The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-01-15

Monday night y" 81 belong To the COM
mon council and / have to give Monday
night to this.' 81 see, you give that
evening TO the public; where do you
spend Tuesday night 2" He belonged to
the Young Peoples society and he felt as
II he ought to go to their meetings on
Tuesday. "Where do you 60 Wednes-
day?" He didn't want to tell. Finally
he said he was one of these Masons. One
OF those high Masons, you know ! Master
Mason, isn't it Now, don't tell or IL
them. Well, he was there every
Thursday night?" "On Thursday night
l am at home" ,,Well, you are public
man and you are out or have company"
"Where are you Friday night?" "Oh,
Friday night always 60 to the church
prayer meeting" Saturday night"
saturday night I am always at home"
Eyes, noticed you were last Saturday.
You came in and had supper, and your
boys saw you for few minutes and then
you went of to your room to study your
Sunday school lesson. Very well, Sunday
night where are your" ooh, don't be-
lieve I'm giving up the second service, and
/ always go to church."
snow don't you see the devil has the
advantage over you, and has ruined your
three boys? 1t is drive all the day; and
your boys slip on because they want to go
and play with the other boys before they
go to school. You never come home to
lunch in the middle of the day. You
come home late at night and eat your
dinner, and you see your boys for only
few moments every night. Now doesn't
the fault lie at your own door?" "Well,"
he said, 81 never thought OF that" swell,
don't you think you ought to
think of it?" Isn't that one of
the great evils In America? ] needn't be
SO anxious about someone's else wicked
ness il I am cherishing my own. That
comes before any public or private office.
heard of q traveller once, whose child
came in and said, "Mamma that man
that comes in Sundays has been
scolding me-" He called his own father
''that man."
And then we wonder how it is that our
children turn out bad. You men go to
church and pray like a saint, but I tell
you il you don't live like saint at home,
your children will curse at home. You
cannot shake it of on to your wife and
expect her to do all the training. God
holds man responsible. / believe when
ever you see christian mans children
turn out wrong, good deal Of the fault
lies at his own door. Let us see II we
cannot straighten things out.
Give little time to your boys. Unbend
and be boy once in q while. Take them
out riding, hunting, fishing. Give them
a little time, you can afford it. This idea
that we have got to give all our time to
the service of the public is wrong, and is
bringing good many families down with
sorrow. Now to those who have back
sliden.
met two or three in the inquiry room
last night who thought they had never
been converted because they had back
sliden. Now / am talking to those who
have really been born of the Spirit, born
from above, and wandered back into the
old life. want to say that the most ten
der, affectionate words in this Bible have
been said to backsliders. / believe the
most wretched man or woman on the face
of this earth is a man or woman that has
tasted these gifts and then gone back to
the beggarly elements of the world.
II you have ever known Jesus, this oil d
world will never satisfy you. The fact is,
when God made your heart He made it a
little too big for this world. II you have
had a taste of the world to come, this old
world will never satisfy you. The Lord
wants you to come back. Iwant to say
here today, that there is not a wanderer
from God that He doesn't want to have
come back. You will notice that in the
second chapter Of jeremiah fifth verse the
Lord makes it personal question.
Now there is one thing about back
slider, He is always finding fault with
church members. IL q man goes wrong,
he thinks the minister, the church, and
all the members are wrong. Why? Be-
cause he looks through wrong eyes.
Everything is just painted in that way to
him.. Now the Lord comes and says,
"What iniquity have you found in me 2"
l want to say to every blackslider, that
God is the same that he ever was. He
loves you just as much. He hates your
backsliding, but still he loves you. You
can find lots of iniquity in church
members, but tell you it is mighty poor
business to live on the failings of other
people. You will find you have as many
yourself as you can take care Of. Jer. 2,
13: "For my people have committed two
evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain
OF living waters, and hewn them out els
terms, broken cisterns, that can hold no
water" Now notice that they left Him.
That is the charge that God brings against
them. You have left Him, not He has
left you.
Some think God has left them. Neverl
You have left Him. Do you want to
know how to get back? Just take up the
work where you left off. What did you
do when you first came to the Lord? Re-
pented OF your sins a.e.~ turned to God.
Just do as you did at first. Turn back to
God, and IL you do He will have mercy
upon you and forgive you. Just
let your mind go back to
those days. Didn't you have
more peace and pleasure and Joy than you
have now? You are without hope in God
and what darkness and blackness seems
to cover you! jeremiah 2-19: "Thine
own wickedness shall correct thee and thy
blackslidings shall reprove thee. Know,
therefore, and see that it is an evil thing
and bitter, that thou has forsaken the
Lord thy God and that My fear is not in