The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1895-02-15

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launch the boat And now see the
oar-blades bend under the strong pull;
but before they reached the rigging a
woman was frozen and dead. She was
washed off, poor thing. But he says:
''There is man to save;" and
he cried out: Hold on five
minutes longer, and / will save
you. Steady! Steady! Give me
your hand. Leap into the life-boat.
Thank God, he is saved"' So there are
those here to-day who are safe on the
shore of Gods mercy. will not spend
any time with them at all; bu. see
there are some who are freezing in the
rigging of sin, and surrounded by
| perilous storms. Pull away, my lads!
/ Let us rearch them. Alas, one ais
washed off and gone. There is one
more to be saved. Let US push out for
that one. Clutch the rope. Oh, dying
man; clutch it as with a death-grip
| Steady, now, on the slippery places
Steady there. Saved. Saved, just as
/ | thought. For Christ has declared
/ that there are some still in the break
ers who shall come ashore. '-Other
/ sheep | have which are not of this
/ fold"
/ Christ commands His ministers 20 be
/ fishermen. and when | go fishing | do
not want to go among other churches
/ but into the wide world. not sitting
/ along Hohokus creek where eight or
/ ten other persons are sitting with hook
/ and line, but. like the fisherman OF
Newfoundland, sailing off and drop
ping net away outside, - or 80 miles
from shore. Yes, there are non-church-
goers here who will come in.
| | remark again, the Heavenly Shep-
herd is going to find n great many Of
his sheep among those who are positive
rejectors of Christianity. | do not
know how you came to reject Chris
tianitv. 1t may have been through
hearing Theodore Parker preach. o.
through reading Remains Life of
Jesus" or through the infidel talk OF
some young man in your store. 1t may
have been through the triclzery of some
professed Christian man who disgusted
you with religion. | do not ask you how
you became so; but YOU frankly tell me
that you do reject it. IOu do not be-
lieve that Christ is divine being, al
though you admit that lie was a very
good man. You do not believe that the
Bible was inspired of God, although you
think there are some very fine things
in it. You believe that scriptural de-
scription of Eden was only an allegOry.
There are fifty things that l believe
that YOU do not believe. And
yet you are an accommodating
man. Everybody that knows
you says that of you. If
l should ask you to do kindness for
me, or if anyone else should ask of you
Il kindness. you would do it. Now,
have kindness to ask of you to-day.
1t is something that will cost you moth
ing and will give me great delight. |
want you by experiment to try the
power of Christ's religion. If | should
come to you. and you were very sick,
and doctors had given you up, and said
there was no chance for you, and l
should take out a bottle. and say:
Here is a medicine that will cure you;
it has cured fifty people. and it will
cure you" You would say: Il have
no confidence in it." | would say:
Won't you take it to Oblige me?"
WELL" YOU would say, If it's any ac
commoGation to you. I'll take it." Ny
friend. will you be just as accommo-
dating in matters of religion? There
are some of you vino have found out
that this world cannot satisfy your
soul You are like the man
who told me one Sabbath after
the service was over; Il have tried
this world and found it an insufficient
portion. Tell me of something better.
You have come to that. You are sick
for the need of Hivine medicament.
Now come and tell you of a Physician
who will cure you. who has cured hun
dreds and hundreds who were sick as
you are ''Oh." you say, Il have no
confidence in Him" But will you not
try Him? Accommodate me in this
matter: oblige me in this matter; just
try Him. l am very certain he will
cure you. You reply: Il have no es-
pecial confidence in Him, but if you
ask me as a matter of accommodation,
introduce Him." So l 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 Aesculapius. That
Divine Physician is here. Are you not
ready to try Him? viii You not, as
pure matter of experiment, try Him,
and state your case before Him this
hour? Hold nothing back from Him?
If you cannot pray. if you do not
know how to pray any other way, say:
30 Lord Jesus Christ, this is strange
thing for me to do. know nothing
about the formulas of religion. These
Christian people have been talking SO
long of what Thou canst do for me.
am ready to do whatever Thou com
mandest me to do. am ready to take
whatever Thou comnandest me to
take. If there be any power in re-
ligion, as these people say, let me have
the advantage of it." Will you try
that experiment now? / do not at this
point of my discourse say there is any
thing in religion; but simply say try
it-try it. Do not take my counsel or
the counsel of any clergyman, if you
despise clergymen. Perhaps we may
be talking professionally; perhaps
we may be prejudiced in the
matter; perhaps we may be hypOcrit-
ical in our utterances; perhaps the
advice is not worth taking. Then
take the counsel of some very respecta-
BILE laymem, as John Milton, the poet;
as William Wilberforce, the statesman;
as Isaac Newton the astronomer; as
Robert Boyle. the philosopher; as
Locke. the metaphysician. They never