The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-01-27

specimens of humanity, l said to a girl; Sister, have you never known anything better than this? and the poor, filthy, wretched girl sobbed: Yes, was once a teacher in, a Methodist Sunday school l went the next morn ing into the Tombs and held ithe hand of a young man of nineteen, as with his face bathed in tears he told me of his coming electrocution for murder, I passed from that dismal place to kneel by the side of a homeless, penniless, frlendleEs drunkard to hear him say sixteen years has my life been made hell through the power of strong drink and as I came from these ex- periences [ realized as had never real ized before one of the most fearful truths in the moral universe of God, that sin is @ species of moral insanity. It robs a man of all that is high and holy and pure and transforms him into a child of the evil one. The man who runs away from God pays pretty dearly for his trip. You may be comfortable in your sim for a while and dream.
 Those rainbow dreams which fancy's
 beams
 Paint on the fleeting mists that roll
 In trance or slumber round the soul;' but when you come to your self you will say, as thousands have said, and as Lord Byron said even at the high noon of his life, My days are in the yellow leaf;
 The flowers and fruits of love are
 gone;
 The wowy, the anguish and the grief
 arc mine alone.
 "Oh, may the Holy Spirit give every one of you who love sin of any kind one single moment of real living conscious sness, when you shall come to yourself and see yourself as God sees you and your better nature.
 q may not be able to tell you how you are to be convicted of sin. Many men have had peculiar experiences which have not been yours, but this much I can say-that no man has ever been brought into the world, or even will come into it, but that some time In some way the Holy Spirit convicts him of sin.
 If you know the difference between right and wrong, if you look Intelligent ly into nature, if you count up the sad experience of your own life, if you open the word of God, yes. ever now as you sit here, the Holy Spirit is convicting you of sin and pleading with you to come,
 Just as thou art without one trace | Of love or joy or inward grace,
 Or meetness for the heavenly place and if you will come in this way, God l 1t..a
 "After conviction of our sin there must be contrition for it. True repent ance is being so sorry for your sins that | you are willing to rise up and forsake them. My friend, have you been con- victed os sin and never felt sorry for 1 your sins? And have you never made an honest effort to forsake them? Then | I feel sorry for you. Your heart is slowly turning to stone and God can nlelver forgive you until you arouse your self and get some feeling of contrition
 "The next step after eontrition is con- fession. The prodigal son became con- victed of his sin, had 'contnton for it, and then made confession of it; the thing he made up his mind to do was the thing he did. Confession is both l the result and the sign of repentance. Here is the promise to those who con fess, He that confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy
 | "Tha fourth step is conversion, and he that is lost is found The scriptures l in this parable and everywhere seems to me to speak of man as a free moral agent in the proper sense of the word | You may say, I will arise and yet you may sit still in a far country, and every moment you are in this condition you are practically saying, I won't, won't, | I won't How did the prodigal sur
 mount the difficulty when, he was far from home, and 3destituteie Listen, l friends, it was this, T willr and no sooner said than the angels Of, heaven began to sing and God was on His way | to meet him. God never yet saved an unwilling soul, and when you are will | ing, by the help of God, to make one | honest effort to forsake your sin, you can begin to reckon yourself a. saved man, and no man who has been convict l ed of sin and who desires to be right with God need ever fear that God will not receive him and forgive him if he is willing to be forgiven. Perhaps some thlie ulatotSe udS 1olouSHL you Ol SOilS of your friends near the grave and you | felt your own unfitness to die and you said, I will arise and go to my Father, but you didn't go. Friends, in the name | of God, I ask you to come now. The program for this weeks meetings l is as follows:
 Monday-Mr. Mills will preach at | noon in the Grand opera house on Christianity and Socialism l No afternoon service on Monday. ! 7:30 p. n.-Mr. BiederwoM will preach | in Calvary Baptist church. This will be the only meeting that evening. l Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday-Preaching by MT: Mills, 12 m., at Grand opera house, 5.50 D. m. at | Center church, 730 ?. m, atgSecond reg irrBent armory.
 | About 5000 people were present at the made an eloquent and powerful address of which he made the following an- nouncenIents: The subject for the noon meeting at the Grand to-day will be | Christianity and Socialism, His sub- I jects for the remainder of the week at 1 these noon meetings will be on practical topics. Service will be held at Center 1 church at 3:30 o'clock each afternoon of this week except today
 | MT. Biederwolf will preach in Calvary Baptist church tonight, This will be the only meeting this evening. l Each p1ropipoc +bi- aynnnt n