The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-28

audience room was completely filled, and an overflow meeting was organized in the lecture room in the basement. At least 1S0O persons were in the church. MT. BiederWolf spoke from the text, Hosea iv, II.
 "Ephriam is welded to his idols; let him alone" "These are solemn words of God spoken concerning the people whom He had chosen to be the object of His special favor Ephriam, the most pow erful and influential of the ten tribes, is here put for all the children of Israel belonging to those tribes. God had been good to them. He had delivered them out of oppression He had guided them to fruitful land; He had cared for them in every trouble; He had sub dued and drawn away all their ene- mics; He had borne with them in all their shortcomings; He had forgiven them for their idolatry; He had taught them by many sad experiences for saking the God of their fathers was and would be their fatal mistake, and He had wood them back to Himself when they had wandered away into sin of every kind; He had done all a loving Father and a just God could do, and yet in spite of the stirrings of Gods spirit with them, Ephriam is again giv- ing honor to idols, which belong to God alone. They asked counsel of their wooden Gods, and said to them Throw out our father They offered sacrifices to them in high places, foolishly imag- ming themselves near to heaven, and in shady places thinking the shade pleas spo tr i, Ic in thh rpiISt n if all we hear the awful condemnation of an insulted God and a friendly spirit saying, 'Ephriam Is joined to his idols. Let him alone. He will not give them up, therefore must give him up, and he is carried irresistibly away into sudden destruction.
 My friends, it's an awful solemn thing for God to say of a. human soul, he is joined to his sin, and let him alone; let him alone, conscience; let him alone, praying friend; let him alone, Holy Spirit let him sleep in his sin un- | til the very darkness of the eternal night wake him up to realize his ever- l lasting shame and contempt
 | "We need only revert to the testimony of Scripture and individual experiences to prove the possibility of sad, fatal |
 | shining.
 | Beloved, pray for him who speak, but especially pray for those in this solemn gathering whom God sees in danger of some danger of committing the most awful crime. A man came | trembling to me once, his eyes filled with tears and he said, on, I want so much to be saved but I've rejected so l T ,,iy,,Jf +n1 t1,n pardonable sin,' and said, My broth 1 CT. have no fear. If you have commit l ted the unpardonable sin you would never be so concerned about your soul 1 When a man has once sinned against 1 the Holy Ghost the sense of the Saviour | speakes, God let him alone, for he is joined to his sin, and there is no hope | for him.. No penitent man is ever re- | jected for his sin, for no penitent man has ever committed the unpardonable sin. This sin is a condition of the heart and not an act of the soulj in Eph- rianl's case this hardened condition of the heart culminated in idolatry. With | the Jews it manifested itself in saying that by power of satan Christ cast an evil spirit out of a certain devil possess ed man.
 "In the specific sense there is no unpardonable sin. There is no special sin that will mot be pardoned if man nraves that pardon at the hand of God. There is no sin that Christ's blood can- not atone for.
 q believe that the Holy Spirit does not cease to strive with some men until the last sign which could be taken for assent has been forever sealed by death, and then only has that mans probation been ended. Many an un- godly man has passed into eternity without the least sign of concern for his soul and infidels can see he dies as he lived Robert Ingerson has spent much effort trying to prove that Tom Paine died without a sign of regard for God. Suppose he had, which he didn't, it's because such men can't die any other way. Physically alive, they have ] been long spiritually dead for they have grieved away the Gods Holy Spirit and He has left them alone to wake up to their true condition in the outer darkness of another world.
 "The Holy Spirit will never let a. man alone, will never lose a soul until i He has done all that can be done to win that soul for Christ. If that soul of yours was so precious in Gods sight l that He could send His only Son to calvary for it you may be sure nothing but your unwillingness to come can ever keep you away for Jesus and if there is anything that ever breaks the Saviour's heart it is for a sinner to say Him nay to His loving invitation. | Cam you recall the words and the scene of Matthew 23. Being about to offer | Himself up He hastens to the scene of His crucifxion Coming to the cross of Christ the city of Jerusalem bursts upon His sight, but as the picture of that 1 wicked city touched His eye His eye touched His heart and from the break | ing of the very depths of His heart there came gushing those hot curing teans that poured down His face as He wept over the doomed city as a father weeps over a lost child. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent unto the ban often would I have gathered thy children to gather even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings and ye would not Of those awful solemn sounding words and ye would not how often would but ye would not
 My brother has Christ laid His hand on you to save you? Have you spurned the sacrifice? Have you turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of Christ. If so,