Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-04-17

turned to dust soothed your pains and
with that voice you will never hear
again unless you Join her in the bet
ter country, told you never mind, you
would be better by and by, and by
that dying couch where she talked so
slowly. catching her breath between
the words-by all those memories
ask you to come and take the same re-
hgion. 1t was good enough for her;
1t is good enough for you.
Aye, | make a better plea. By the
wounds and the death throe OF the Son
OF God. who approaches you IN infinite
love with torn brow and lacerated
hands and whipped back. crying.
come unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and | will give you
rest!"
Other persons apologize for not en-
tering the Christian life because Of
the incorrigibility of their tempera-
ment Now, We admit 1t is harder for
some people to become Christians
than for others, but the grace OF God
never came to a mountain that 1t
could not climb or to an abyss that 1t
could not fathom or to bondage that
IL could not break. And the widest,
the haughtiest, the most ungoyernable
man ever created by the grace Of God
may be subdued and sent out on min
istry of kindness, as God sends an
August thunderstorm to water the
Wild flowers down in the grass.
Rich harvests of grace may grow on
the summit Of the jagged steep. and
f1ocks of Christian graces may find
pasturage in fields of bramble and
rock. Though your disposition may
be all a-bristle with fretfulness, though
you have a temper a-gleam with
quick lightnings. though your avarice
be like that of the horse leech. crying.
'Giye! though damnable impurities
have wrapped you in all consuming
nre. God can drive that devil out OF
your soul. and over the chaos and
the darkness he can say. LET there be
light"
Converting grace has lifted the
drunkard from the ditch and snatched
the knife from the hand of the assas-
sin and the false keys from the burg
lar. and in the pestiferous lanes Of
the city met the daughter of sin un-
der the dim lamplight and scattered
her sorrow and her guilt with the
words. THY sins are forgiven; go,
and sin no more" For scarlet sin a
scarlet atonement.
Other mot n
tering the Christian life because Of the
inconsistencies of those who profess
religion. Now. say 1t is illogical. Poor
lawyers are nothing against jurispru-
dence; poor physicians are nothing
against medicine; poor farmers are
nothing against agriculture. and mean.
contemplate professors of religion are
nothing against our glorious Chris
tianity.
Sometimes you have been riding
along on a summer night by a swamp
and you have seen lights that kindled
over decayed vegetation-lights which
are called jack-o-lantern or will-o'-
the-wisp. These lights are merely pol
sonous miasmata My friends, on your
way to heaven you will want a better
light than the will-o' -wisps which
dance on the rotten character of MORT
bund Christians. Exudations from
poisonous trees in our neighbours gar
den will make very poor balm for
our wounds.
Sickness will come. and we will be
pushed out toward the Red sea which
divides this world from the next, and
not the Inconsistency of Christians, but
the rod of faith, will wave back the
waters as a commander wheels his
host. The judgment will come. with
is thunder shod solemnities. Oh. then
we will not stop and say, There was
mean Christian; there was a cowardly
Christian; there was an impure Chris
tian." In that day as now. IF thou be
wise. thou shalt be wise for myself,
but II thou soonest thou alone shall
bear it."
Why. my brother, the Inconsistency
of Christians. SO far from being an
argument to keep you away from God,
ought to be an argument to drive you
to Him. The best place for skillful
doctor Is in neighborhood where
there are all poor doctors. the best
place for an enterprisng merchant to
open his store Is in a place where the
bargain makers do not understand
their business and the best place for
you who want to become the illustri-
Gus and complete Christian, the best
pace for you is to come right down
among us who are so incompetent and
so inconsistent sometimes. Show us
how. Give us an example.
other persons apologize for not be-
coming Christians because they lack
time. as though religion muddled the
brain of the accountant or tripped the
pen of the author or thickened the
tongue of the orator or weakened the
arm of the mechanic or scattered the
briefs of the lawyer or interrupted the
sales of the merchant. They bolt their
store doors against 1t and fight 1t back
with trowels and with yardsticks and
cry, Away with your religion from
our store. our Office, our factory"
They do not understand that religion
in this workday world will help you to
do anything you ought to do. 1t can
lay keel; 1t can sail ship; 1t can
buy a cargo; 1t can work pulley; it
can pave a street; 1t can fit wrist
band; 1t can write a constitution; II
can marshal host 1t is as appro-
pirate to the astronomer as his tele-
scope. to the chemist as his labora-
tory. to the mason as his plumb line.
to the carpenter as his plane, to the
child as his marbles.
No time to be religious here! You
have no time not to be religious. You
might as well have no clerks in your
store, no books in your library, no
compass on your ship, no rifle In the