Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1895-02-22

S-rirturai description AZ Eien was only an
Ellegory. There are nuy things that 1 be-
lieye that YOU d. not believe. And Yet you
are an accommodating man. Everybody
that knows YOU saws that Of YOU. III should
ask sou q DO a EinIn-ss tor me, or II hhy
one else should ask ~ you a kindness, you
would do IL. NOW. l have "A kindness 10 ask
OF YOU to-day. II l. something that will cost
YOU nothing and will give me great delight.
want YOU 10y experiment 20 try the power OF
Clrist's religion. Ii l should come 20 you,
and You were very slcs, and doctors had
given you up aud said there was no chance
Tor YOU. and should take out a bottle and
say: "Herc Is a medicine that will cure you.
Il has cured f'ty people. aud IL will cure
YOU" YOU would saw, Il have no confidence
In it," l would say. won't you take II 70
oblige mes' "Wel." you would say, "if its
any accommodation TO YOU. I'll take 1t. Ny
friend, will YOU be Just a. accommodating IN
matters Of religion? There are some Of you
who have found cut that this world cannot
satisfy your soul. You arc like the man who
told me one Sabbath after the service was
over: II have tried This world and found il
an insufficient portion. Tell me Of some
thing better" You have come to that. You
are sick for the need Of divine medicament.
Now | come and tell you of physician
who will cure you, who has cured hundreds
and hundreds who were as sick as you are.
"Oh," you say, Il have No confidence i'll
Him." But will you not try Hmp Accom-
modate me in this matter; oblige me in this
matter; Just try Him. lam very certain lie
will cure you. You reply, Il have no e..
pecial confidence in Him, but if you ask me
as matter Of accommodation introduce
Him." SO | introduce Him-Christ the
Physician who has cured more blind eyes and
healed more ghastly wounds and bound up
more broken hearts than all the doctors
since the time of .Escuapius. That Divine
Physician is here. Are you not ready TO try
him? VIII you not, as pure matter OF ex-
pertinent, try Him and state your case be-
fore Him this houry Hold nothing back
from Him. II you cannot pray, If you do
not know how to pray any other way say
80 Lord Jesus Chist, this Is strange thing
for me TO do. / know nothing about the
formulas Of religion. These Christian peo-
pie have been talking so long about wat
Thou canst do for me / an ready to do what
ever Thou commanded me to do. | am
rea ~ to take whatever Thou commanded ma
otake. II there be any power in religion, as
these people say, let me have the advantage OF
it, Will you try that experiment now do
not al this point of my discourse say that
there is anything In religion, but l simply
say try il, try it. Do not take my counsel or
the counsel OF any clergyman, II you despise
clergymen. Perhaps we may be talking pro-
fessionally; perhaps we may be preludieed in
the matter; perhaps we may be hypOcntical
in our utterances; perhaps our advice is not
worth taking. Then take the counsel OF some
very respectable laymen, rs John Milton, the
poet; as William Wherefore. the statesman;
as Isaac Newton, the astronomer; as Robert
Boyle. the philosopher: as Locke, the meta
physician. They never preached or pretended
10 preach, and yet putting down, one his
telescope, and another his parliamentary
SCROLL and another his electricians wire, they
all declare the adaptedness OF Christ's re-
lgion to the wants aud troubles OF the world.
If you will not take the recommendation OF
ministers Of the gospel, then take the recom-
mendation OF highly respectable laymen.
men, skeptical and struck through with
unrest, would you not like to have some of
| the peace which broods over our souls today
know all about yOurdoubts. | have been
| through them all. l have gone through all
! the curriculum. | have doubted whether
/ there is God, whether Christ is God, l have
{ doubted whether the Bible was true, have
( doubted the immortality Of the soul, |
! have doubted my own existence. / have
I doubted everything, and yet out OF that hot
desert of doubt have come into the broad,
llxuriant, sunshiny land OF gospel hope and
peace and comfort, and so | have confidence
4 in preaching to you and asking you 10 come
in. However often you may have spoken
against the Bible, or however much you may
have caricatured religion, step ashore from
that rocking and tumultuous sea. II you 90
home to-day adhering to your inidelities,
/ YOU will not sleep one wink. You do not
want your children to come up with your
skepticism. You cannot afford 10 die in that
. midnight darkness can you? II you do not
! believe in anything else, you believe in love
, "A fathers love, mothers love, wife :
love. a child's love. Then let me tell you
that God loves you more than them all. Oh,
YOU must come in. You will come in! The
great heart of Christ aches to have you come
in, and Jesus this very moment-whether
you sit or stand-looks into your eyes and
says. "Other sheep have which are not OF
this fold.
Again remark that the Heavenly Shep-
herd is going to find q great many sheep
among those who have been flung Of evil
habits. Ii makes me sad TO see Christian
people give up prodigal as lost. There are
those who talk as though the grace Of God
were n chain OF forty or fifty links, and after
they had run out there was nothing 10 touch
the depth OF very bad case. II they Were
hunting and got of the track Of the deer
they would look longer among the brakes
| and bushes for the lost game than they have
been looking for that lost soul. People tell
us that If man have dclirium tremens twice
he cannot be reclaimed; that after a woman
has sacrificed her integrity she cannot be re-
stored. The Bible has distinctly intimated
that the Lord Almighty is ready to pardon
400 times-that is seventy times seven. There
are men before the throne OF God who have
wallowed in every kind OF sin, but saved by
the grace of Jesus and washed in His blood
they stand there radiant now. There art
those who plunged into the very lowest o
all the hells in New York who have for tht
tenth time been lifted up. and finally, by thu
grace of God. they stand in heaven glor
iously rescued by the grace promised to tn,
chief OF sinners. | want to tell you that Goo
loves to take hold OF "A very bad case. Whel
the church casts you off, and when the club
room casts you off. and when society cast
you off, and when business associates cast
YOU off, and when father casts you off, anC
when mother casts You off, and when every
body casts you off, your first cry for help vii
bend the eternal God clear down into tn
ditch of your suffering and shame.
The Good Tomplars cannot save you, al
though they are grand institution. I'll,
Sons of Temperance cannot save you, al
though they are mighty for good. Signing
the temperance pledge cannot save you
although l believe in ii. Nothing but tn
grace of the eternal God can save you, an
that will If you will throw yourself on il
; There is man in this house who said to me
"Unless God helps me l cannot be delivered
.. / have tried everything, sir, but now | hav
! got in the habit of prayer, and when l com
to a drinking saloon pray that God will tax
me safe past, and pray until am past. H
does help me-" For every man given t
strong drink there are scores of traps set, an
, when he goes out on business tomorrow h
will be in infinite peril. and no one but tn
! everywhere present God can see that ma
: through. Oh, they talk about the catacomt
= of Naples, and the catacombs Of Rome, an
the catacombs Of Egypt-the burial place
under the city where the dust of great mu
; titude lies-but tell you New York has it
catacombs, and Boston its catacombs, an
Philadelphia its catacombs They are the un
t foreground restaurants, full OF dead men
bones and all uncleanliness. Young man, yo
know it. God help you. There is no need Q
{ going into the art gallery to see in the skill
ful scnlntnre that Nynnhnrfnl renrasnntntiO