Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-01-25

x oil company Wn
"a the petroleum exc
66any owned no land, or.
There was no sign of oil p
6ut the president OF the company was a
Presbyterian elder and the treasurer an
Episcopal vestrvman and one director was
a Methodist class leader and the other
officers prominent members of Baptist aud
CONGREGATIONAL churches. Circulars were
rot out telling what fabulous prospects
opened before this company. The circu.
lar had all the hues of earth and sea and
sky. The letters famed with all the beauty
of gold and jasper and amethyst. limo
cent men and women who had a little
money to invest and that little their all
said, ri do not know anything about this
company. but so many good men are at
the head of it that it must be excellent,
and taking stock in it must be almost, as
good as joining the church" So they
bought their stock, and perhaps received
one dividend to keep them still. But after
awhile they found that the company had
reoroanized and had a different president,
a different treasurer and different direc'
iors. Other engagements or an overcoming
nlodesty had caused the former officers OF
the company, with many regrets, to resign,
and all the subscribers of that stock had
TO show for their investment was beautI'
fully ornamented certificate. Sometimes
that man, looking over his old papers,
comes across that certificate, and 1t Is SO
suggestive that he vows he wants none OF
the religion that the president and dlrec'
tors of that oil company protested,
But | do not stop now to know how you
came into rejection Of Christianity. You
frankly tell me that you do reject 1t.
You do not believe that Christ is divine
being, although you admit that He was a
very good man.. You do not helleve tnat
the Bible was inspired OF God, although
Won think there are some very fine things
in it. You believe that the Scriptural de-
scription of Eden was only an allegory.
There are fifty things that believe that
YOU do not believe, and yet you are an
accommodating man. Everybody that
knows you says that of you.
If | should ask you to do 4 kindness for
me, or if any one else should ask Of you
kindness, - would do it. If when you
are i'll should come to you with a phial
of medicine and say, This kind Of medi.
cine has orred fifty people who were, just
as badly off as you are. Take it," and you
replied, 81 do not want to take it. | have
no confidence in it," l would say, "Take it
to oblige me-" and you would say. "Well,
if it will accommodate you | will take it"
Now, you have found that this world is
insufficient, and you are sick of sin. l
come to you with gospel medicine. 1t
has cured hundreds and thousands and
millions. Will you take it? mo" you
say II have no confidence in it,. Take
it. then, to oblige me. | tell you OF ply.
sician who has cured more blind eyes and
bound up more broken hearts and healed
l. oil Hhn tnres
since the time of Aesculapius. Be obliging,
and just make the experiment.
If YOU are not acquainted with the ordi.
| nary modes of prayer, say III substance:
"Oh, Lord Jesus, this is strange thing
for me to do. l know nothing about the
formulas of religion. These Christian peo.
pie have been talking so long about what
| Thou canst do for me, / am ready TO do
| whatever Thou commanded me. If there
be any power in religion, as these people
say, let me have the advantage of it."
| Will you not try that experiment?
| do not now say there is anything IN re-
| ligion. Do not take my counsel or the
counsel Of any clergyman, for you may dis
| like clergymcn. Perhaps we may talk pro.
fessionally. Perhaps we may be prejudiced
| in the matter. Perhaps our advice is not
worth taking. Then take ihe counsel Of
some very respectable layman, as John
Milton, the poet; as William Wherefore,
the emancipation; as Isaac Newton, the as
trenomer; as Robert Boyle, the philoso-
pher; as Locke, the metaphysician; as
Morse, the telegrapher; as Washington,
| the statesman.
They never preached, or pretended to
preach, yet, putting down one his telescope
| and another his parlimentarian's scroll and
another his electricians wire, came forth
and commended the religion Of Christ as
| the best thing for the cure of the worlds
| woes. If you will not take the recommen-
dation of ministers of the gospel, take the
recommendation Of highly respectable lay
men.
Oh. men. skeptical and struck through
with unrest, / beg you to come off that
great Sahara desert OF doubt into the
bright and luxuriant land of gospel hope
and peace. You do not want your children
TO come up in that skepticism. Ii you do
not believe in anything else, you believe In
| love-a fathers love, mothers love, q
wife's love, a child's love.
Then let me tell you that God loves you
more than all these together. The great
heart of Christ aches to have you come IN,
and He looks into your eyes this moment,
saying, OCner SHSep HdFc "hiSi "iS ~"
of this fold"
Again, remark that the heavenly Shep-
herd is going to find great many of the
sheep among those who have been full OF
evil habit. They were all cheated into sin.
The spider does not say to the fly, Come
into the web where I kill insects" Oh, no:
The spider says, Dearest fly, come and
take a morning walk with me on this Sis
pension bridge of gossamer, glittering with
diamonds of dew! Do not be hard on
those gone astray. II makes me sad to. see
Christian people give up prodlgal as lost.
People tell us that if man has deli
rum tremens twice he cannot be re-
claimed; that if a woman has sacrificed
her integrity she cannot be restored. The
Bible has distinctly intimated that the
Lord Almighty is ready to pardon 400
times. Why do l say 400 times? Because
the Bible saws Seventy times seven -
Now figure that out You do not think a
man can fall four times, eight times, ten
times, twenty times, 100 times, 400 times
and vet be saved. Four hundred and nine
ty times! There are men before the throne
of God who have wallowed in every kind
of sin, but, saved by the grace of Christ
and washed in His blood, they stand there
radiant now. There are those who plunged
into the very lowest depths of the slums
and who have for hundreds OF times been
lifted up, and finally, by the grace OF God,
they stand in heaven, gloriously rescued
by the grace promised to the chief of sim
| ners.