The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1894-09-26
"zaocheus, come down. come

bUore IOur1Old." Ihat is II nave taAeu /
any man for ten thousand dollars when
he had only five thousand dollars
worth of property, and put it in my
own pocket, the tax for the last five
thousand will restore to him fourfold
If / took from him ten dollars, will
give him forty dollars. If took from
him forty dollars, will give him one
hundred and sixty dollars.
Hundreds of thousands Of dollars
have been sent to Washington during
the past few years as conscience
money" l suppose that money was
sent by men who wanted to be Chris
tians, but found they could not until
they made restitution. There is no
need OF our trying to come to Christ as
long as we keep fraudulently dollar
or farthing in our possession that be-
longs to another. Suppose you have
not money enough to pay your debts,
and for the sake of defrauding your
creditors you put your property in your
wife's name. You might cry until the
day of Judgment for pardon, but you
would not get it without first making
restitution. In times of prosperity it
is right, against rainy day, to assign
property to your wife; but If in time OF
perplexity, and for the sake of de-
frauding your creditors, you make such
assignment you become culprit be-
fore God, and you may as well stop
praying until you have made restitu-
tion. Or, suppose one man loans an
other money on bond or mortgage, with
the understanding that the mortgage
can lie quiet for several years, but as
soon as the mortgage is given COM
mences foreclosure-the sheriff mounts
the auction block, and the property is
struck down at half price and the
mortgagee buys it in The mortgagee
started to get the property at half
price and is thief and robber. Until
he makes restitution there is no mercy
for him. Suppose you sell goods
by sample, and then after
terward send to your customer an in
ferior quality of goods. You have COM
mitted a fraud, and there is no mercy
for you until you have made restitu-
tion. Suppose you sell man hand
kerchief for silk, telling him it is all
silk, and 1t is part cotton. No mercy
/ for you until you have made restitu-
tion. Suppose you sell a man horse,
saying he is sound, and he afterward
| turns out to be spawned and balky.
No mercy for you until you have made
restitution.
Exodus xii: "If man shall steal
an OK or sheep, and kill it or sell it,
he shall restore five oxen for an OK,
and four sheep for sheep If thief
be found breaking up, and be smitten
that he die, there shall no blood be
shed for him. If the sun be risen upon
him, there shall be blood shed for him,
for he should make full restitution; Il
he have nothing, then he shall be sold
for his theft. If the theft be certainly
found in his hand alive, whether 1t be
OK, or ass or sheep, he will restore
double. If a man shall cause field or
vineyard to be eaten, and shall put in
his beast and shall feed in another
mans field, of the best of his own field
and of the best of his own vineyard he
shall make restitution"
You say: II cannot make restitution.
The parties whom l swindled are
gone" Then / say: stake the money
up to the American Bible society and
consecrate it to God" Zaccheus was
wise when he disgorged his unright-
eous gains, and it was his first step in
the right direction
The way being clear, Christ walked
into the house of Zaccheus. He be-
comes different man; his wife differ
ent woman; the children are different.
Ol it makes great change in any
house when Christ comes into it. How
many beautiful homes are represented
among you'll There are pictures on the
wall; there is music in the drawing
room; and luxuries in the wardrobe;
and full supply in the pantry Even
if you were half asleep, there is one
word with which could wake you and
thrill you through and through, and
that word is "home!" There are also
houses of suffering represented, in
which there are neither pictures nor
wardrobe, nor adornment-only one
room, and a plain bunk in corners
yet it is the place where your loved
ones dwell, and your whole nature
tingles with satisfaction when you
think of it and call it home. Though
the world may scoff at us and pursue
us, and all the day we be tossed about
at eventide we sail into the harbor oi
home. Though there be no rest for us
in the busy world and we go trudging
about, bearing the burdens that well
nigh crush us, there is refuge, and il
hath an easy chair in which we may
sit, and lounge where we may lie,
and a serenity of peace in which we
may repose, and that refuge is home
The English soldiers, sitting on the
walls around Sebastopol, one night
heard company of musicians playing
'Home, Sweet Home" and it is sale
that the whole army broke out in sob,
and wailing, so great was their home
sickness. God pity the poor, miserable
wretch who has no homel
Now suppose Christ should come int
: your house. First the wife and tn,
mother would feel His presence. Relig
ion almost always begins there. 1t i
. easier for women to become Christians
, than for us men. They do not fight 81
against God. If woman tempted mai
originally away from holiness, now sh,
, teIapts him back. She may not MAX,
any fuss about it, but somehow, every