The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1892-01-20

COSeIn6r, uuLl Guey mdko . HlOuuGdlu OL
sin, and one more step Of your foot in the
wrong direction may slide down upon you
an avalanche of ruin and condemnation.
A man crossing o desolate and lonely
| plateau, q hungry wolf took after him. He
brought his gun to his shoulder aud took
aim, and the wolf howled with pain. and the
cry woke up a pack Of wolves, and they came
ravening out Of the forest from all sides and
horribly devoured him.. Thou art the man.
Some one sin Of your life su%mmoning on all
the rest, they surround thy soul and make
Of their bloody muzzles. Oh, the unpar.
doned. clamoring, ravening, all d%eyouring
sins OF thy lifetime!
A maniac was found pacing along the
road with a torch in one hand and q pail Of
water in the other, and soma one asked him
what he meant to do with them. He an
swered, with this torch I mean to burn
down heaven, n with this water I mean to
put out the fires Of hell" He was a maniac.
BE could do the one thing just as well as he
could do the other. No time to lose If you
want to escape your sins for This year thou
shalt die"
Leu me announce that Christ, the Lord,
stands ready to save any man who van to
be saved. He waited for you all last year,
and all the year before, and all your life.
He has waited for you with blood on His
brow and tears in His eye, and two out
stretched, mangled hands Of love.
You come home some night and find the
mark Of muddy feet on u front step.
You hasten in and find an excited group
around your child. He fell into a pond, and
had it not been for a brave lad, who plunged
in and brought him out and carried him
home to be resuscitated, you would have
been childless. You feel that you cannot do
enough for the rescuer. You throw your
arms around him. You offer him any CON-
pensation. You say to him: Anything
cease to be grateful" But my Lord Jesus
sees your soul sinking, and attempts to bring
it ashore, and you not only refuse Him
thanks, but stand on the beach and say.
'Drop that soul! If want it saved, I will
save it myself"
I wish you might know what a job Jesus
undertook when He carried your case to
Calvary. They crowded Him to the wall.
They struck Him. They spat on Him. They
kicked Hin; They ouffed Him. They scoffed
at Him. They scourged Him. They muir.
dered Him. Bloodl blood! As He stoops
down to lift you up the crimson drops upon
you from His brow, from His side, from His
hands. Do you not fesl the warm current
on your face? Oh, for thee the hunger, the
thirst, the thorn sting, ths sutfocation, the
struggle, the death.
A great plague came in Marseilles. The
doctors held a consultation and decided that
a corpse must be dissected or they would
never know how to stop the plague. A DR..
Guyon said, Tomorrow morning. I will
proceed to q dissection" BE made his will;
prepared for death; went into the hospital;
dissected a body; wrote out the results Of the
dissection and died in twelve hours. Beauti-
full self sacrifice you say. Our Lord Jesus
looked out from heaven and saw q plague
stricken race. Sin must be dissected. BE
made His will, giving everything to His peo-
pie. He comes down into the reeking hos.
pital of earth. He lays His hand to the
work: Under our plague He dies-ths
iuted, the innocent for the guilty. Behold
the love! Behold the sacrifice! Behold the
rescue!
Decide on this first Sabbath Of the year
whether or not you will have Jesus. He
will not stand forever begging for your love.
With some here His plea ends right speedily.
''This year thou shalt die"
This great salvation Of the Gospel I now
offer to every man, woman and child. You
cannot buy it. You cannot earn 1t. A
cold winters day looked through the win
dow Of q kings conservatory and saw q
bunch of grapes hanging against the glass.
She said, "Oh, if I only had that bunch Of
grapes for my sick child at homer At her
spinning wheel she earned q few shillings
and went to buy the grapes. The kings
gardner thrust her out very roughly, and
said be had no grapes to sell. She went of
and sold a blanket and got SOM more shil-
grapes. But the gardener roughly assaulted
her and told her to be of. The
kings daughter was walking in the garden
at the time, and she heard the excitement
and seeing the poor woman, said to her,
INV father is not q merchant to sell, but he
is a king and gives" Then she reached up
and plucked the grapes and dropped themin
the poor woman's apron. So Christ Is a
king. and all the fruits Of His pardon He
freely gives. They may not be bought.
Without money and without price, take this
sweet cluster from the vineyards OF God.
I am coming to the close Of nay sermon. I
sought for a text appropriate for the occa-
sion. I thought Of taking one in Job: my
DAYS fly as a weaver's shuttle;" OF a text in
Psalms: $50 teach US to number our days
that we may apply our hearts unto wis.
dom:' of the prayer Of the vine dresser:
'Lord, let it alone this year also" but pressed
upon my attention first Of all, and last OF all,
and above all, were the words: This year
thou shalt die"
Perhaps it may mean me. Though in per.
feet health now, it does not take God n
week to bring down the strongest physical
constitution. T do not want to die this year.
We nave plans and projects on foot that I
want to see completed; but God knows best,
and He has a thousand better men than to
do the work yet undone. I have a hope
that, notwithstanding al my sins and
wanderings, I shall, through the in
finite mercy Of my Saviour, come out at the
right place. I have nothing to brag Of
by way Of Christian experiences; but Two
things I have learned-my utter helplessness
the Lord Jesus. It the text means some OF
you, my hearers, I do not want you to be
caught u~nprepared. I would like to have
you, either through money yoa had laid up
or a 'llfe insurance" be able to leave the
world feeling that your family need not be.
come paupers. But il you have done your
best and you leave not one dollars worth OF
estate, you may confidently trust the Lord
who hath promised to care for the widow
soul fitted out for eternity, so that II any
morning or noon or evening or night OF
these three hundred and sixty-fve days,
death should look in and ask, Are you
ready%' you might, with an outburst OF
Christian triumph, answer AYE. aye! all
ready"
know not what our last words may be.
Lord Chesterfield prided himself on his po-
likeness, n said in his last moment, 'Glye
Dayrolles a CHAIR DR.. Adam, a dying
schoolmaster, said: at grows dark. The
boys may dismiss" Lord Tenterden. sup
posing himself on the bench Of Il courtroom,
said in his last moment, "Gentlemen of the
Jury, you will now consider your verdict"
A dying play actor said: drop the curtain.
The farce is played out" 1 would rather
nave for my dying words those Of one greater
than Chesterfield or DIR. Adam or Lord Ten
terdeu: II am now ready to be offered, and
tha f;,,a If INV dop.rtura 10 at hand have