think the
Bible is the word of God, although
there are many things in it you admire;
you do not think that Christ was a
divine being, although you think he
was n very good man.
Nevertheless they tell me in regard
to o nat you are an accommodating,
you are an obliging person. If l should
come to you n ask of you u favor you
would grant it if il were possible. 1t
would be II joy for You to grant me Il
favor. IL any of your friends came to
you and wanted an accommodation and
you could accommodate them how glad
you would be! No ! am going to ask
of you n favor. l want you TO oblige
me. The accommodation will cost you
nothing and will give me great happi-
ness. OF course you will not deny me.
j want you rs an e Experiment. TO try the
Christian religion. If it does not stand
the test, discard t.; If IL does, receive it.
If you were very sick, and you had
been given up by the doctors, and !
came to you and | took a bottle of
medicine from my pocket and said:
Here is medicine | am sure will help
you; 1t has cured fifty people" you
would say: 80, | haven't any confidence
in it; they tell me all these medicines
will fail me-" 'Well," | say, will you
not, as n matter of accommodation to
myself, just try it?l' WELL" you say,
II have no objection to trying it; if ii
will be any satisfaction 20 you l 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 are unhappy,
struck through with unrest. Now will
| you not try this solace, this febrifuge,
this anodyne, this gospel medicinef
80, ynn 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, II haven't any faith in
Him. Well, now, will you not just let
Him come and try His power o. your
soul? Just let me introduce him to you.
/ 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 l do not
ask You to take the advice of clergymen.
L ask You to take the advice of very
respectable laymen such as William
Shakespeare, the dramatist, as William
| Wilberforce, the statesman, as Isaac
Newton, the astronomer, as Robert
Boyle, the philosopher, as Locke, the
metaphysician, as Moore, the electri.
clan. These men never preached-they
never pretended to preach-but they
came out, and putting down, one his
telescope and another the electricians
wire, and another the parliamentary
~scroll-they come out and commend
Christ as a comfort to all the people, a
/ Christ that the world needs. Now
| do not ask you to take the
advice of clergymen.
There are some things l believe that
you donot, but there are some things that
/ believe anc you do believe. You be.
| lieve in love-a fathers love, n 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 ten.
derness of the gospel, into your soul
and He says: This is your time foI
| Heaven, and then He waves His hand
10 the people of God and He says:
sotlet sheep haTe6I which are notos
this foid.r
Again | remark, the Heavenly Shep-
herd is going to get many of His sheer
among those who have been flung OF
evil habit. 1t outrages me TO see how
soon Christian people give up the prodi.
gal. 1 hear Christian people talk a.
though they thought the grace of God
were a chain of forty or fifty links and
when they had run out then there was
nothing to touch the depth of n 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 deliri-
um tremens twice he can not be cured.
They say that if a woman has fallen
from integrity she can not be redeemed.
1 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 Tod take back a
man who has fallen? Well, l 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 times. Why do / say 400 times?
Because the Bible say seventy times
seven. Now, figure hat out, you who
do not think u man can fall four time 8,
eight times, ten times, twenty times,
one hundred times, four hundred times,
and yet be saved. Four hundred and
ninety times! Why, there is a great
multitude before the Throne of God
who plunged into all the depths of in
EQUITY. There were no sins they did
not commit, but they were washed of
body, and washed pf mind, and washed
of soul, and they are before the Throne
of God now %forevever happy. ! say that
to coura any man who feels that
there is no chance for him.
Good Templars will not save you, al
though they are grand institution. sons
of Temperance will not save you, al
though there is no better society on
earth. Signing the temperance pledge
will not save you, although it is a grand
thing to do. No ne put God can save
you. Do not put your confidence in
bromide of p~otassitl am, or any thing that
the apothecary can mix. Put your trust
in God! After tho church has cast you
! off, and the bank has cast you off, and
social circles have cast you off n all
: good society has cast you off, and father
has 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. o, what
a God He is? Long suffering and gra-
cious!
There may be in this house some
whose hand trembles sc with dissipa-
ton they could hardly hold a hymn
book. ] say to such, IL they are here,
"You will preach the gospel yet; you
will vet, some of you, carry the holy
communion through the aisles, and you