Woodruff County news., 1901-10-26

It Will draw the live continents and the seas between them-yea, it will draw the whole earth back to God from whom it has wandered. It is that wooing and persuasive word that will lead men to give up their sins. Was skepticism ever brought into love of the truth by an ebullition of hot words against infidelity? Was ever the blasphemer stopped in his oaths by denunciation of blasphemy? Was ever the drunkard weaned from his cups by the temperance lecturers mimicry of staggering step and hic- cough? No. It was: Come with me to church to-day and hear our singing;" Come and let me intro duce you to a Christian man whom you will be sure to admire;" Come with me into associations that are cheerful and good and inspiring;" Come with me into joy such as you never before experienced"
 With that word which has done so much for others I approach you to- day. Are you right with God? 'No," you say, ''I think not; l am sometimes alarmed when I think of Him; I fear 1 will not be ready to meet Him in the last day; my heart is not right with God" Come, then, and have it made right. Through the Christ who died to save you, come! What is the use in waiting? The longer you wait the farther off you are and the deeper you are down. Strike out for Heaven! You
 
 steamer called the Princess Alice, with a crowd of eXcursionists aboard, sank in the Thames, and there was an awful sacrifice of life. A boatma from the shore put out for the rescue, and he had big boat, and he got it so full it would not hold another person, and as he laid hold of the oars to pull for the shore, leaving hundreds helpless and | drowning, he cried out: "Oh, that had bigger boat!" Thank God that l am not thus limited and that 1 can promise room for all in this Gospel boat. Get in; get in! And yet there is room. Room in the heart of par doning God. Room in Heaven.
 What we all need, whether up or J the infinite solace of the Christian reli- zion. And so we employ the word "Come!" It will take all eternity to find out the number of business men who have been strengthened by the promises of God and the people who have been fed by the ravens when other resources gave out, and the men and women who, going into this battle armed only with the needle or saw or ax or yardstick or pen or type or shovel or shoe last, have gained victory that made the heavens resound.
 But the word Come" applied to those who need solace will amount to nothing unless it be uttered by some one who has experienced that solace. That spreads the responsibility of giv- ing this Gospel call among a great many. Those who have lost property and have been consoled by religion in | that trial are the ones to invite those who have failed in business. Those who have lost their health and been consoled by religion are the ones to invite those who are in poor health. | Those who have had bereavements and been consoled in those bereavements are the ones to sympathize with those who have lost father or mother or companion or child or friend. What multitudes of us are alive to-day and l in good health and buoyant in this l journey of life who would have been broken down or dead long ago but for the sustaining and cheering help of our holy religion! So we say, 'Come!' ' The well is not dry. The buckets are not empty. The supply is not exhaust ed. There is just as much mercy and coincidence and soothing power in God as before the first grave was dug, ol the first tear started, or the first heart broken, or the first accident happened or the first fortune vanished. Those of us who have felt the consolatory power of religion have a right to speak out of our own experiences and say: "Come!"
 What dismal work of condo,ence the world makes when it attempts to con dole! The plaster they spread does not stick The broken bones under | their bandage do not knit. A farmer was lost in a snowstorm on a prairie of the far west. Night was coming on, and after he was almost frantic from not knowing which way to go his sleigh struck the rut of another sleigh, and he said: "I will follow this rut, and it will take me out to safety" He hastened on until he heard the bells of the preceding horses; but, coming up, he found that that man was also lost, and, as is the tendency of those who are confused in the forest or on the moors, they were both moving in a circle, and the runner of the one lost l IL III 4l,., #