Year: 1879

earth, but it is not conviction that is
needed to make one safe. There must
be foundation for character as we'll,
so that when the rains come and the
winds blow the man will be safe
against temptation. If when the
storm comes the palace topples to de-
struction, how much better will it be
for having been a palace? There are
many persons who fatter themselves
that they know so much more about
the Bible than their neighbors. When
told that such knowledge will avail
them nothing without a good life,
they reply, II don't think that | am
so bad. [ have read the Bible and the
prayer book, have always had a pew
in the church, and listened to the SER
mon. | am not very sanity man, |
know, but know my duty, and that
IS something" Yes, that is the very
core of your guilt, the sum and sub
stance of your condemnation, the very
milestone that will grind you to pow
der in the end. 1t were better that
you did not know so much. You nev-
er had good impression which you
stifled that did not leave you so much
the worse off. You never had an en-
lightenment of duty which, if you re-
sisted, did not leave you so much the
more in darkness.


This is not a sensational remark of
the preacher. 1t is according to a
natural law at work through all the
domain of life. You have an alarm
clock. You set it at night, and true
to the hour it rings its faithful alarm.
At the first sound every nerve starts
you to wakefulness, for who does not
know what an unearthly clatter, to
one not accustomed to hearing it, an
alarm clock makes? But you fold
your hands, and turn over, saying, "a
little more sleep and a little more
slumber." The next morning the
same faithful monitor gives its warn
ing, and the same needless self-indul-
gence follows. You refuse to obey
the call. By and by that clock may
utter its alarm never so vigorously
and you will sleep on, never hearing
it at all. What is the matter? Has
it lost its power? No, it is this great
law of nature at work. You heard
and neglected the CALL now you hear
and disobey. The law is just as active
in the realm of soul and spirit. Some
of you remember when the voice Of
truth awakened your soul. You fold
ed your arms for little more guilty
slumber. Time and again that faith
full voice has called, and now you won
der why you have so little feeling
about religion, why the sermon makes
so little impression on your mind.
Time was when it went like the sting
of whip upon your soul. Now you
stand like a stone. Why? Has the
preacher lost his power, or the Gospel
turned out to be myth? No. | be-
lieve we have just as faithful preach
ers as ever we had, and the Gospel is
just as true now as when it first car
ried the message of salvation to the
sinners soul. Here is the tronble.
You have been untrue to yourselves;
you have stifed your own better judg-
ment; you have covered yourself with
worldliness so that the spear Of the
archangel could scarce find vulnera-
BILE spot in you. | would rather un-
dertake to convert the most hardened
sinner in our city that never heard
the Gospel than some of you Gospel
hardened men and women who know
the Bible from one end to the other.
[ would rather undertake to convert
men breathing vice and living in crime
at every step, and who were never pos
sessed of one good thought, than most
of you children of pious parents, born
in the church, and baptized at your
altar, and yet who have been drifting
away from all good influences and ear
ly example.


1t is solemn thing for me to be
preaching to you in this manner. /
do not preach so because | like it.
do not like it. 1t is a solemn thing
for me to be preaching here at all. l
[ know that it will only be adding to
your condemnation. Indeed | some
times wish we had no more preaching;
for so far as the educating power of
the pulpit is concerned, men know
enough already. We do not preach
in our pulpits because those who are
before us need it. As intelligent and
enlightened people they do not need
it. Those who do need it do not come.
They are out in the highways and by
ways, where the preacher never reach
es them. You who are here need on
ly to stop right short where you are,
and take the Gospel into your hearts.
You need to ask, not how much must
| know, but how much do | know, ,and
then go to work, and put your knowl-
edge to account. You are not much
better off because you know so mucn
about religion. You are building
your house upon the sand, and so soon
as the tempest comes you will find
your house topple about your ears,
leaving you unprotected.


o, dear friends, let me advise you
to be wise men and build upon the
rock, belief the overarching roof, and
heaven your everlasting portion.


To consent that the Nation is not supreme over all
It's domain is to concede the right of secession and
bond of union may be broken at will, by any
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