The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-01-21

beirc, although you think he was very
| rood man. You say, ''It the Bible IS
true-the most of 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 accom-
modating, you are an o5lisins person.
If l should come to you and ask OF you
favor you would grant it i; 1t were
possible. It would be JOY for you to
grant me favor. If any your friends
came to you and wanted an accommo-
datlon and you could accommodate
them, how glad YOU would be.
Now I am going to ask you ! favor.
want you to oblige me. The acvomoda-
ton will cost you nothing, and you will
give me great happiness. Of course you
will not deny me. l want you as an
experiment to try the Christian religion.
If it does not stand the test. discard 1t;
if it does, receive it.
Ifyou were very sick, and you had
been given up of the doctors, and L
took bottle Of medicine from my pock-
ct and said, Here is medicine l am
sure will help you; it has cured fifty
people," you would say, ''Oh, l haven't
any confidence in ii; they tell me all
these medicines will fail me" !" ''Well, }"
say, twill you not, as matter Of ac-
commodation to myself, just try It,"
ssWell," you say, Il have no objection
10 trying it; if it will be any satisfaction
to you 1 will try it." You take it.
Now you are sick in disquietude, sick
IN sin. You are not happy. I ou
laugh sometimes when you are mlser-
able. There come surges Of unhappl-
ness over your soul that almost swamp
you. You are unhappy. struck through
with unrest. Now. will you not try
thi. solace, this febrifuge, this anodyne,
this Gospel medicine?
''Oh,' you say, 81 haven't any faith
In it." AS 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 on your soul !:
Just let me introduce him to you. DO
not ask you to take my word for 1t. /
de- not ask You to take the advice OF
clergvmen. Perhaps the clergymen
may be preiudiced; perhaps we may be
speaking professionally; perhaps we
may give you wrong advice; perhaps
we may give you wrong advice; perhaps
we are morbid on that subject; so do
not ask you to take the advice Of clergy
men. ask you to take the advice OF
very respectable laymen, such as Will
liam Shakespeare, the dramatlst; as
William Wilberforcc, the statesman; as
Isaace Newton, the astronomer; as Rob-
ert Boyle, the philosopher; as Locke: the
metaphysiclan; as Morse, the electrl-
clan.
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 Leo
pie, a Christ that the world needs.
Vow 90 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 carlcatured
religion. Take the advice OF men who
are prominent in secular affairs, as these
men whom I have mentioned and otuers
who Immediately occur TO your mind.
I never scotied at skepticism. [ have
been natural skeptic. l do MOI know
what the first word was that l uttered
after enteEiag the world but 1 think 1t
must have been "why:'
There are some things I believe that
YOU do not, but there are some things
that I believe and you do believe. You
believe in love-a fathers love, moth
er's love. Now let me tell you God
loves you more than all Of them to-
gether, and you must come in, you will
come in. Christ looks in all tenderness,
with the infinite tenderness Of the gos-
pei, into your soul, and he says, This
is your time for heaven" and then ne
waves his hand TO the people OF God,
and he says, "Other sheep have which
are not of this fold.''
Again remark, the Heavenly Shep-
herd is going to get many Of his sheep
among those vino have been Of evil
habit.
It outrages me to see how soon Chris
tian people give up the prodigal. I
hear Christian people talk as though
they thought the grace OF God were a
chain of forty OF fifty links, and when
they had run out then there was moth
ing to touch the depth of mans inlquity.
If man were out hunting for deer, and
got of 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.
Good Templars will not save you, al
though they are grand institution.
Sons of Temperance will not save you,
although there is no better society on
earth. Signing the temperance pledge
will not save you, although 1t is grand
thing to do. No one but God can save
you. Do not put your confidence in
bromide OF potassirm or anything but
what the apothecary can mix. Put
Your trust in God! After the church
has cast yes Off, and the bank has cast
You off, and social circles cast you off,
and father has cast you of, and mother
has cast you Oft, at your first cry for
help God will bend clean down to that
ditch of your iniQuity to help you out.
Oh, what God he is! Long suffer-
ing and gracious!
Oh, am so glad for that last utter
ance: That was prayer, and as soon
as you begin to pray that turns all heav-
en- this way, and God steps in, and he
beats back the hounds of temptation to
their kennel. and he throws all around
the pursued soul the covert Of his par
doning mercy. I heard something fall.