The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1896-11-13


were willing to be damned for the
glory of God, they said what no one
believed Paul did not in the text
mean he was willing to die forever to
save his relatives He u.ei hyperbole,
and when he declared, III could
wish that myself were accursed
from Christ for my breth-
rem, my kinsmen according to
the flesh" he meant in the most vehe-
ment OF all possible ways to declare
his anxiety for the salvation of his rel
atives and friends 1t was a passion
for souls Not more than one Chris
tian out of thousands of Christians feel
it. All-absorbing desire for the better
ment of the physical and mental con.
dition is very common. 1t would
take more of a mathematician than
ever can be to calculate how many
are, up to an anxiety that some
times will not let them sleep nights,
planning for the efficiency of hos
pitfalls where the sick and wound
ed of body are treated, and for eye
and ear infirmaries. and for dispense
ries and retreats where the poorest may
have most skillful surgery and helpful
treatment. Oh! it is beautiful and glo-
rious, this widespread and ever intensi-
fying movement to alleviate and cure
physical misfortunes. May God en-
courage and help the thousands OF
splendid men and women engaged in
that work. But all that is outside OF
my subject to-day. In behalf of the
immortality of man, the inner eye, the
inner ear, the inner capacity for glad
ness or distress, how few feel anything
like the overwhelming concentration
expressed in my text?
Rarer than four-leaved cloverS, rareI
than century plants, rarer than prima
donnas, have been those of whom II
may be said. ''They had a passion for
souls" You could count on the fingers
and thumb of your left hand all the
names of those you can recall, who In
the last, the 18th century, were
so characterized. All the names OF
those you could recall in our time as
having this passion for souls you car
count on the fingers and thumbs OF
your right and left hands. There
are many more such conSecrated
souls. but they are scattered so widely
YOU do not know them. Thoroughly
Christian people by the hundreds OF
millions there are to-day, but how few
people do you know who are utterly
oblivious to everything in this world ex'
cept the redemption of souls? Paul hao
it when he wrote my text, and the time
will come when the majority of Chris
tians will have it, if this world is ever
to be lifted out of the slough in which
it has been sinking and laundering for
near 10 centuries. And the betterment
had better begin with myself and your
self.
When a committee of the Society
of Friends" called upon a member &c
reprimand him for breaking some
small rule of the society, the member
replied: II had dream in which all
the Friends had asse mbled to plan
some way to have our meeting house
cleaned, for it was very filthy. Many
PROPOSITIONS were made, but no conclu-
sion was reached until one of the mem
bers rose and said: Friends, think il
each one would take a broom and
sweep Immediately around his own
seat, the meeting house would
be clean" So let the work
of spiritual improvement be-
gin around our own soul. Someone
whispers up from the right hand side
of the pulpit and says: "Will you please
name some of the persons in our times
who have this passion for souls?' Oh,
mol That would be invidious and i'm
prudent, and the mere mention of such
persons might cause them spiritual
pride, and then the Lord would have
no more use for them. Someone whis-
pers up from the left hand side of the
pulpit: Twill you not then mention
among the people of the past some VINO
had this passion for souls?'
Oh, yesi Samuel Rutherford, the
Scotchman of 300 years ago, his impris.
onment at Aberdeen for his religious
zeal, and the public burning of his
book, LEX Rex" in Edinboro, and his
unjust arraignment for, high treason,
and other prosecutions purifying and
sanctifying him. so that his works. en-
titled Trial and Triumph of Faith"
and Christ Dying and Drawing Sin
ners to Himself" and, above all, his
2l5 unparalleled letters showed that he
had the passion for souls Richard
Baxter, whose "Paraphrase of the New
Testament" caused him to be dragged
before Lord Jeffries, who howled at
him as "a rascal" and ''sniveling Pres
byterian," and imprisoned him for two
years-Baxter, writing 16S religious
books, his "Call to the Unconvert-
ed" bringing uncounted thousands
into the pardon of the gospel, and his
saints Everlasting Rest" opening
Heaven to host innumerable. Richard
Cecil, Thomas-a-Kempis, writing his
Limitation of Christ" for all ages
Harlan Page, Robert McCheyne, Net
tleton, Finney. And more whom l
might mention, the characteristic OF
whose lives was an overtowering pas
sion for souls. A. T. Earl, the Baptist
evangelist, had it. 1. S. Inskip, the
Methodist evangelist, had it. Jacob
Knapp had it. DIR. Bacchus, president
of the Hamilton college, had 1t, and