The Iola register., 1891-02-06

than in all the years OF their nlVOhIy
and dissipation. Go to the door OF that
gin shop tonight, and when the gang
of young men come out, ask them
whether they are happy. They laugh
along the street, and they jeer.
and they shout: but nobody has any
idea that they are happy.
| could call upon the aged men in this
house to give testimony. There are
aged men who tried the world, and they
tried religion. and they are willing to
testify on our side. 1t was not long ago
that an aged man rose in praying cir
Gle and said: Brethren, lost my son
lust as he had graduated from college,
and it broke my heart, but / am glad
now he is gone. He is at rest, escaped
from all sorrow and from all trouble.
And then. in 1857. | lost all my proper
ty. and you see am getting old. and it
is rather hard on me: but / am sure
God will not let me suffer. He has not
taken care of me for seventy-tive years
now to let me drop out of his hands"
went into the room of an aged man-his
eyesight nearly gone. his hearing near
ly gone-and what do you suppose he
was talking about? The goodness of
God and the joys of religion. He said:
Il would like to go over and Join my
wife on the other side of the flood, and
| am waiting now until the Lord calls
me. | am happy now. | shall be
happy there" What is it that gave
that aged man so much satisfaction and
peace? Physical eXuberance? No: ii
has all gone. Sunshine. He can not
see it. The voices of friends. He can
not hear them. 1t is the grace of God
that is brighter than sunshine and that
is sweeter than music. If a harpist
takes a harp and finds that all the
strings are broken but one string he
does not try to play upon it. Yet here
| will show you an agen man, the strings
of whose Joy are all broken save one,
and yet he thrums it with such salts
faction. such melody, that the angels OF
God stop the swift stroke of their wings
and hover about the place until the
music ceases. Religions ways are ways
of pleasantuess and all her paths are
peace" And if you have not the salts
faction that is to be found in Jesus
Christ must tell you, with all the con-
centrated emphasis of my soul: 'One
thing thou lackest."
LEADING LIVES OF USEFULNESS.
| remark again, that you lack the
element of usefulness. Where is your
business? You say it is No. - such a
street, or No. 296 such street, or No.
300 such a street. My friend immortal,
your business is wherever there Is a
tear to be wiped away or a soul to be
saved. You may, before coming to
Christ. do great many noble things.
You take loaf of bread to that starry
ing man in the alley; but he wants i'm
mortal bread. You take pound of
candles to that dark shanty. They
want the light that springs from the
throne of God, and you can not take it
because you have il not in your own
heart. You know that the flight of an
arrow depends very much upon the
strength of the bow, and | have to tell
YOU that the best bow that was ever
made was made out of the cross of
Christ: and when religion takes a sonl
and puts it on that, and pulls it back
and lets it fly, every time it brings down
a Saul or Goliath. There are people
here of high social position, and large
means. and cultured minds, who. if
they would come into the kingdom of
God, would set the city on fire with re-
llg ". W" hON
the more than million voices of those in
these two cities who are unconverted?
voices of those who in these two cities
are dying in their sins? They want
light. They want bread. They want
Christ. They want heaven. o, that
the Lord would make you a flaming
evangel. AS for myself, | have. sworn
before high heaven that l will preach
this gospel as well as / can, in all its
fullness, until every fiber of my body
and every faculty Of my mind and every
passion of my soul is exhausted. But
we all have a work to do. | cannot do
your work, nor can you do my work.
God points us out the place where we
are to serve, and yet are there not peO-
pie in this house who are 30, 10, 30 and
60 years of age and yet have not begun
the great work for which they were
created? With every worldly equir-
ment: ''One thing thou lackest.'
THINKING OF FUTURE WORLDS.
Again, you lack the element of per-
sonal safety. Where are those people
who associated with you twenty years
ago? Where are those people that,
fifteen years ago, used to cross South
ferry, or Fulton ferry with you TO New
York? Walk down the street where
you were in business fifteen years ago
and see how all the signs have changed.
Where are the people gone? How
many of them are landed in eternity
can not say, but many, many. l went
to the village of my bOyhOod. The
houses were all changed. | passed one
house in which once resided man who
L. f,,l fn nd hn
is in glory now. In the next house a
miser lived. He devoured widows
houses, and spent his whole life in try
ing to make the world worse and worse.
And he is gone-the good man and the
miser both gone to the same place. All,
did they go to the same place? 1t is
an infinite absurdity TO suppose them in
the same place. If the miser had harp,
what tune did he play on it? o, my
friends, l commend to you this religion
as the only personal safety. When you
die, where are you going to? When we
leave all these scenes, upon what scenes
will we enter? When we were on ship
board, and we all felt that we must go
to the bottom, was,1 right when said to
one next to me: Il wonder if we will
reach Heaven if we go down tonight"
Was l wise or unwise in asking that
question? 1 tell you that man is fool
who never thinks of the great future.
Ifyou pay money you take receipt.
If you buy land you record the deed.
Why? Because everything is so uncer-
tain you want it down in black and
white, you say. For a house and lot
twenty-five feet front by one hundred
feet deep, all security: but for soul,
vast as eternity, nothing, nothing. If
some man or woman standing in some