Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1893-07-13

~ -. $1,000 1NaA 1850 cSf 800
trespass is grown up into heaven"
And among the millions before the
throne of God tonight, not one got
there until he confessed. The coast
of eternal sorrow is strewn with the
wreck of those who, not taking the
warning. drove with the cargo of i'm
mortal hope into the white-tangled
foam of the breakers.
Repent! the voice celestial cries,
Nor longer dare delay;
The wretch that scorns the mandate
dies.
And meets the fiery day.
Blu / analyZe the publican's prayer
a step further, and / find that he ex-
pected no relief through Gods mercy.
Why did not he say, | am an honorable
man; when i get ten dollars taxes /
pay them right over TO the govern
ment. l give full permission TO any
body TO audit my accounts; / appeal
to thy justice. . God. He made no
such plea. He threw himself flat on
Gods mercy.
Have YOU any idea that a men by
breaking off the scales of the leprosy,
can change the disease? Have you any
idea that you can. by changing your
life, change your heart; that you can
purchase your way to heaven? Come,
try 1t; come. bring all the bread you
ever gave to the hungry, all the medi-
cine you ever gave TO the sick, all the
Kind words you have ever uttered, all
the kind deeds that have ever distin-
guished You; add them all up into the
tremendous aggregate of good words
and works, and then you will see Paul
sharpen his knife as he cuts that spirit
l nf self Sc tcfn ntsnr nc ~ - II ~.
deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified
Well, say a thousand men in this aud
fence, If | am not to get anything in the
way Of peace from God i'm good works,
how am / to be saved? BY mercy.
Here / stand to tell the story: mercy,
mercy, long-suffering mercy; sovereign
mercy. infinite mercy, o%mnipotent mer-
cy, everlasting mercy. Why, it seems
in the Bible as il all language were ex-
hausted, as il it were stretched until
it broke, as IL all expression were
struck dead at the feet of prophet and
apostle and evangelist, when it tries to
describe Gods mercy.
Oh, says some one, that Is only add
ing TO my crime, If l omo and confess
before God and seek his mercy. No,
no! The murderer has come, and while
he was washing the blood of his vic
tim from his hands, looked into the face
of God and cried for mercy, and his
soul has been white in Gods p%ardoning
love. And the soul that has wandered
off In the streets, and down TO the very
gates of hell, has come back to her
fathers house, throwing her arms
around his neck, and been saved by the
mercy that saved Mary Magdalen.
But, says some one, you are throw
ing open that door Of mercy too wide.
No. / will throw 1t open wider; /
will take the responsibility of saying
that il all this audience, instead of
being gathered in a semi-circle, were
placed side by side, in one long line,
they could all march through that wide
open gate of mercy. whatsoever
whatsoever" Oh, this mercy of Cod
there is no line long enough to fathom
1t; there Is no ladder long enough to
scale it; there Is no arithmetic facile
enough I o calculate it; no angels wing
can fly across ii.
Heavenly harpers, aided by choirs
with feet like the sun, cannot compass
that harmony of mercy, mercy. 1t
4 SDUuuS III tut Iul1DliuS vi NhO CAN''iN
gate; / hear it in the Ginning of the
celestial towers; / see it flashing in the
| uplifted ard downcast coronets of the
saved; / hear it in the laundering tread
of the hammered hosts round about the
throne; and hen it comes from the
harps, and crowns, and thrones, ana
professions, to sit down, unexpressed,
on a throne overlapping all heaven
| the throne of mercy.
How / was affected when some one
told me in regard to that accident on
Long Island sound, when one poor
woman came and got her hand on Il
raft. as she tried to save herself. bur
those who were on the raft thought
there was no room for her, and one
man came and most cruelty beat and
bruised her hands until she fell on.
| oh. I bless God that this life-boat OF he
| pospel has room enough for the sixteen
hundred millions of the race-room for
one. room for all, and yet there Is
room!
I push this analysis or the publican's
prayer q step further, and find that he
did not expect any mercy except Dy
nlroding for 1t. He did not fold his
hands together, as some do, saying:
"If I'm to be saved. III be saved; u
I'm to be lost. I'll be lost, and there's
nothing for rue to do" He knew what
was worth having was worth asking
for: hence this earnest cry of the text:
Sod be merciful to me, a sinner
1t was an earnest prayer. and IL is
characteristic of all Bible prayers that
they were answered. The blind man:
Lord. that / may receive my sight;
the leper: "Lord. il thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean sinking Peter:
Lord save me- the publican: God
be mercifu1 to me a sinner But IL
YOU come up with the tip of your finger
and tap at the gate Of mercy, 1t viii
not open; you have got to have the
earnestness of the warrior who, defeat
cd and pursued. dismoUnts from his
lathered steed. and with gauntlcted fist
poupds ut the palace-gate. You have
got to have the earnestness of the man
who. at midnight in the fourth story
has a sense of suffocation, with the
house in flames, goes to the window
and shouts to the firemen, Help. on.
unforgiven soul! II you We're in full
earnest I might have TO command ST.
lence in the auditory, for your prayers
would drown the voice OF he's speaker,