The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-03-15
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
MAUD DARLINGTON BOOTH. OF
THE VOLUNTEERS OF AMERICA.
Subject: Freedom Through Christ.

Brooklyn, n. Y.-The seating capac-
ity at the Majestic Theatre was taxed
to its utmost Sunday afternoon at the
meeting under the auspices Of the Y.
! NJ. C.. A. and many were unable to Sc
cure admission. At tie close OF Mrs.
Booths address there was a most i'm
pressive sight. As she gave the invita-
ton for men to definitely accept Christ.
men all over the house stood with
heads bowed and after a moment or
prayer the audience was dismissed.
Mrs. Booth said in the course OF her
address:
l esteem it a great privilege to have
the opportunity of bringing a message
from my heart to this great audience
this afternoon, and / am SO glad that
l come to you merely as a messenger;
that l have not to rise before this
audience to exploit some hobby OF my
own: that I do not ONE to you with
some theory, but that l realize as l
stand I'D and speak that my message
is not only my own. but that come to
! you as l went to my audience this
morning with a message from One who
can follow the message with the divine
touch. As l looked down upon and
out upon this audience trying to gather
something from the faces Of those
whom l was 70 address l saw arise be-
fore me again my audience OF TINS
morning, a very different n in n
sense and very similar in another. 1t
was an audience of men-all men-and
an audience perhaps nearly as large as
the one which l address this afternoon,
but. ali. what q difference. 1t 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, a1d who in the darkness of
prison walls have learned to the full
the bitterness of a life Of sin, and yet
as I rise to speak to this audience this
afternoon my message will be very
much the same. as my message to that
audience this morning, for / come not
here to speak%to Christians this after
noon. My message is q message to the
captive, q message of liberty to those
who are bound, and it does not take
the walls of Sing Sing; it does not take
those narrow cells to make bondage,
but there are many who walk the
streets Of Brooklyn in the sunshine to-
day and who boast that they are free
citizens, who are shackled and bound
because they have not yet learned the
freedom that the dear Christ can
bring.
AS l spoke to my boys this morning
I quoted to them two lines that some
how or other came to my notice 4
little while ago, and I told them that
there were just two classes of prison.
ers before me in that prison. The
lines are these:
1.-TWO men looked out over prison bars,
One saw the mud, the other saw the
stars"
Ard I say to you in this audience to-
day that there are 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 it's 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 lore, and
Gods might and Gods power. and
walk in the light of freedom and vic
tory and power, who do not stand
quivering at the thought of the pitfalls
in the way. but realize that they are led
as truly by the Light from above as
were those wise men and those shep-
herds Of old by the rays Of the star
to Bethlehem. And it is to those who
are in darkness or in doubt that |
would speak this afternoon. and l
would speak to you not only from my
own experience but of the experience
of many to whom God has sent me.
There is a wondrous freedom, a Won
drous power. a wondrous eXultation,
wondrous strength in that dear Christ
of Calvary, who is not a dead God OF
the past, who is not a pure man, whose
body was torn and rent and who was
cast out as q martyr, hut who Is in
deed q living personal power, and
some of us can see it not only in the
pages of the sacred Bible that has
lived when other books have gone out
of memory, but we can see it because
in our own hearts we have felt that
cleansing touch; because in 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 awed by the ularVels OF
His force, when over and over again
we have seen the leper brought to Him
and healed. we have seen the blind
restored, we have seen the manned
made to walk in straight paths, and
we have seen the ones who had been
bound to the evil things, to the mud
and mire of this life, rise to go forth
with the strength given by the one
Who loves us so supremely. 1t seems
to me that one of the most pathetic
parts of the life Of the Christian is to
deliver the message and see the crowd
pass on. o, if we could stay their
footsteps until we saw them safely at
the foot of the cross! o, if we could
stop those who are rushing down after
their own pursuits, those hurrying to
make money and fame and fortune and
position, and we could show them how
sweet we have found the other way.
1t is so hard to stand and see men
rushing on to ruin.
Why is it? I think one reason is be-
cause there are so 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, II don't know whether He
exists" We tell them of the joy and
the happiness that comes to the heart
and they say, well. that is your eX-
perience, but how do know it is not
the experience of one. who has been