The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1901-01-24

apostle, once SEeDtic. lbllt Wnen once
with strong hand they laid hold Of the
gospel chariot they rolled il on with what
momentum ] do not know how you
came to reject Christianity. II may have
been through the inddel talk OF some
Young man in the store or shop or factory
It may have been through the trclsery Of
some professed Christian man, who dis
gusted you with religion. " may he that
thirty years ago you lost all faith by what
happened in an oil company which was
formed amid the petroleum excitement
The company owned no land. or. il they
did, there was no sign of oil produced
But The president of the company was a
Presbyterian elder and the treasurer an
Episcopal vestrvman and one director was
Methodist class leader and the other
officers prominent mn-rhers Of Baptist and
Congregational churches Crculars were
got out telling what fabulous prospects
opened before this company. The circu
lar had all the hues of earth and sea and
slly. The letters famed with all the beauty
of gold and Jasper and amethyst. limo.
cent men and women who had little
money to invest and that little their all
said, 81 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 IL 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
rcoreanized and had a different president,
a different treasurer and different drec.
tors. Other engagements or an overcoming
modesty had caused the former officers of
the company with many regrets, to resign.
and all the subscribers Of that stocl. had
to show for their investment was beauti.
! fully ornamented certificate. Sometimes
that man, looking over his old paners,
tl.,s 10 ,..1 - =
suggestive that he vows he wants none of
the religion that the president and direc.
tors OF that oil company professed.
But do not stop now to know how You
| came into rejection of Christianity. You
| frankly tell me that you do reject IL.
| You do not believe that Christ is a divine
| being. although you admit that He was
very good man You do not believe that
| the Bible was inspired of God. although
! you think tLere are some very fine things
in it. You believe that the Scriptural dc.
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 tha.
| knows you says that Of you.
| II | should ask you to do kindness for
| me, q. Il any 5,.1 else should ask of you
| kindness, 4 woulJ 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 cured fifty people who were Just
as badly off a you are. Take it, and you
replied: 81 do not want to take it. have
no confidence in it," | would say, "Take it
TO oblige me-" and you would say, well,
| If 1t will accommodate YOU ] viii take it,"
Now, you have found that this world is
| insufficient, and you are sick Of sin.
come to you with gospel medicine. 1t
| has cured hundreds and thousands and
millions. Will you take it, No" You
ssay., Il have no confidence in it,, Take
| it, then, to obige me. | tell you of ply
| sician who has cured more blind eyes and
bound up more broken hearts and healed
more CHASTITY wounds than all the doctors
| 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 in substance:
""Oh, Lord Jesus, this is a strange thing
| Tor me to do. | 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 commandest me- IF there
be any power in religion. as these people
say, let me have the advantage Of it."
| VIII you not try that experiment?
| | do not now say there is anything in re-
| ligion. Do moi take my counsel or the
counsel of any clergyman, for you may dis
like clergymen. Perhaps We may talk pro-
| tessionally. Perhaps We may be prcjudiced
! in the matter. Perhaps our advice is not
worth taking. Then take the counsel of
some very respectable layman, MS John
| Milton, TIE poet; as William Wlberforce.
| the emGncipator; as Isaac Newton the as
| tronOmer; as Robert Boyle. the philoSo.
| pher; as Locke, the metaphyscian; 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. Ii 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. Yol do not want your children
TO come up in that skeptcism. II you do
not believe in anything else, YOU believe in
love-a fathers love. mothers love, a
wlfe's love, 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, Other sheep have which are not
of this fold"
Again. i remark that the heavenly Shep-
herd is going to find great many of the
sheen among those who have been full of
evil habit. They were ali cheated into sin.
The spider does not say TO the fly, Come
into the web where kill insects" Oh, no.
The spider says, Dearest fly. come and
take a morning walk with me on this sus-
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 prodigal as lost
People tell us that if a man has deli
rihm 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 / say 400 times? Because
the Bible says Seventy times seven"
Now figure that out You do not think
man can fall four times. eight times, ten
times, twenty times. 100 times, 400 times
and yet 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 sin.