The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1905-02-24
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON 81
MAUD 6ALLINcToN 6ooTH. OF
THe VOLUNTEERS or AMERICA
sunjee,. Freedom. Through chri.t.

Subject: Freedom Through Christ.
Brooklyn. " Y.-The seating capac-
ity OF the Majestic Theatre was taxed
10 rs utmost sunday afternoon AT the
meeting under the auspices OF the y.
NJ. &. A and many were unable 20 Sc
cure admission. At the close OF Mrs.
Booths address there was 4 most i'm
pressiye sight A. she gave the invita-
tion for men 10 definitely accept Christ.
men al over the house stood with
heads bowed and after a moment OF
prayer the audience was dismissed.
Mrs. Booth said IL The course Of her
address:
| esteem il great privilege 10 have
the opportunity OF bringing message
from my heart 10 this great audience
this afternoon, and / am 50 glad that
/ come 10 you merely as a messenger;
that l have not 10 rise before this
audience 10 exploit some hobby OF my
own; that l DO not come 10 you with
some theory. but that ! realize as
stand up and speak that my message
IS not only my own. but that ! come 20
you as l went 20 my audience this
morning with a message from One WHO
can follow the message with the divine
touch. As i looked down upon and
out upon this audience trying 10 gather
something from the faces OF those
whom l was 10 address | saw arise be-
fore me again my audience of this
morning, a very different one ia one
sense and very similar in another. Ii
was an audience OF men-all men-and
an audience perhaps nearly as large as
the one which / address this afternoon,
but. ab, what difference. Ii was an
audience behind prison walls. An au-
dience Of men who have lost their
chance, an audience Of men shut away
from the world and its sunlight and
blessings and happiness and freedom
and joy. ana who in the darkness of
prison walls have learned 10 the full
the bitterness of a life OF sin. and yet
rs | rise 20 speak 10 this audience this
afternoon my message will be very
much the same q ( my message 10 that
audience this morning, for | come not
here TO speak 70 Christians this after
noon. My message IS message 10 tho
captive, q message of liberty 10 those
who are bound, and ii does not take
the walls of Sing Sing; it does not take
those narrow cells 10 make bondage,
but there are many who walk tho
streets OF Brooklyn in the sunshine to-
day and who boast that they are free
citizens, who are shackled and, hound
because they have not yet learned the
freedom that the dear Christ can
bring.
AS / spoke to my boys this morning
quoted 10 them two lines that some
how or other came 10 my notice
little while ago, and told them that
there were just TWO classes OF prison
ers before NE IN that prison. The
lines are these:
1.-TWO men looked ont over prison bars,
One saw the mud the other saw the
stars"
Ard ! say 10 you IN this audience to-
day that there arc Just two classes of
men in this great theatre. There are
those who are looking out upon life,
looking down. living in touch with the
world, with the evil in it, with its i'm
purity. with its doubt. with its sin,
with its darkness. with those dread
things that steal into the souls Of men
and drag them downward. And there
are those who look up IN hope and who
keep their eyes upon Gods love, aud
Gods might and Gods power. ana
walk i'm the light OF freedom and vic
tory and power. who DO not stand
puivering at the thought Of the pitfalls
5E the way, but realize that they are led
rs truly by the Light from above as
were those wise men and those shep-
herds Of old by the rays Of the star
10 Bethlehem And il is 10 those who
are in darkness or in doubt that /
would speak this afternoon, and |
would speak 10 you not only from my
own experience hut of the experience
Of many to whom God has sent me.
There is a WondrOuS freedom. a won
GrOus power a wOndrous eXultatlOn.
wOndrous strength in that dear Christ
OF Calvary. who is not dead God OF
the past. who is not pure man. whose
body was torn and rent and who was
cast out ae a martyr, hut who j. in
deed a living personal power. and
some Of us can see il not only in the
pages OF the sacred Bible that has
lived when other books have gone out
of memory but we can see il because
in our own hearts VIC have felt that
cleansing touch, because i'm the dark
ness we can see the hand OF God, be
cause with our own ears, spiritually,
we have heard His whisper Of pardon
and peace and comfort and because
we stood back awod 10y the maryels Oi
His force. when over and over again
we have seen the leper brought TO Him
anu EtaltUr We nave Stth tue lillf
restored. We have seen the manned
made to walk ia straight paths. and
we have seen the ones who had been
hound To the evil things, 10 the mud
and mire of this life. rise 20 20 forth
with the strength given by the one
Who loves Us so supremely. 1t seems
10 me that one Of the most pathetic
parts Of the life Of the Christian is 10
deliver the message and see the crowd
pass on. q. if we could stay their
footsteps until we saw them safely at
the foot Of the cross! .. If we could
,stop those who are rushing down after
their own pursuits. those hurrying 10
make money and fame and fortune and
position. and we could show them how
sweet we have found the other way.
1t is 50 hard 10 stand and see men
rushing on 10 ruin.
why sit? think one reason is be
cause there are 50 many people In this
world who doubt the truth Of the
message. We tell them Of Christ's
love and they shrug their shoulders
and say. Il don't know whether He
exists" We tell them OF the JOY and
the happiness that comes To the heart
and they say. We'll. that is your ex-
perience. but how do | know il is 10;
the experience OF one who has been
carried away by eXcitementE Aud
they pass on until the day comes when.
swept away by the strong tide they
realize how weak ia truth they are.
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