The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-01-11
REVIVAL DRAWING TO A CLOSE.
Rev. Mr.. Ostrom VIII Preach His Last
Sermon Tomorrow.

Rev. Henry Ostrom and his assistant, Mr..
Crowell, singer who have been conducting
revival meetings at Roberts Park Church
are soon to close their work in this city. DR..
Coultas, the pastor of the church. announced
last night that Mr. Ostrom would preach
his closing sermon on Sunday night. His
two weeks work here has made a great i'm
preston upon the people who have at
tended the meetings. Mr.. Ostrom mas DEM
onstrated himself TO be a man of marked
originality and power. His preaching is
plain, positive and direct The singing of
Mr.. Crowell has been an interesting feature
of the meeting. In all the work they have
been heartily supported by DR.. Coultas, the
officers OF the church and a corps of work
ers.
Mr.. Ostrom spoke last night on the SUBJ
ject Of God and Human Sin,'' taking for
his text. God be merciful to me. a sin
ner." 1T is useless" he said, "for US to
spend time debating about Adam eating the
fruit in the Garden of Eden. The Bible
gives obedient minds sufficient information
TO set us right for two worlds, but IL does
curious debate. am not so much concerned
about Adams eating an apple. as L am
about my being a sinner. am not SO
much concerned about whether the thief
came in at the back door or the side door
or the front window, as i am about how
to get him out of the house before he steals
my property or murders my family. / am
not so much concerned about the pedigree
of sin as | am about its power, nor do 1
care so much where ii came from, as 1
do care that ii has outlived fifty genera
lions of men. has broken homes and hearts
and created much sorrow. There Is really
no philosophy of sin, for sin Is that which
is philosophy of redemption in that which
is according to law. Conditions and de-
grees of sin; then then rn must be be
learn that God cannot look upon sin with
any degree of allowance. If God could in
dorse one sin, then he might another, until
the whole fabric of righteousness would be
torn to shreds. am glad that God is a
holy God If you want to be bad man
you will not like that, but If you want to
be good one you will like 1t. In a world
where the storms sweep furiousiy over the
broad seas i am glad that there is one har-
Dor where the wharfage cannot be swept
away. glad that there is one friend who
cannot betray or forget or compromise
one true, holy friend.
"a man does not have to break every
law in order to be sinner. In the United
States if a man breaks any law he is a
lawbreaker. The same is true of the gospel.
No man can cover his sins and prosper.
Covered sin is studied sin. The man who
undertakes that prostitutes his intellect. He
not only does the moral wrong. but he
uses his badness to keep right from sweep
ing away the wrong. He is compound
er your steps in the night
hours, but they are made as If
in molten iron, and 1t will harden and you
may cover them for twenty years, but the
winds of righteousness will blow all the
sawdust out of them and they will be there
exactly fitting your shoes. Be sure your
sin will find you out.
''If God could compromise with sin, 1t
would be a permission to degenerate. You
let your boy steal an orange and don't
correct him for 1.-THE will steal two oranges,
and don't correct him for that and he will
steal a little money and you know full
well he will degenerate into a common thief
Do you not see that all the Ten Command
ments are intended to save us from wrong,
and every assertion of God is for our de-
tense. Now that these things might be truly
established and that man, a sinner, might
be saved Christ came and perfectly kept
all the law and became sacrificial atone
ment and example for u.s. AS the essence
OF sin is the separation from God. so he
who Joins himself to Christ may be forgiven
what was wrong and have a heart in him
to do right henceforth 1t would take us all
eternity 70 tell our appreciation of such a
Savior"