Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1891-06-29

nature like that be fed on husks Of Il
wilderness9
Substantial comfort will not grow
On natures barren soil:
All we can boast till Christ we know
Is vanity and toll.
Some of you got astray by lookin
for better pasturage Others by beiD
scared of the dogs. The hound get
over into the pasture field The poo
things fly in every direction. In fey
moments they are torn of the hedge
and they are FLASHED of the ditch, an,
the lost sheep never gets home unles
the farmer goes after it. There i
nothing so thoroughly lost as a los
sheep. 1t may have been in 1857, dur
ing the financial panic, or during thu
financial stress in the fall of 1878
when you got astray. You almost be
came an atheist You said, "NVher,
is God, that honest men go down anC
thieves prosperT You were dogged Of
creditors, you were dogged of the
banks, you we're dogged Of worldly dis
aster, and some of you went into mis-
anthropy, and some of you took to
strong drink, and Others of you fled out
of Christian association, and you got
astray. o man, that was the last
time when you ought to have forsaken
God.
Standing amid the laundering of
your earthly fortunes, how could you
get along without God to comfort you,
and God to deliver you, and God
to help you. and a God to save your
You tell me you have been through
enough business trouble almost to kill
you | know it. | cannot understand
how the boat could live one hour in
that chopped sea. But do not know
by what process you got astray; some
in one way and some in another, and
If you could really see the position some
of you occupy before God this morning
your soul would burst into an agony of
tears and you would pelt the heavens
with the cry, "God have mercyP
Sinai's batteries have been unlimbered
above your soul and at times you have
heard it thunder, 1.-THE wages of sin is
death" Gan have sinned and come
short of the glory of God" "By one
man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin; and 50 death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned."
1.-THE soul that sinneth, it shall die"
When Sebastopol was being bonn
barded two Russian frigates burned all
night in the harbor, throwing a glare
upon the trembling fortress and some
of you are standing in the night of
your souls trouble. The cannonade
and the conhagration, the multiplied
tion of your sorrows and troubles,
think, must make the wings of Gods
lowering angels shiver to the tip.
''THE INIQUTTY OF US ALL"
But the last part of my text opens a
door wide enough to let us all out and
to let all heaven in. Sound it on the
organ with all the stops out. Thrum
it on the harps with all the strings
atune. With all the melody possible
let the heavens sound it to the earth, |
and let the earth tell it to the heavens.
1.-THE Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
Of us ALL" am glad that the prophet
did not stop to explain whom he meant
by "him." Him of the'manger, him of
the bloody sweat, him of the resurrec-
ton throne, linn of the crucifixion
agony. "On him the Lord hath laid
the iniquity of us ALL"
"Oh," says some man, that is not
generous, that is not fair; let every man
carry his own burden and pay his own
debts" That sounds reasonable. II
have an obligation and | have the
means to meet it. and come to you
and ask you to settle that obligation
you rightly say, "Pay your own debts"
II you and l walking down the street,
both hale, hearty and WELL ask you
to carry me, you say, and say rightly,
'Walk on your feet" But suppose
you and | were in a regiment, and |
was wounded in the battle, and fell
unconscious at your feet with gunshot
fractures and dislocations, what would
you do9 You would call to your com
rades saying, "Come and help, this
man Is helpless; bring the ambulance;
let us take him TO the hospital;" and /
would be dead lift in your arms, and
you would lift me from the ground
where had fallen and put me in the
ambulance and take me to the hospital
and have all kindness shown me-
Would there be anything mean in your
doing thatl Would there be anything
bemeaning in my accepting that kind.
nessl Oh, mol You would be mean
not to do It, That is what Christ does.
II we could pay our debts then II
would be better to so up and pay
them, saying, Here, Lord here is my
obligation; here are means with which
mean to settle that obligation; now
give me a receipt; cross it all out. Z"
The debt is paid. But the fact is we
have fallen in the battle, we have gone
down under the hot fire of our trans
gressions, we have been wounded by
the sabers OF sin, we are helpless, we
are undone. Christ comes. The loud
clang heard In the sky ON that Christ
mas night was only the bell, the re-
sounding bell, Of the ambulance. Clear
the way for the Son Of God. He comes
down to bind up the wounds, and TO
scatter the darkness, and TO save the
lost Clear the way for the Son Of
God.
Christ comes down 10 us, and we are
dead lift. lie does not lift us with
the tips OF his fingers. He does not lift