The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-21

you old sinners have had wagon
ioads or sermons dumped into you.
fou nave been going to church for
Ten, fifteen. or twenty years. You
haven't yielded. SO your case isn't
hke the thiefs on the cross. This
| isn't the hrst chance you men and
women have had to- be Christia MS.
II you had accepted Him the first
chance, / wouldn't have ony sinners
to preach to, for nearly everybody
has had a chance to be a Christian.
But this fellows Vas the first he ever
had and he took 1t, so you- case Isn's
I, = I'sa ye.. !. !: so.'t i AZ .1b. a1.'
/ genuine, don't n,kunderstand me.
but nine times out OF ten when ~
mans afraid to die or woman til
the preacher has come and prayed
/ over them, let them get we'll and
they will be az big a devil as they
were before they got sick.
! Jesus didn't say a word to ths
Samaritan woman about being damn
| ed: neither did He to Zacchaeus: nor
to Matthew: nor the woman caught
j in the act of adultery. But don't
you suppose they knew what their
repentance meant to them: what they
had to do. Certainly they did!
II fear had been necessary, don't
! believe I'd ever been saved. wasn't
frightened. j had no fear OF God
in that sense OF the word. had no
special fear of what was to come.
My conscience told me that I was
wrong. and I wanted to be right
and believe rinety-nine people QUE
Of hundred want to be right You
will find one that don't Ali right
let them 60 to tho devil II they don't
want to be right; I can't do anything
to help them any more than am.
tnf2
wrong-your conscience tells you
YOU are wrong--And I wanted to b.
right Although am a Presbyterian,
my mother was Baptist l married
Presbyterians girl that's the rea-.
son ] am Presbyterian. So II thc
Presbyterians are glad am \ Pres
byterian, they can thank Nell that
| am n Presbyterian
God Has q Heart.
Now, heard an old Methodist
preacher say that God had a heart
heart like a father and loved n6
and i was living in sin. that He wasn't
very much to me, and I knew IA
be damned because my heart loved
sin more than God. and I knew II
God loved me and then I loved tina
thing that God hated. there wasn't
much OF a man about me. There
Il IA
You love and do tho things that you
know God doesn't want you to do
There isn't very much manhood and
womanhood in you. Lets be fair
LEts use our reason AMI see where
We stand on this proposition.
Now when the prodiEal son curt
there i'm the midst of the equeaiing
hungry hogs came to himself he said
Il am fco,! am a fool down
here in "A hogpen when my father
has house with a floor. am . foot
eating slop when / might eat \ por-
terhouse beefsteak, am going to
cut II out am going home. / am
going back to my father" and he
set right out To- home. not because
he was afraid he'd be horse whipped
II he didn't but because he knew DO
was wrong down there and he want
ed to be right.
So, repentance. Oh Il ss deeper
than simply fearing the consequences
of ain. Repentance Is not fear; is
isn't likely TO be brought about by Il.
Now don't care what puts q man
on his knees. whether he Ia afraid
he viii go to hell IL re don't repent.
or whether II IL because of a mani
festation OF the love of God through
Jesus Christ that breaks his heart.
and when he lives In sin. ne Is iiv-
ing against God. don't care what
it 10 only SO long as you win keep
~ut OF hell and live right. dcn't
care what brings you to Jesus Christ.
don't care now.
Repentance isn't corvte ton of r4u
alone, Many think II L. have
heard people say that's what It ia,
a~t ~MA