The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-03-08

that they are surrounded with heavenly influence while they are young If you want them to be at the gospel banquet vou must lead the way and not yourselves answer the invitation with a frivolous ex- cuse.
 Let us try to generalize the excuses of the hundreds of other guests under two simple headings. First, l believe that they all with one consent began to mako excuse" because they were unwilling at that time to give up their sins To hear some people talk, one would suppose that the greatest enemy of the Christian church today is inhdel thought I do not believe that the reason you and l do not come to Christ, if we are not already Christians. Is because we are not ready to give up our pet sirs. 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 polluted garment of sin And deliberate sin, what Is it2n once cried out Joseph Parker. Ut Is a shut hand, q clinched fist, an up- raised arm, the muscles to the full ten sion, and the object God Almightys face" Sin Is the cause of ninety-nine in every hundred refusals to come to Christ. not skepticism, not infdelity; deep down in your heart, you are concealing some se- cret sin which you refuse to give up.
 Oh, the destroying power of sin! Some years ago a diver was sent down to ex- plore the bottom of the sea. When there he thrust his hand into a hole which seem- cd to be the retreat or some kind of living creature. Instantly his arm was seized as by a wise. The long tentaces 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 off, but he had presence of mind enough to take a sharp steel knife which he had strapped to his side and with it he cut off the arms of that octopus and when the diver was pulled up attached to hls body were the arms of that octopus su4 clinging, one of the tentacles over eight feet long. The octopus of secret sin has many a man and women in fatal clutch. We are not willing to destroy that sin now Therefore we keep saying to the messenger of the gospel, q pray thee have me excused"
 The next reason why they all with one consent began to make excuse" was be- cause they expected at some future time to accept the gospel invitation. This is most natural suppostion to make in inter- preting the text. They might have stayed away and made no excuse, but then the host would have been offenuea 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 invtet. guests never expected to accept an invitation to the good mans house. they would have said to them selves: What Is the good of my sitting down every little while and writing to that good man that l cannot accept his in- vitations? He Is becoming nothing but perfect bore. What l will do here after is just to throw his invitations into the wastebasket. Then, after awhile, he will cease to write and will stop his i'm portunities." But no. That is not the course these invited guests took. They practically said to themselves q will keep on sending my declnaton, year in and year out, and then some day, when I am old and sick and helpless and about to die, I will just be carried down on my siclkbed and that good man will take care of me and forgive all the indifference and sin of my past life" You expect to some day come to Christ but you keep saying to the gospel messenger: Not now. Not now. Not now"
 Accept the Invitation Now.
 My brother and sister invited to Jesus Christ, l am not going to force you to any decision. l am going to leave the whole matter with yourself. Instead of asking you to come to the gospel banquet now I am going to ask you when you will come. Will you come to Christ ten years from today? "Oh, mo-" you answer; q would not like to postpone the gospel in- vtation as long as that. I may never live ten years. Ten years is a very long tme As look back over my past life l can see how many unexpected things have hap pened during ten years Many of my best and dearest friends have died during those ten years. They were just young and strong as I am now. l cannot af- ford to wait ten years? Then will you come in five years2 NO; I will not delay It five years. There was a strange pain in my heart; there was that dizzy sensation in my head" Then will you come next year or next month to the gospel banquet? "No' you answer T dare not postpone this gospel invitati for a year or even for a month. l know that the gospel in- vitation will not press itself upon me in a month with the same power as 1t is now doing. Each day l postpone this mat ter it is harder for me to come" Then. my brother and sister, will you accept this gospel invitation now?
 The aneients had a beautiful custom at every feast. When the guest would ask of the host a gift, he felt compelled to grant his request. If a guest would ask for the silver chalice at his plate, he could have it. or If he might ask for one of the richly embroidered robes which were always provided for the mar riage banquets and were called the we'd ding garments-he would have that also. My sinful brother, at the wedding banquet of the Lamb, will you not make a re- quest of your Heavenly Father, as you have a right to do? Will you not ask for full paroon of your sins? Will you not ask for a robe of righteousness which has been crimsoned from the blood of the Calvary cross?
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