The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-05-13
SERMON ON EXCUSES.
subject OF Rev. Wallace Nutting at tn
Union Revival Meeting.

ShAon heSfvaf meeting.
The union revival services last night
at plymouth Congregational church drew
much larger audience and more interest
was manifested than at any time previous.
Rev. Wallace Nutting preached an earnest
ana impressive sermon on Excuses"
lie took his text from Luke xiv:1S:
Ihey all with one consent began to make
excuse" The speaker said in part:
They did not give reasons: they made excuses.
Reasons do not have TO be made. They exist,
and by pointing them out We can convince
But excuses have to be manufactured, and
made TO serve as a sort Of shoddy reasoning.
The making of excuses is not a lost art. wish
IL were, for 1t is an ignoble art. Sometimes we
practice 1t so far that forget how artificial
our excuses are and We begin to think they are
reasons.
There are persons who are able to make their
patients obey them by hypnotsm. Men become
persuaded that they cannot move hand or foot,
and hence they do not try to move. 1t is a kind
OF nightmare. The awful consequences OF
our errors pursue US, and we stand shuddering
and Quivering in every limb. waiting until evil
cvertakes US. We do not move, because We
think we cannot move. have had people say
to me in response to a request OF mine: al can't
do it!' They are in nightmare. Excuses rule
them, while the mighty Christ stands above
them, saying, "Arisel''
Last night a gentleman whom I accosted
answered me- that he was not in shape to be a
Christian. To all my invitations he repeated
this one reply: 81 am not in shape" This is
an excuse, not a reason, and my brother, If you
are here tonight let me show you that speak
truly. There came leper to Jesus, kuceling to
him aud saying: "Lord. if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean" But / submit to you
that this leper was not IN shape to be Chris
tian Why did he not wait to get himself in
shape? If he had only waited till his leprosy
recovered and until he could be purified By a
priest and put on a new suit then he might
have been in share But the poor, foolish fell
low seems never to have thought of that. lie
Just thought that he had better be cured of his
leprosy while there was chance. Men some
times do just such strange things when they get
in earnest.
I remember also the case of man named
Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, who sat by the way
side begging. And when Jesus came along his
way he cried out very loud indeed, as to dis
turb the company "Jesus. have mercy on mel"
1t was quite improper. no doubt. People
thought SO then. They tried to quiet him. They
thought him in poor shape to speak to Jesus,
and so in one short, unkind word, like our own
slang expression, they said: '.Shut up!" No
doubt 1t hurt the poor fellows feelings You
can almost see the tears trickling down from
the sightless eyes. But, my friends, that man
did not shut up" because he was not talking
to uumerciful men. He knew what he
wanted, and he got it. There was
never sound so dear to the ears of
Jesus as that cry, and he stood still and said:
"Call him." Whosoever calleth upon the name
OF the Lord shall be saved. But why did not
this man 'set in shape to follow Christ before
he called out to him? For the simple reason,
dear friend, which even u bliud man could see,
that he could not follew Jesus until Jesus had
opened his eyes He would not be quiet, but
without getting ready, without sitting there
until his sight came back to him. even without
aI,ror, l. 1s.
cried out. And, my friend, can say to you the
words that he heard: "kse, be OF good cheer,
He calie;h theer Jesus has not grown weak
with the years
But warm, sweet, tender, even yet,
present hel is Ee,
And faith has yet Its Olivet,
And love its Galilee!
Wher you come to think OF 1t, my brother,
the people that came TO Jesus Christ were all of
them In pretty poor shape. But they came.
They brought TO Jesus a man who was possessed,
so that he had commissions even in the presence
OF Christ. II you have come in here in bad
shape; If wild temptations rage in your soul
aud try to take possession OF your will; il
friends had to coax you hither, and you rebel in
your heart against it; If you are saying in your
heart, "W hat have to do with Thee?" the Lord
Christ can melt even such a heart as yours, and
can command that spirit to come out of you.
Your wife. your mother, your friend can pray
for you If you cannot pray for yourself, aud the
power OF the Lord is present TO heal.
The trouble with us, my friends, Is that we
trying to conform ourselves TO an outward
standard OF respectability. so that We enter
Christianity without being noticed We get
ting into shape. II Is long process. All my
friends who have been try ing it make poor
Roadway. They were in better shape ten years
ago than they are today. BY the time man has
patched ny his honesty he tinds he is becoming
lustful. BY the time he has tanned his passions
ha Sr,}s hi oil RI hnar tod
ing off your own sins is like cutting Off dragons
heads-two spring up where one was before.
You never yet saw a seli.made man who was
not botch. BY the time lie has finished him.
self he - conceited that he cannot see his
own faults, and he struts ABOUT the world dis
playing his faults while he thinks he Is a
fine sort of man. lnordinate pride is
the sin of ali who are satisfied with their own
character. You cannot copy the only standard
unless you obtain the help of His master hand.
They tell us tina, husband and wife after long
years resemble one another. The man who
studies the face OF Jesus from day to day is
changed by degrees into the same image from
glory unto glory, and that is the only known
process. As pictures exposed to the sun To
bring out their outlines, the human creature
must be exposed 70 the son of Righteousness be-
fore there is likeness lie who made us in His
own Image and He alone can restore that Image,
and He shall change this vile body into the
likeness OF His own glorious body. II then
these things be so, ABE no; coniormed TO this
world. but be We transformed by the renewing
OF your minds.