The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1891-01-22

Christ says that ministers of the Cos
pei are to be fishers for men. Now,
when / go fishing 1 do not want TO fish
in any body else's pond. do not want
to go along Hoholeus creek, where there
are ten or fifteen men fishing, and drop
my line Just about where they are
dropping their lines. / should like to
get in a Newfoundland fishing smack
and push out to sea fifty miles beyond
the breakers. l do not think the Church
of God gains a great deal when you
take sheep from one fold and put them
in another fold. 1t is the lost sheep on
the mountains you want to bring back
the lost sheep on the mountains. And
they are coming to-day.
You are now this hour in the tide of
Christian influences. You are going to
be swept in; your voice is going to be
heard in prayer; you are going to be
consecrated to God; you are going to
live life of usefulness, and your death
bed is going to be surrounded by Chris
tan sympathizers; and devout men
will carry you to your burial when
your work is done, and these words
will be chiseled for your epitaph: Pre-
cious in the sight of the Lord is the death
of His saints" And all that history is
going to begin to-day. ''Other sheep
have l which arc not of this fold"
Again remark, the Heavenly Shep-
herd is going to find many of His sheep
among those who are now rejecters of
Christianity. l do not know how you
came to reject Christianity. / do not
know whether it was through hearing
Theodore Parker preach, or whether it
was reading Remains Life of Jesus, or
whether it was through some skeptic in
the store or factory. Or it may be
probably in the case-that you were
disguised with religion and disguised
with Christianity because some man
who professed to be a Christian defraud-
ed you, and he being a member of the
church, and you taking him as repre-
sentative of the Christian religion, you
said: well, if that's religion, l don't
want any of it."
do not know how you came to re-
ject 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 a very good man. You say: eff
the Bible be true-I nevertheless think
the earlier part of the Bible is an
allegory." And there are fifty things
that l believe you do not believe.
Nevertheless they tell me in regard to
you that you are an accommodating,
you are an obliging person. If l should
come to you and ask of you favor you
would grant it if it were possible. 1t
would be joy for you to grant me a
favor. If any of your friends came to
you and wanted an accommodation, and
YOU could accommodate them, how glad
you would be.
Now am going to ask of you favor.
1 want you to oblige me. The accom-
mediation will cost you nothing, and will
give me great happiness OF course you
will not deny me. l want you as an ex-
pertinent to try the Christian religion.
If it does not stand the test, discard it,;
if it does, receive it.
If you were very sick, and you had
been given up of the doctors, and came
to YOU and took bottle of medicine
from my pocket and said Here is med
icine / am sure will help you; it has
cured fifty people, you would say: Oh,
l haven't any confidence in it; they tell
me all these medicines will fail me"
WELL" say, will you not, as mat
ter of accommodation to myself, just
try it?'' WELL" you say, 81 have no OBJ
lection to trying it; if il will be any salts
faction 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
are unhappy, struck through with I'M
rest. Now will you not try this solace,
this febrifuge, this anodyne, this Cos
pei medicine? oh" you say, II
haven't any faith in it." AS a matter
of accommodation, let me introduce you
to the Lord JesYs 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 on 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 clergy
men may be prejudiced; perhaps we
may be speaking professionally; per-
haps we may give you wrong advice;
,.o,lo,oe ,,,a ara ,,orhid On that Suhiaot
so l do not ask you to take the advice
of clergymen. ] ask you to take advice
of every respectable layman, 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 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, a Christ that
the world needs.
Now / do not ask you to take the adj
vice of clergymen. Take the advice OF
laymen. 1t does not make any differ
ence to me at this juncture what you
have said against the Bible, it does not
make any difference at this juncture
how you may have caricatured religion
take the advice of men who are prom
inent in secular affairs, as these men
whom have mentioned, and others who
Immediately occur to your mind. You