The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-04-17
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
"ANoTE or WARNING"


New YoRK CITY. The following sormon
entitled, "A Note of Warning" was
/ preached by the great evangelist, the Rev.
/ DR. j. Wilbur Chapman.
II is to the praise OF God that He has IN
/ His word given us repeated instances OF
men who have fallen, that they might
/ serve as a warning and their very failure
I be an inspiration 10 us 10 avoid similar
mistakes. One can not read the story OF
/ Adam and Eve without getting a glimpse
/ both Of the power Of Satan In his over
/ throw Of our first parents aud the tender.
| ness Of God as He cried out in the cool OF
/ the day: Where art thouY We can not
/ study the life and character of Noah with
| out being impressed with the fact that d
man might be used of God to-day, then to-
morrow wander away 50 far from Him as
1 70 make grievous mistakes. The whole OF
/ the Old Testament is a cry 10 those who
| have wandered away from God 10 return.
In their wanderings we get our lessons,
| and in Gods cry we have certain evidence
/ that though we may have sinned, yet He
g always ready to put Our sins away from
/ Him and from US.
One Of the best illustrations in the Old
| Testament, to my mind, is that Of Saul
/ lie made a splendid appearance as a king.
| When the people demanded a king God
/ sent Samuel TO look one out and he found
/ saul, whose appearance was kingly. III
nothing else recommended him to the
/ throne this did The first thing Samuel
| did was TO pour the amounting oil upon his
! head, which was an indication that God
was taking him for His own, and thus
| separating him from the world. A little
/ later we read that the Spirit of the Lord
| came upon Saul and it looks as if he must
have been flied with His presence, and
must have fulfilled the highest expecta-
/ tions of the people. A little further on in
! his history the man of God appears to
him, saying: God is with thee, thou
mighty man" And we have come to the
conclusion as we look upon him, that it is
/ indeed true, and when the people cry out
for the king and Saul is called forth, he
stands head and shoulders above the men
gathered about him, and Involuntary the
/ people, when they look upon him, are
stirred to such enthusiasm that they shout,
GOD SAVE THE KING"
/ Afterward, when he went to Gibeah,
there gathered around him "a band of
men whose hearts God had touched"
/ Thus the story goes on, with Saul rising
ever higher and higher in the popular es-
/ TEEN and favor. Yet in the end, and in
| the face of it all. he blackened the pages
/ of the Old Testament, made the ruling of
/ his kingdom a failure and died by his own
] AAtsAA0 ANoAAga ~ VIC 9AbAe Va 0phF a AuuA-
/ derer.
One cannot read such story as this
| without trembling, and it is for each one
/ of us to-day that the Bible was written,
/ that we might know God, and that we
might know ourselves.
| l have learned from this story of Saul,
the king, that it is possible for one to be
| born of the Spirit, really to be saved, and
| to be saved forever, and yet
NFTCINIO
| in the sight of God.
/ remember preaching in one Of the
cities Of Indiana. For four days the church
was crowded, but a crowd is not an indi-
! cation of a blessing Not infrequently the
/ presence of a crowd is an indication of
| defeat for preachers are apt under such
/ circumstances to put their confidence in
men, rather than in God During all the
! four days not hand was lifted for prayer,
nor single indication given that there
might be an awakening on the part of the
! Christian people. The field / was next to
! labor in seemed quite ready for the har-
vest, and in the preparatory services many
| people were being saved. | called the min
| listers Of the Indiana city together and
| asked them to give me the privilege of
| closing my engagement with them, that
| there was some barrier in the way of the
working of Gods Spirit, and that / felt
when | preached as if / was bound with
chains. After a little conference one of
the ministers requested that the decision
! be withheld for a little, that he felt sure
that he knew where the difficulty was. As
! the leader of our force of personal work
ers we had one of the members Of this
minister's church, a man well known
throughout his own State, and judge of
one Of the highest courts. Somehow it
seemed that when this man passed through
| the audience he sent cold wave over the
! people. From the conference of ministers
| the pastor of this church went into the
! office Of this old judge and said to him;
Il have been hearing rumors on the
! streets for a long time that your life is not
| clean, and l have come to say that if these
rumors are untrue l desire to take some
! public stand with You to contradict them,
! but | have also come to say that if they
are true l will stand nearer to you than a
brother, and help you to get free from the
! power Of your besetting sim"
The old judge looked O moment at him.
and then put his head on his arms on the
desk and sobbed out:
"Ihey arc all true and more"
In a moment they were on their knees
in prayer, and it was but moment more
! before the old judge rose a delivered man.
! free from the power of his sin.
/ was lust lifting my hands to pronounce
Che ben6d1CCIon at the ciose OF an AFTERNOON
service when the church door opened and
the old judge came in. Having lifted his
hand to ask permission to speak he made
this statement;
my friends, I have been known for
years as one Of the members Of the church
and as an officer of the church, but for a
long time my life has been robbed of its
power and my soul of its peace. l have
lost my influence in my home, and I fear
almost altogether in my city But l have
gotten right with my minister, and right
with God, and have come TO ask your for
| givehess."
The confession was made with sobs.
There was no benediction pronounced that
afternoon. The people all filed out one