The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-14
BE NOT ASHAMED OF CHRIST.
FOLLOWERS OF FALSE RELIGIONS
DO NOT DENY THEIR PROPHETS.

Heart, and to BE Not Ashamed-The
Topic illustrated by Anecdotes
From the EvangeIists Personal
ExDeriences-A Graphic Descrip-
ton of the Two Heroic Confessions
of the Bible.
The topic of Evangelist Moody's sermon
at the Independent Presbyterian church
last night was BE Not Ashamed" The
congregation was as large as usual, al
most every seat and chair being occupied.
After the usual song service, Mr.. Moody
announced that his sermon would be
based upon three verses of the tenth chap
ter OF Romans.
These three verses, to my mind" said
Mr. Moody. put the way of life as clear
as any statement which appears in the
Bible"
He then read the three verses: IF thou
shalt confess the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath rails
ed him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth con-
fession is made unto salvation
For the scripture SAITH whosoever be-
lieveth in him shall not be ashamed"
These three verses, Mr. Moody said. con-
tain three statements, to believe with the
heart, to confess with the mouth, and to
be not ashamed. He said he knew of no
quicker or shorter way to the kingdom of
God than TO accept all of the three state
ments. He confined himself almost en-
tirely to the last.
The religion of Jesus Christ" said Mr..
Moody, lis the only religion 1 have ever
heard of, of which it's professors are
ashamed The professors of false religions
are not ashamed of their religion. 1 was
on my way to Salt Lake City once and rode
40 miles with the engineer in his cab. He
was a Mormon and spent the entire time
endeavoring to make me a Latter Day
Saint He was proud of his belief. / have
known numbers of Cinnamon and never
found one yet who was ashamed of the
doctrines of Confucius. have met Mahom-
medans on my travels in the east and 1
never met one yet who was not proud of
Mahomet and his religion. Yet what have
these false religions done to elevate man
in comparison with the religion of Jesus
Christ? Have the doctrines of Confucian-
ism ever elevated a single Chinaman? Chi
ma is to-day what she was in the days of
Confucius.
man will ever see the Kingdom of God
who is ashamed of Jesus Christ. 'If you
are ashamed of him you are unfit to be his
disciples. If men could slip into heaven by
some back door they would be glad of the
opportunity to do So but they are asham-
ed TO confess Christ in public"
fession and the praise which he received
from the lips of Christ. Every man is bless
ed in his confession, he said. Backsliding
is due to the failure OF Christians to con-
fess Christ. The moment when they failed
to confess Christ they began to go back
wards.
when you heard him spoken of sneeringly.
You were ashamed to run up your flag
and proclaim yourself a follower of Jesus
Christ Right then you began to go back
ward" said he If any man will take up
his cross and follow me that man shall be
my disciple"
ashamed. What would you say of a
man." he asked, who wanted to be
policeman and was ashamed of his uni
form, or of soldier who was ashamed
to wear his country's uniform
Mr.. Moody gave instances of public
confessions and their results. One of these
was Chief Justice Mclean, who, when
a young lawyer leading a careless life,
suddenly decided to change his course
tended to begin holding family prayer.
She was a protesting Christian, but ad-
vised him to begin in the kitchen, with
the servants, until he became accustomed
to it. Instead, he began in the drawing
room, and had the servants come there
to prayers. He became known for his up
right life and afterward became chief JUS
tice of the United States supreme court.
Mr. Moody gave another instance of a
young man in the army who prayed
while his comrades gambled and swore
in the same room. He asked the advise
of the chaplain, who advised him to pray
in bed in order not to excite the ire of
his companions. He tried this but was
not satisfied. Then he went back to pray
ing openly. His comrades gave up gam
bling and swearing, three of the men
were converted and thereafter there We're
prayer meetings, instead of card games in
that barracks.
Most any man can go with the cur
rent" said Mr.. Moody. 1T takes a strong
man to go against the current. WhOSoeVer
| shall confess me on earth him win | also
! nrV1Fn hEf INV % 1aN y I'll,
heaven.
Il find it is the most difficult thing to do
for people to come out and take a stand
There are hundreds who have attended
these sermons who would like to be Chris
tians, but they don't want to come out and
declare themselves
Mr.. Moody told an interesting anecdote
of the two room mates who were attending
his meetings at the HiDpodrome i'm New
York, unknown TO each other. Each was
interested and wanted to study his Bible
but was ashamed to let the other see him
do it. When one finally did so the other
confessed that the same desire was l1pDer-
most in his mind. The neat way in which
the anecdote was told caused general
laughter. You needn't laugh" said Mr.
Moody. There are plenty in Savannah
Just like them" lie called attention to a
curious adage which he saw written on one
of the walls of Edinburg college. "They
say. What do they say2 Let them say"
He did not know who wrote it, but the
adage, he said was one of the strongest
he had ever read.
LET them say it. have never been asham-
ed of Jesus Christ since first declared my
SELF
God had no regard to station in life IN
choosing His instruments, he declared He
could take tramp from the streets ana
make him worth more than all the ricn
men i'm Savannah When the time came
for book TO be written which would be
regarded for all time as nearest to the
Bible the great and the noble of England
were passed by and John Bunyan, the
poor, drunken tinker, was chosen
MIR. Moody spent some time in discuss
ing what he said were the two most con-
spicuous instances of testimony to Jesus
Christ given in the scriptures. The first
was the blind beggar of Jerusalem, whose
sight was restored by Christ. and who
persisted in his testimony in the face of
doubt, criticism and threats and who bo-
came more emphatic in his testimony each
time ne was asked The crowd finally
left him.
IF you give good ringing testimony
you will not have TO go away from the
world" said he. The world will leave
you"
MIR. Moody illustrated this by telling
how he treated an invitation sent him
to attend the opening Of a beer baIT
which was about to he opened up in The
,f.H-1 4,.Fh So