The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1915-05-19


panies sent delegations to the taber-
nacle last night, and Take the Name
of Jesus With You" was sung at their
request. the railroad men singing one
chorus alone. Mr. Mckenzie caused
some amusement when he introduced
the delegation to the audience, saying
These are the fellows who kill us
sometimes, but they haven't given me
scratch yet"
Mr.. Jones took his text last night
from the 10th chapter of Genesis,
where Lot was warned by the angels
of God to flee from the city of wick
edness. the particular words of the
text being Escape for thy Life"
The evangelist said In beginning that
his remarks would be addressed only
to those who believed in the Bible,
for of course those who did not would
scarcely be stirred by q sermon built
up about one incident in the Bible.
1t Is. to go back to the text, surprising
how loath Lot was to leave the CITY,
as requested by the angels, when he
knew that they bore him divine mes
sages. And. yet. said the evangelist,
men today ignore practical COMMON
sense plea for the necessity of getting
right with God. Men Of today give
one excuse and another for not taking
this step.
Let me think it over" is what
some men answer when asked to ac-
knowledge Jesus as their Savior.
Theer ought not to be any thought
necessary where matter Of doing
right Is concerned and besides Jesus
has said: "NOw is the accepted time"
showing conclusively that there is no
time to be lost.
You say; Il don't like revivals,"
you prefer to accept Christ in the reg
ular service Of some Church without
any furry and excitement" "Well,
you haven't done It all these years."
said Mr.. Jones, and If the revival has
influenced you so that you now feel
like taking the step it would be base
ingratitude for you to refuse to ac-
knowledge the Saviour in q campaign
which started you on the right line of
thought. You may say II don't like
the way that evangelist preaches,' or
that you have been mistreated by
hyprocrites. Well, this is a poor ex-
cuse for turning Jesus down when He
hasn't mistreated you, but instead
has treated you better than you de-
serve. When a man gives II don't feel
like it, as the reason for not becom-
ing a Christian, Mr.. Jones says this Is.
on the face Of it, "child's excuse"
Another excuse given by some is
that TIN afraid I'll be criticised"
This is weak excuse to give, that you
VIII fear what some little shallow
brain, who ~ not entitled to the re-
spect OF q dog" will say, so much that
You will let him keep you from doing
right" "Well." say some others,
I'm not good enough" and when
get on my feet I'll do it." "You ought
to get down on your face and sur
render to the will Of Almighty God"
was the way the evangelist answered.
this excuse. You nigh as well tell
the doctor "Wait till I am well, and
III take your medicine"
Some folks. says Bob Jones, are
waiting for the other fellow" Sup
pose he never comes, do you want TO
be lost because somebody you know
didn't have the wisdom to lead the
way?
Then there is that peer of excuses.
There are too many hyprocrites in
the church" And the man who gives
this excuse goes about with q superior
air. said Mr.. Jones. that conveys the
impression that Il won't ever fail If
| decide to take the stand" Mr.. Jones
of the airs" of this kind
Of excuse giver. brought storm of
applause and hearty laughter. you'll
never get rid of the hypucrites; the
only way you'll ever get rid Of them is
by going to heaven" You might as
we'll try to enforce a rule for having
every train you ride on to prohibit the
hauling Of drunks "cussers" and 9TH
er degenerates.
Yet another excuse of many is that
Il don't think God will damn ME-"
This said Mr.. Jones, is about as much
of an excuse as the little boy gave who
said Mama won't whip me for pull
ing the rose. she loves me too much"
well, the dirty little scoundrcl