The free press., 1893-05-11
xou ara NOT afraid Of me, and !

A., rrocDpl- Y on are uOu oil n
the gospeffr pefrs;d of YOU. and some day,
anathar arn will clasp your hands togesner'
"a win turn your face the otner "ay;
d will take hold of your shoulders a.iu II
1.bi,o Won are helpless in my grasp ,-;,
rive YOU one headlong push into tne ILL hlr
dom of God. Christ says we mus' oonp np,a
Won to come in. l will compel you 10 9TH 18th
in. Can l consent to any ytninS e,sv own
thsse men. who are as dear to me as NY o"1
LII 7 will compel you to come IN.
Proating by the mistakes OF the Past;
.,,st 40 better work for you ana oeOOet
,,orI nos for Cod, Lest might. through some
snJden illness or casualty. be snatcne' away
before I have the opportunity OF ooiilg -; e..
take this occasion to declare my N %
YOU as a people. 1t Is dlHerenI ~ WI h,,iIt
,1,astor is placed in a church hIeauy
,,o and he is surrounded by estaolsnei ci.
cunstancas. Therea are not ten peop'e III
,b;s church that have not been prouguO ineo
the church through nay ministry. ~. "a
~ fanniIv feel as much at home mere as
do in nv residence on Oxford street. You
are my family-my father, my mother, my
sister. my son, my daughter You are my
iov and crown, the subject of my prayers
Your present and everlasting welfare
the object of my ambition. l have no
worldly ambition had once. l have not
now. l know the world about as well as
any one knows it. have heard the hand,
clapping of its applause, and l have heard
the hiss of its opposition, and declare TO
you that the former is not especlally 10 pe
sought for, Eor is the latter to be Ieared.
The world has given me about all tne coih
tort and prosperity it can give man. and l
nave no worldly ambition. | have an al
consuming ambition to make full proof F
my ministry, to get to heaven myself and
TO take a great crowd with ME. U oon your
table and cradle aud armchair and pillow
and lounge and nursery and drawing room
and kitchen may the blessing of the
Almighty God come down!
During these "A years there is hardly
family that has not been invaded by sorrow
or death. Where are those grand, old men,
those glorious Christian women, who used
to worship with US? Why, tney went away
into the nex5 world SO gradually that they
had concluded the second stanza or the
third stanZa in heaven before you knew they
were gone. They had on the crown before
you thought they had dropped the staff OF
the earthly pilgrimage.
And then the dear children. Oh, how
many have gone out of this church You
could not keep them. You folded them in
your arms and said: 80 Col, | cannot
give them up! Take all else. taks my prop
erty, take my reputation, but let me- Keep
this treasure. Lord, | cannot bear this.
Oh, if We coui all die together Ii we
could keep all tne sheep aud the lambs OF
the family fold together until some bright
spring day, the birds a-chant. and the
waters a-gitter, AMI then we could alto
gether hear the voice of ,e good Shepherd
and hand in hand pass through the fioodl
No, no, no, mol Oh. il we only had notice
that We are all to depart together, ami Wa
could saw to our families: the time has
come. The Lord bids US away" And then
we could take our little children to their
beSs AMI straighted out their limbs and say:
''Eow sleep the last sleep. GOOD night un,
81; il is good morning" And then we could
20 to our own couches and say NOW,
altogether we are ready to go. Our chill
iren are gone; noN let us depart"
No, no! 1t is one by one 1t may be In
the midnight 1t may be in the winter anu
in the snow coming down twenty lncneS
neep over our grave. 1t may be In the
strange hotel and our arm too weak to pun
:he bell for help. 1t may be so suddenly we
nave 10 time even to say gootoy. Deatn Is
A bitter, crushing, tremendous curse.
play you three tunes on the gospel harp
Of comfort "Weepng may endure for
night, but JOY comeSn in the morning"
That is one "All things work together Tor
good to those VINO Iowa God" That is the
second 'Ani the LAMB which is in the
midst of the throne shall lead them to liv-
ing fountains of water, and God shah wipe
all tears from UuelT efe- L uiO ID eho
third. During these "a years | have tried
as far as | could by argument, by illustra-
ton and by car,cature To fill you with dis-
gust with much of this modern religion
which people are trying now to substitute
for the religion OF Jesus Christ and thu ralig-
ion OF the apostles.
| have tried to persuade you that the worst
OF all cant is the cant OF skepticsm, and ln-
stead of your apoiogizing for Christianity
t.. ,,,lt - fhar who
lieve in Christianity should apologize to you,
ami have tried to show that the biggest
Williams in the universe are those who would
try to rob us of this Bible, and that the
grandest mission OF the church OF Jesus
Christ is that Of bringing souls to the Lord
"a soul saving church.
But now those years ara gone. IL you
have neglected your duty, If L have neg
lecoeI my duty, lu Is nes elected forever.
Eaoh year has its work. If the work IS
performed within the II months, it is done
torev er. II ne elected, it is neglected for
ever.
Whel a woman was dying she said.
"Call them back" They did not know
what she meant. She had been a disciple
back~ They said, "Who do you want us
to call back" "Oh," she said, ''call them
back. the Jays the months, the years l have
wasted. Call them backW But you cannot
call them back; you cannot call a year back,
or a month back, or week back, or an hour
back, or second back. Gone once, it is
gone forever.
ALCOHOLIC DELUSIoNS.
DR.. N. S. Davis, Chicago, says: 81 was
taught, like all others, to use alcohol as q
tonic when patients were sick, to haster
their recovery and Promote their strength,
yet it did not take me very long to find out
here and there one already a teetotaler who
would not tase wine long, nor any kind oi
alcoholic drink unless prescribed, lust a.
castor oil-dose by dose-and who, when ht
got beyond the necessity dS having it as &
medicine, took no more. \ What was the
comparison? My patients who refused. OF
did not take alcohol, got strong quicker and
had less tendency to relapse than those who
continued its use. Here was the first step;
consequently / cane sooh to cease tht
recommending it merely to hasten the re-
covery of strength
GAS tonic found it of no value While
the patients took it. for the first few days
or nights, generally not more than Il week
the ane esthetic effect diminished their feel
ing of weakness; but there lies the great de-
lusion. One of the curiosities in alcohol is
the deiusion it has upon the world. The
good old Book did not say in vain that
wine is mocker, strong drink is raging, anc
whosOayer is decpi'yed therehv is NOT wise