Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1915-10-22
FRIDAY, OCTOBER az, 1915.
THE PEOPLE ARE COLD

churches will say and think OF you
and your religion. You are domi-
neered too much by others. l am al
most broken down." he said. Il have la
bored here almost alone. Although
the people Of the Baptist church have
been after me for a year to come back
and though l am here at their request,
they are unwilling to help. There Is
little religion in the Baptist church.
There Is very little in any Of the other
churches. Never in my life," he de-
clared, have / been in a colder town.
Never have seen town which stands
in greater need Of knowledge Of Ged
and Christ Jesus
1t was at the conclusion Of his sermon
Wednesday evening which was heard
by a full house, that Mr.. Ham called
for converts. Several walked down
the sawdust trail and gave the preach
er their hands and expressed their de-
sire to live closer to God. The evan
gelist then called upon the Baptist
church members to get out among the
audience and endeavor to persuade
men to accept Christ. Probably eight
complied with his request. All church
members in the audience no matter
what their denomination, were next
| asked to walk to the rostrum and
give the preacher their hand as q testi-
monial for their faith in God and their
desire to work for him. Hardly fifty
responded.
1t was a powerful sermon which Rev.
Mr.. Ham preached that night from
| the text: And there came q leper
to him, beseeching him, and kneeling
down to him, and saying unto him, II
| thou wilt, thou canst make me clean"
There was a difference between the
preaching Of Jesus and the preaching
Of the priests of that day, Mr.. F1m
said. Jesus preached with note Of
authority, while the priests Of the day
patted their congregations on the back.
There are too many Of that kind or
going to hell on account Of soft preach
ing than from any other cause.
| Leprosy with which the poor fellow
who approached Jesus was affected,
was and Is one Of the most loathsome
of diseases. 1t begins with q small
spot and rapidly spreads over the
body. The man who Is afflicted with
leprosy Is ootracized from the sight Of
men. Leprosy is like unto sin. The
sinner is ostracized In the sight Of
God until he Is cleansed through the
blood Of Jesus. There are moral lepers
in this audience tonight, said Mr.. Ham.
| koiip iihO ASpAooJt 40 a eAAAh6 oe
the beginning. 1t grows insidious In
the sight Of God.
I can tell, continued the speaker,
those people who have sin in their
hearts after thev have attended these
meetings a few times Those who
criticise the meeting, who tell lies
about the meetings, ETC., are sinners.
1t is the hit dog that howls. When
tell sinners Of their sins, they begin
Il 20 ND frrrr In fo "a a
cancer. It Is touchy.
| There are so many people in the
world today, continued Mr.. Ham, who
are living for the devil and who are
covered over with the powder Of a
society name. II you wrote the word
unclean over a leper you would de-
scribe him. There are lots Of people
in this town dressed in broadcloth and
linens and having an outward show
Of religion upon whom the word un-
clean morally and spiritually Is writ
never been washed in the blood Of the
Lamb. then your heart is as black
as hell itself in the sight Of God. No
matter how good and honest you may
appear to be, II you have not confessed
Jesus Christ, your heart Is black. Un-
| like Christian Science, Unitarianism.
Russellism and other heresies, the
gospel Of Jesus Christ deals with sin
as specific malady. Jesus Christ
proposes to bear the burden Of our
sins If we will only let him.
| 1t is easy for us to say that the 9TH
er fellow sins, observed Rev. Ham. But
1t Is the hardest thing In the world
to get a person to say, 81 have sinned.'
i When the prodigal son came to his
father and said Il have sinned against
heaven and against thee" he came
clean. The leper who approached
Jesus likewise, came clean. II you
people come clean with Jesus, your
sins shall be forgiven. Jesus Christ
has never turned down a sinner who
asked forgiveness in sincerity.
People today. Mr.. Ham continued, are
earnest about pleasure, about politics,
about money, about everything except
religion. II you people here were one
tenth as earnest about your religion
as you are In other things, your re-
ligion would break out all over you.
Stiff knees are always to be found
where there is a stout, proud heart
Evangelist Ham told Of a man who
came down the aisle at one Of his
meetings one night and said he want
ed to live closer to God. Il asked him
He said he could not do that and
replied, Good night, have no time to
fool with people like you"
Any man who will not get down on
his knees and seek forgiveness Of God
Is no Christian, no matter what his
outward show Of religion might be-
He must show his faith by his work.
And I tell you people tonight" said
the preacher most Of you are bunch
of stiffs."
God reconstructs broken-down, good
for-nothing characters II they will only
give themselves to him. The time to
get right with God is right now and
not tomorrow.
Last Night.
| In a sermon much along the same
lines as that Of the night before, Rev.
John w. Ham delivered a striking
discourse last evening on the subject
Of "Backsliding," which fell with
| conviction upon many church men,
| bers in the audience and when the
preacher asked those who were will
/ ing to admit that they had been say
ing all manner Of evil against their
preacher, who had been dissatisfied
with the conduct of the church and
had not been living in every way az
they should, to come up to the front
and give him their hands as an evil
dence Of their desire to get right with
|
walked up the saw-dust aisle Many
who had hitherto refused to accept
| Jesus Christ as their Savior also
walked to the rostrum last night and
asked the preacher to pray that they
might get right with God.
There was an unusually large audi
ence out to hear Mr.. Ham last even
| ing, an audience noted for the large
number Of people from the country 1t
included. The choir was unusually
large, singers from tic different de-
nominational churches assisting In
the service. About 100 negroes oc-
| cupied the seats reserved for colored
persons-the largest number which
have yet made their appearance.
Taking as his text Proverbs 14:14:
| 1.-The backslider in heart shall be fill
ed with his own ways; and a good
man shall be satisfied from himself"
Rev. Ham said he desired to speak
on "Backsliding," because rs per
cent of his audience comes under that
head. The sin Of a backslider Is
greater, he said, than that Of an un-
regenerated sinner, because he has to
cruelty his conscience grievo the Holy
Spirit and put Jesus Christ in open
shame.
Backsliding he said is a sin which