Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-01-30

four hundred and ninety times: Because
the Bib!e says seventy times seven. Now lg
ure that out, You who DO not think man
can fall four times eight times, ten times,
twenty times. one hundred times, four hun
dred times, AMI yet be save3- Four hundred
and ninety TIMES! WIN there IS q great
multitude before the throne o. God who
plunged into all The deDths OF iniqu ~.
There We're no sins they did not commit: but
they were washed of body and washed OF
mind and washed of soul, and they are be-
fore the throne OF God now forever happy. L
say that TO encourage any man who feels
there is no chance for him.
Good Templars will not save you, although
they are grand institutions. Sons of Tenn
perance viii not sa-e you, although there Is
no better society on earth. Signing the tenn
perance pledge will not save you, although IL
is grand thing to do. No one but God can
save you. Do not put your confidence in
bromide Of potassium or anything that the
apothecary can mix. Put you trust In God!
After the church has cast you of, and the
bank has cast you off, and social circles have
cast you off, and all good society have cast
you off, and father hes cast you off, and
mother has cast you Off, at your hrstcry for
help God will bend clean down TO that ditch
of your iniquity to help you out. Oh, what
God He is! Long suffering and gracious!
There may be in this house some whose
hand trembles so with dissipation they could
hardly hold hymn booS. [ say to such il
they are here: ''You will preach the Gospel
yet. You will YET, some OF you, carry the
holy communion nrough the aisles, and YOU
will be acceptable to everybody because
everybody will know YOU are saved and
purified by the grace of God. and conse-
crateu man, wholly consecrated. Your bust
ness has got to come Up, your physical
health is to be rebuilt Your family is to be
restored, the Church OF God en- earth and
in heaven is to rejoice over your coming,
''Other sheep have [ which are not of this
fold" Ii this is not the Gospel do not
know what the Gospel is. It can scale any
height, it can fath0m any depth, il can com
pass any infinity. think one reason why
there are not more people saved is ve do
not swing the door wide enough open.
Now there is only one class of persons in
this house about whom / have any despond-
ency, and that is those who have been hear
ing the Gospel for perhaps twenty, thirty,
forty years. Their outward life is moral,
but they tell you frankly they do not love the
Lord Jesus Christ, have not trusted Him, have
not been born again by the spirit of God.
They are Gospel hardened. The Gospel has
no more effect upon them than the shining
Of the moon on the city pavement. The
pubhcans and the harlots go into the king
dom of God before they. They went through,
some of them, tie revival OF 1857. when 500,
600 souls were brought to God. Some of them
went through great revivals in individual
saved. They were merely spectators. Gospel
hardeced! After awhile we will hear that
they are sick, and then that they are dead,
and then that they died without any hope.
Gospel hardened!
But turn away from all such with a thrill
Of hope to those who are not Gospel hard
ened. Sore Of you have not heard, perhaps
five sermons in i've years. This whole sab
ject 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 soma soul
saying: "Oh, my wasted life! Oh, the bitter
past! Oh the graves [ stumbled over!
Whittier shall fly? The future is SO DARK, SO
dark, SO very dark! God help mel"
Oh, l am so glad for that last utterance!
That was prayer, and as soon as you be-
gin to pray that turns all heaven this way,
and God steps in, and de beats back the
hounds of temptation to their kennels, and
He throws all around the pursued soul the
covert of His pardonine: mercy. l heard
something fall. What was it? It was the
bars around the sheepfold, the bars of the
fence around the sheepfOd. The heavenly
Shepherd let them fall, and the hunted sheep
of the mountain come bounding in, some
with fleece torn Of the brambles, and others
with feet lame from the dogs, but bounding
in. Thank God! ''Other sheephave which
are not Of this fold
God forbid that any OF you should have the
lamentation Of the dying nobleman who had
every opportunity Of salvation, but rejected
ALL and who wrote or dictated these words:
Before you receive this my final state will
be determined. / am throwingmy last stake
for eternity, and tremble and sbudder for
the important issue. Oh, my friend, with
what horror do Irecall the hours of vanity
we have wasted together; but have splen-
did passage to the grave. die in state, and
languish under a gilded canopy. I am ex-
piring on soft and downy pillows, and am
respectfully attended by my servants and
physicians. My depondants sigh, my sisters
weep, my father bends beneath a load Of
years and grief. But oh, which of these
will answer my summons at the high tri-
bunal? And which of these will bail me from
the arrest of death? While some fattering
panegyric is pronounced at my interment, I
may be hearing my just condemnation at
supreme tribunal Adieup