Milford chronicle., 1903-03-06

OF ms Christian church today is infide
thought. do not believe it, l believe
that the reason you and do not come
TO Christ, if we are not already Chris
tians, is because we are not ready tC
give up our pet sins. We do not stand
before God in an attitude of a doubter
We stand in the attitude Of defiance
We stand wrapped around by the pol
lpted garment Of sin. NAnd deliberate
sin, what is it?i once cried out Joseph
Parker 1T is a shut hand, a elinched
fist, an upraised arm, the muscles to
the full tension, and the object God
Almighty's face" Sin is the cause of
ninety-nine in every hundred refusals
to come to Christ; not skeSricism, NOT
infidelity, not agnosticism, not doubt.
If | as messenger of God come tC
you with the gospel invitation and you
refuse to come l know that in all
probability, deep down in your heart
You are concealing some secret sin
which you refuse to give up.
oh, the destroying power Of sini
Some years ago a diver was sent down
to explore the bottom of the sea. While
there he thrust his hand into a hole
which seemed to be the retreat of
some kind of a living creature. In
stantly his arm was seized as by
wise. The long tentaCles of an octopus
wound themselves about his arm. He
dared not give the signal for the friends
overhead to pull him up because he
knew that his arm would be pulled of,
but he had presence of mind enough
to take 4 sharp steel knife which he
had strapped to his side and with it he
cut of the arms of that octopus, and
when the diver was pulled up attached
to his body were the arms of that oc.
tOpus, still clinging, one of the tenta-
cles over eight feet long. The octopus
Of secret sin has many man and wo-
man in a fatal clutch. We are not will.
ing to destroy that sin now. Therefore
we keep saying to the messenger Of the
gospel, Il pray thee have me excused"
The next reason why they all Witt
one consent began to make excuse"
was because they expected at some fu- !
ture time 10 accept the gospel invita-
IAcAAs a Ills - Il AAAOel Alt AuAs al HulUObl@ /
ton to make in interpreting the text.
They might have stayed away and
made no excuse, but then the host
would have been offended and would
never have invited them again. They
wanted to keep his good will so that
he might invite them at some future
time. If those invited guests never
nwnOnfn6 70 Al
good mans house, they would have
said to themselves: what is the good
Of my sitting down every little while
and writing to that good man that l
cannot accept his invitations? He is
becoming nothing but a perfect bore
What l will do hereafter is just to
throw his invitations into the waste
basket Then, after awhile, he will
,ease to write and will stop his impOr-
-unities." But, no. That is not the
,ourse these invited guests took. They
practically said to themselves. 4 will
leep on sending my declination. year
Il and year out, and then some day,
when | am old and sick and helpless
nd about to die, l will just be carried
nan will take care of me and forgive
Il the Indifference and sin of my past
fe." You expect to some day come to
'hrist, but you keep saying to the Cos
el messenger; Not snow. Not now.
lot now"
Accept the Invitation Now. :
My brother and sister invited to Je-
fFhufeN ,OA -, g., "
, any decision. am going to leave 2
le whole matter with yourself. In
-ead of asking you to come to the Cos
el banquet now am going to ask you
hen you will come. Will you come tc
hrist ten years from today? "Oh, no."
)u answer; Il would not like to post
)ne the gospel invitation as long as
lat. l may never live ten years. Ten
sars is very long time. As | look
lck over my past life l can see how
any unexpected things have hap
ned during ten years. Many of my
st and dearest friends have died dur %
g those ten years. They were just {
young ard strong as | am now. so
mot afford to wait ten years" Then ':I
III you come in five years? NO: /
II not delay it five years. That is
80 too long. have had certain warn !
IS that l may not live five years. 2
lere was a strange pain in my heart; !
ere was that dizzy sensation in my 7
ad." Then will you come next year 3
next month to the gospel banquet? g
o." you answer; Il dare not postpone 3
5 gospel invitation for year or even s
a month. l know that the gospel
'itation will not press itself upon me 8
4 month with the same power as it
now doing. Each day postpone this VIZ
tier it is harder for me to come" =
on, my brother and sister, will you
ept this gospel invitation now?
he ancients had a beautiful custom
every feast. When the guest would
of the host a gift, he felt compelled -
grant his request. If guest would
for the silver chalice at his plate
could have it. or if he might ask for
Of the richly embroidered robes
ich were always provided for the :