The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-02-27
In. However. often you may have spoken

want your children TO come up with your
skepticism. You cannot afford to die in that
midnight darkness, can you2 II you do not
believe in anything else, you believe in love
% fathers love, mothers love, q wife's
love, n 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 I remark that the Heavenly Shep-
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 as lost. There are
those who talk as though the grace Of God
were a chain of forty or fifty links, and after
they had run out there was nothing to 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 delirium tremens twice
he cannot be reclaimed; that after woman
has sacrificed her integrity she cannot be re-
stored. The Bible has distinctly intimated
that the Lord Almighty is ready to pardon
490 times-that is seventy times seven. There
walloWed in every kind Of sin, but saved by
the grace Of Jesus and washed in His blood
they stand there radiant now. There are
those who plunged into the very lowest Of
all the hells in New York who have for the
tenth time been lifted up, and finally, by the
grace Of God, they stand in heaven glor-
iously rescued by the grace promised to the
chief of sinners. want to tell you that God
loves to take hold of 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 father casts you of, and
when mother casts you of. and when every
body casts you of, your first cry for help will
bend the eternal God clear down into the
ditch Of your suffering and shame.
The Good Templars cannot save you, al
though 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,
although believe In 1t. Nothing but the
grace Of the eternal God can save you, and
that will If you will throw yourself on it.
There is man in this house who said to me:
"Unless God helps me cannot be delivered.
have tried everything, sir, but now I have
got in the habit OF prayer, and when come
to drinking saloon pray that God will take
me safe past, and pray until I am past. He
does help me-" For every man given to
strong 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 mul
titude lies-but tell you New York has its
catacombs, and Boston its catacombs, and
Philadelphia its catacombs. They are the un-
derground restaurants, full Of dead mems
bones and all uncleanliness. Young man, you
know it. God help YOU There Is no need OF
going into the art gallery to see in the skill
full sculpture that wonderful representation
Of q man and his sons wound around with
serpents. There are families represented in
this house that are wrapped in the martyrdom
of fang and scale and venom-a living
LAGOON of ghastliness and horror. What are
you to do? am not speaking into the air.
I am talking to hundreds Of men who must
be saved by Christ's gospel or never saved at
all. What are you going to do? ..
Do not put your trust in bromide OF po-
tassium, or in jamaica ginger. or anything
that apothecaries can mix. Put your trust
only in the eternal God, and He will see you
Some of you do not have tempta-
tions every day. 1t is periodic temptation
that comes every six weeks, or every three
months, when it seems as il the powers OF
darkness kindle around about your tongue
the fires of the pit. 1t is we'll enough at
such time. as some Of you do, to seek med
ical counsel, but your first and most impor-
tunate cry must be to God. II the fiends
will drag you to the slaughter, make them
do it on your knees. o God, now that the
paroxysm Of thirst is coming again upon
that man, help him Fling back into the pit
of hell the fend that assaults his soul this
Oh, my heart aches to see men go
on in this fearful struggle without Christ.
There are in this house those whose hands
so tremble from dissipation that they can
hardly hold book, and yet have to tell
you that they will yet preach the gospel, and
on communion days carry around conse-
Grated bread, acceptable to everybody, be-
cause Of their holy life and their consecrated
behavior. The Lord is going to save you.
Your home has got to be rebuilt. Your physl-
cal health has got to be restored. Your
worldly business has got to be reconstructed.
The church Of God is going to rejoice over
your discipleship. "Other sheep I have
which are not of this fold"
While have hope for all prodigals. there
are some people in this house whom I give
up. mean those who have been church
goers all their life, who have maintained out
ward morality, but who, Notwithstanding
twenty, thirty, forty years OF Christian ad-
vantages, have never yielded their heart to
Christ. They are gospel hardened. could
call their names now, and if they would rise
up they would rise up in scores. Gospel
hardened! A sermon has no more effect up
on them than the shining moon on the
city pavement. AZ Christ says. The pubii-
cans and harlots will go into the kingdom OF
God before them" They have resisted oil
the importantly Of divine mercy and have
gone during these thirty years through most
powerful earthquakes OF religious feeling,
and they are farther away from God than
ever. After awhile they will lie down sick,
and some day it will be told that they are
dead. No hope!
But turn to outsiders with hope that
thrills through my body and soul. Other
sheep I have which are not of this fold"
You are not gospel hardened. You have not
heard or read many sermons during the last
few years. As you came in to-day everything
was novel, and all the services are suggestive
of your early day. How sweet the opening
hymn sounded in your cars and how blessed
is this hour! Everything suggestive OF
heaven. You do not weep but the shower is
not far off. You sigh. and you have noticed
that there is always sigh in the wind before
the rain falls. There are those here who
would give anything If they could find re-
lief in tears. They say: ''Oh, my wasted
life Oh. the bitter past! Oh, the graves over
which l have stumbled Whittier shall
fly? Alas for the future! Everything is
dark-so dark, so dark! God help me! God
pity me-" Thank the Lord for that last ut
terance. You have begun to pray, and when
man begins to petition that sets all heaven
flying this way. and God steps in and beats
beck the hounds Of temptation to their ken
nels. and around about the poor wounded
soul puts the cover Of His pardoning mercy.
Hark. I hear something-something fall!
What WIS that? It is the bars Of the fence
around the sheepfold. The shepherd lets
them down, and the hunted sheep OF the
mountain bound in, some Of them their
fleece torn with the, brambles, some Of them