Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1895-02-27


| who Disguised you with religion. do NOT
ask you how you became so, but you
| frankly tell me that you do reject
1t. You do not believe that Christ ID
that He was . very good man. You do
not believe that the Bible was inspired Of
God, although you think there are soma
very fine things in it. You believe that the
Scripturl description Of Eden was only an
allegory. There are fifty things that be-
lieve that you do not believe. And yet you
| are an accommodating man. Everybody
that knows you says that Of you. If should
ask you to do q kindness for me, or If any
one else should ask Of you q kindness, you
would do it. Now, I have kindnesB to ask
of you to-day. It is something that will cost
You nothing and will give me great delight
want you by experiment to try the power OF
Uhrist's religion. II should come to you,
given you up and said there was no chance
loy you. and should take out o bottle and
yay: "here u q medicine tha. will cure you.
It has CURED fifty people, and 1t will cure
Fou," you would say, 81 have no confidence
u it." would say, "Won't you take it to
,blige me1" .'Weli," You would say, '.if it's
my accommodation to you, I'll take it." My
siend, will you be Just as accommodating in
matters Of religion2 There are some of you
who have found OFT that this world cannot
satisfy your soul. You are like the man who
old me one Sabbath after the service was
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 . physicial
who will cure you, who has cured hundreds
and hundreds who were as sick As you ara
"Oh," You say, 81 have no confidence In
Him i.nt will you not try Him? Accom-.
modate me IN TINS matter; obiige me In this
matter; just try Him. I am very certain Hs
will cure you. You reply, II have no es.
peciai confidence in Him, but II you ask me-
rs matter of accommodation introduce
Him." So I introduce Him-Christ, the
Physician who has cured more blind eyes and
healed more CHASTITY wounds and bound up
more broken hearts than all the doctors
since the time of Esculapius. That Divine
Physician is :,ere. Are you uot ready to try
him? VIII You not, as pure matter Of ex-
pertinent, try Him and state your case be.
lore Him this hour? Hold nothing back
from Him. II you cannot pray, II you do
not know how to pray any other way, say
20 Lord Jesus Chist, this is a strange thing
,or me to do. I know nothing about the
formulas Of religion. These Christian peo-
pie have been taking 50 long about what
rhou canst do for me am ready to do what-
.ver Thou commandest me to do. I am
.eady to take whatever Thou commandest me
20 take. II there be any power in religion, as
ihesa people say, let me have the advantage Of
l." VIII you try that experiment now? do
lot at this point of my discourse say that |
here IS anything in religion, but I simply
Iay try it, try il. Do not take my counsel or
;he counsel of any clergyman, If You despiss
clergymen. Perhaps We may be talking pro-
.essiolally; perhaps We may be prejudiced in
The matter; perhaps we may be hypocritical
IN our utterances; perhaps our advice Is not
worth taking. Then take the counsel OF some
very respectable laymen, as John Milton, tho
poet; as William Wilberforce, the statesmany
As Isaac Newton, the astronomer; as Robert
Boyle. the philosopher; as Locke, the meta
physician. They never preached or pretended
to preach, and yet putting down, one his
telescope, and another his parliamentary
scroll, and another his electricians wire, they
Ill declare the adaptedness OF Christ's re. |
igion to the wants and troubles Of the world. |
If you will not take the Recommendation Of
ministers of the gospel, then take the recon-
nenda.ion of highly respectable laymen.
o men. skeptical and struck through with
InreSt, would you not like to have some q
the peace which broods over our soulsto-da
know all about your doubts. have been
through them all. l have gone through all
the curriculum. / have doubted whether |
there is a God whether Christ is God, I have |
doubted whether the Bible was true, I have |
doubted the immortality of the soul,
have doubted my own existence. I have ]
doubted everything, and yet out Of that hot |
1esert Of doubt have come into the broad. |
uxuriant, sunshiny land Of gospel hope and |
peace and comfort, and so have confidence |
n preaching to You and asking you to come |
n. However often you may have spoken |
against the Bible, or however much Jou may |
have caricatured religion, step ashore from |
that rocking and tumultuous sea. II you 20
home to-day adhering to your infldelities,
you Will not sleep one wink. You do not
want your children to come up with your
,kepticism. You cannot afford to die in that |
midnight darkness, can you? II you do not |
believe in anything else, you believe In love |
"A fathers love, a mothers love, q wife's |
love, 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 o:
his fold"
herd is going to find . great many sheep |
among those who have been flung Of evil |
habits. It makes me sad to see Christian |
people give up prodigal a. lost. There are |
those who talk as though the grace Of God |
we're chain Of forty or fifty links, and after |
they had run out there was nothing to touch |
:he depth of a very bad case. II they were |
hunting and got of the track Of the deer, |
hey would look longer among the brakes |
and bushes FOR the lost game than they have
been looking for that lost soul. People tell |
as that il a man nave delirium tremens twice |
he cannot be reclaimed; that after q woman
has sacrificed her integrity she cannot be re- |
stored. The Bible has distinctly intimated |
that the Lord Almighty is ready to pardon |
lO tfmes-that is seventy times seven. There |
wailowed in every kind Of sin, but saved by
the grace of Jesus and washed in His blood |
:hey stand there radiant now. There are
hose who plunged into the very lowest Of |
Ill the hells in New York who have for the |
enth time been lifted up, and finally, by the |
grace of God, they stand in heaven glor- |
ously rescued by the grace promised to the /!
.hief OF sinners. want to tell you that God |
owes to take hold Of q very bad case. When |
the church casts you of, and when the club |
room casts you of, and when society casts |
you of, and when business associates casta |
you OF, and when father casts you Off, and |
when mother casts you oil, and when every |
body casts you of, your first cry for help will |
bend the eternal God clear down into the |
Itch OF your suffering and shame.
The Good Templars cannot save you, al |
hough they are q grand institution. The
Sons Of Temperance cannot save you, al. |
though they are mighty for good. Signing
the temperance pledge cannot save you,
grace OF the eternal God can save you, and |
hat will II you will throw yourself on 1t. |
There is a man in this house who said to mel |
unless God helps me cannot be delivered. |
have tried everything, sir, but now l have
got in the habit Of prayer, and when come
70 q drinking saloon I pray that God will take
ne safe past, and pray until am past. He
1oes help me-" For every man given to |
rrong drink there are scores OF traps set, and |
when he goes out on business tomorrow he
will be in infinite peril, and no one but the
everywhere present God can see that man
through. oh, they talk about the catacombs
Of Naples, and the catacombs OF Rome. and
the catacombs of Egypt-the burial places
under the city where the dust Of great null
dtude lies-but tell you New York has its
satacombs, and Boston its catacombs, and
Philadelphia its catacombs. They are the un-
foreground restaurants, full Of dead mems
bones and all uncleanliness. Young man, you
know it. God help you. There II no need Of
going into the art gallery to see in the skill
sul sculpture that wonderful representation ..
II a man and his sons wound around with
Ierpents. There are families represented in
,f fang and scale and venom-a living |
Laocoon Of ghastliness and horror. What are |
gou to do? am not speaking into the air. |
An talking tn hundreda Of men who must :