Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-07-07

salvation, will he not let you have IL?
Oh, if there be Phari ee here, a man
who says, l am all ght, my past life
has been right, don't want the par
don of the Gospel, for / have no sin
to pardon, let me say that while that
man is in that mood there is no peace
for him; there is no pardon, no saliva
tion; and the probability is he wi go
down and spend eternity with the
lost Pharisee of the text.
But III there be here one who says,
want To be better, / want to quit my
sins, my life has been very imperfect
life; how many things have j said
that should not have said, how many
things have done | should not have
done; wan To change my fe; | want
to begin now; let me say to such a
soul, God is waiting. God is ready, and
YOU are near the kingdom, or rather
you have entered it, for no man says,
am determined TO serve God, AMI sur
render the sins o my life; here now, l
consecrate myself to the Lord Jesus
Christ who died TO redeem memo
man from the depth of his soul says
that, but he is already Christian.
My uncle, the Rev. Samuel X. Tai
mage of Augusta, Ga, was passing
along the streets # Augusta one d y.
and he saw man, blacl man, step
from the sidewalk out in the street,
take his hat off, and bow very lowly.
My uncle WAS not man who de-
manded obsequiousnesS, and he said,
What do you do that for?' ''Oh,"
says the man, "Massa, the other night
| was going along the street and had
a burden on my shoulder, and | was
sick, and | was hungry, and / came TO
the door of your church. and you were
preaching about God be mercilul to
me sinner, and ] stood there at the
door long enoug to hear you say that
if a IN n could utter that prayer from
the depths of his soul God would par
don him, and finally take him to
heaven Then put my burden on my
shoulder and ] started home. ! got to
my home and | sat down and ! said,
God be merciful to me a sinner, but ID
got darker aud darker, and then
Massa, got down on my knees, and 1
said, God b. Ecrciul 10 me sinner
and the burden got Il avier, and il cot
dark, + and darker; knew not what TO
do. Then l got down on my face, and
] cried, God lie merciful 10 me sim
ner, and away off saw u light coming,
anu III Cdult utdItI anu ntdItE
nearer, until all was bright in my
heart. AMI arose. am happy now
the burden is all gone, and / said to
myself. if ever | met you in the street
] would get clear off the sidewalk, and
l would bow and take my hat off be-
yore you. | feel that / owe more to
you than to any other man. That is
the reason | bow before YOU"
Oh, are there not many now who can
utter this prayer, the prayer of the
black man, the prayer of the publican,
God bc merciful to me a sinner
While halt in the sermon. will you
not all utter it do not say audibly,
but utter it down in the d pths ofyour
souls consciousness. Yes, the sigh
goes all through the galleries, 1t goes
all through the pews. it goes all
through these aisles, sigh after sigh,
&c 81 be merciful TO me "a sinner"
Have You all uttered it? No, there
is one soul that has not uttered IL: too
proud to nit r it, too hard to utter it.
Oh. holy spirit, descend upon that one
heart. Yes, he begins to breath it
now. No bowling of the head yet, no
starting tear yet, but the prayer is be-
ginning-it is born. God be mere full
to me a sinner Have all uttered it?
Then utter it myself, for no one in
all the house needs t. utter it more
than my own soul: God be merciful
to me a sinner.