Connecticut western news., 1901-01-24
that the president and directors of tha, IL

that the president and directors of thar oil company professed.
 Forsake the Desert of unbelief.
 But l do not stop now to know how you came into rejection of Christianity. You frankly tell me that you do reject It. You do not believe that Christ Is divine being, although you admit that he was a very good man. You do not believe that the Bible was inspired of God, although you think there are some very fine things In 1t. You believe that the Scriptural description of Eden was only an allegory. There are 90 things that l believe that you do not believe, and yet you are an accommodating man. Everybody that knows you says that of you. If l should ask you to do kindness for me, or If any one else should ask of you kindness, you would do 1t. If when you are i'll l should come to you with a phial of medicine and say: "This kind of medi- cine has cured 50 people who were just as badly off as you are. Take it," and you replied: II do not want to take it. I have no confidence in it," l would say, "Take 1t to oblige me-" and you would say, "Well, if 1t will accommo- date you I will take it." Now, you have found that this world is insufficient, and you are sick of sin. l come to you with a gospel medicine. It has cured hundreds and thousands and millions. Will you take it? "No," you say. 'l have no confidence In It." Take 1t, then, to oblige me. 1 tell you of physician who has cured more blind eyes and bound up more broken hearts and heal ed more ghastly wounds than all the doctors since the time of Esculapius. Be obliging, and just make the expert ment. If you are not acquainted with the ordinary modes of prayer, say in substance: "Oh, Lord Jesus, this is a strange thing for me to do. l know nothing about the formulas of religion. These Christian people have been talk Ing so long about what thou canst do for me, I 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." Will you not try that experiment?
 do not now say there Is anything in | religion. Do not take my counsel or the counsel of any clergyman, for you. may dislike clergymen. Perhaps we | may talk professionally. Perhaps we may be prejudiced in the matter. Per | haps our advice Is not worth taking. | Then take tue counsel of some very respectable layman, as John Milton, 1 the poet; as William Wilberforce, the | emancipator; as Isaac Newton, the astronomer; as Robert Boyle, the phi i losopher; as Locke, the metaphysician; as Morse, the telegrapher; as Washing ton,. the statesman. They never preached, or pretended to preach, yet, putting down one his telescope and an- other his parliamentarian's scroll and another his electrician's 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 recommendation of ministers of the gospel. take the recommendation of highly respectable laymen.
 Oh, men, skeptical and struck through with unrest, I beg you 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. If you do not believe in anything else, you believe In love-a fathers love, a mothers love, a 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 l 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"
 GIoriousIy Rescued.
 Again, I remark that the heavenly Shepherd 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 kill insects" Oh, no. The spi- der says, Dearest fly, come and take a morning walk with me on this suspen- sion bridge of gossamer, glittering with diamonds of dew" Do not be hard on those gone astray. It makes me sad to see Christian people give up prodigal as lost
 People tell us that If man has de- lirium tremens twice he cannot be re- claimed; that If a woman has sacri- feed her integrity she cannot be re- stored. The Bible has distinctly inti- mated that the Lord Almighty Is ready to pardon 490 times. Why do say 400 times? Because the Bible says gro times T." Now figure that out. You do not think a man can fall 4 times, 8 times, 10 times, 20 times, 100 times, 400 times and yet be saved. Four hundred and ninety times! There are men be- fore the throne of God who have wal lowed in every kind of sin, but, say ed 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 lifted up, and finally, by the grace of God, they stand In heaven, gloriously rescued by the grace promised to the chief of sinners.
 l want to tell you that God loves
 to take hold of very bad case. When
 the church casts you off and when the
 clubroom casts you off and when SO
 ciety casts you off and when business
 associates cast you off and when ia
 ther casts you off and when mother
 casts you off and when everybody
 casts you off, your first cry for helI
 will bend the eternal God clear down
 into the ditch of your suffering and
 shame. The Good Templars cannot
 save you, although they are grand
 institution. The Sons of Temperance
 cannot save you, although they are
 mighty for good. Signing the temper
 ance pledge cannot save you, although
 I believe in 1t. Nothing but the grace
 of the eternal God can save you, and
 that will if you will throw yourself
 on It.