Steve P. Holcombe, the Converted Gambler Part 21

_Rev. Gross Alexander_:

MY DEAR BROTHER--Yours of 21st is just received. I can not see how a sketch of my life can do "The Life of Brother Holcombe"

any good. As I understand it, you are writing the life and conversion of Steve Holcombe and not of others. My past history is sufficiently sad and regretful without having it paraded before the public in book form. I am far from being proud of it.

I am exceedingly anxious it should sink into the shades of forgetfulness. Having marked out a new and brighter life, I am only too glad to let "the dead past bury its dead."

Most sincerely,

LOUISVILLE, KY., August 2, 1888.

_Dear Brother Alexander_:

Your kind letter was received several days ago, but I have delayed answering, in the expectation of seeing you here in person.

I am now anxious for the successful issue of the book, on account of the great moral influence it will have upon all cla.s.ses of the community. But I can not consent to what you propose. I am endeavoring every day to blot out and forget the dark and cloudy past of my life, keeping always a bright future in view. There are dark and painful episodes in the life of every man and though _he_ may be willing to expose them to the eyes of the public, there are those who are bound to him by the ties of blood and relationship, who would blush at the recital.

This is the position I occupy. I hope to see you here soon.

Yours truly,

[Ill.u.s.tration: A NIGHT MEETING--MR. HOLCOMBE PREACHING.]

SERMONS.

MARK 1: 15.

"The kingdom of G.o.d is at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel."

Verse 14 says, the Lord Jesus came into Galilee preaching; and this was the announcement which He made, namely, that the kingdom of G.o.d was at hand and they were to enter it by repentance and faith. The kingdom was brought to them; they did not have to go and search for it. It was brought to them, opened for them and they were _urged_ to go in and become members of it. And so it is now. G.o.d's messengers are sent everywhere to find sinners, and when they are found, to say to them: "Ho! everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and drink, come buy and eat without money and without price" (Isaiah 55), and to cry, "All things are now ready; come ye, therefore, to the feast."

And so it is to-day, G.o.d sends the same message of good news, of glad tidings to you--even to you. The kingdom of G.o.d is _here--here to-day and now_; and if you _will_, you may enter it and be saved.

But what are men told to do in order that they may enter?

How are they to enter?

1. They are to _repent_.

And what is it to repent?

Some think that great sorrow of heart is a necessary part of repentance; and that tears and groans of agony must be a part of every repentance that is genuine, and they think that unless we feel deeply and keenly the baseness of our ingrat.i.tude to G.o.d we are not truly penitent. Now, it is true that some people have _all these_ marks of repentance, and it is very well to have them, but some men can not have them and never can get them. So that if all men are commanded to repent and can repent, these things are not an essential part of true repentance. To repent, then, is to turn unto G.o.d with the feeling that sin is wrong, and that, if we do not get rid of it, it will ruin us; and with the resolution and hope, by the help of G.o.d, to keep from sin and to live for Him during the rest of our lives. And if our repentance is genuine, we _will_ leave off sin and practice righteousness. It will show itself by its _fruits_.

Pretending or professing to repent without turning away from our sins and abandoning them is, as some one has said, like trying to pump the water out of a boat without stopping the leaks. If you have sorrow and regrets and tears, they are all right; but the _main thing_ is to have such a feeling concerning sin as to turn _forever_ away from it to G.o.d and to a life of righteousness. And if your repentance is genuine, you will not wait until you are converted before you begin to leave off all sin and to do all the good of every kind in your power. No; you will begin _at once and keep it up_, and the longer you keep at it the more you will feel that you must go on with it.

2. But there is another thing to be done. The Lord says:

"Repent and _believe_ the Gospel."

So you are to _believe_. You are to believe that G.o.d _does_ accept you now through Jesus Christ _just because He says_ He accepts and saves those who believe in His Son. You may not receive the evidence of acceptance _at once_ and so you are to hold on by faith till He does give you the evidence of your acceptance, even the witness of His spirit that your sins are forgiven and you made a child of G.o.d.

You must not let the difficulty of believing without feeling keep you back from believing and you must not let the remembrance of your great sins keep you from believing. Poor, unhappy men, you who are bruised and sore on account of your sins, I beg you cease from your evil ways. Why will you die? "What fearful thing is there in Heaven which makes you flee from that world? What fascinating object in h.e.l.l, that excites such frenzied exertion to break every band, and overleap every bound, and force your way downward to the chambers of death?" Stop, I beseech you, and repent, and Jesus Christ shall blot out your sins, and remember your transgressions no more. Stop, and the host who follow your steps shall turn, and take hold on the path of life. Stop, and the wide waste of sin shall cease, and the song of the angels shall be heard again, "glory to G.o.d in the highest; on earth, peace, good will to men." Stop, and instead of wailing with the lost, you shall join the mult.i.tude which no man can number, in the ascription of blessing and honor, and glory, and power, to Him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb forever and forever.

The kingdom of G.o.d is here to-night. Will you come in?

"Come humble sinner in whose breast," etc.

Come, angels invite you, we invite you, and, best of all, Christ invites you. O, do not, by your own actions, bar this door forever against your immortal soul. What a fearful thing it will be to wake up in eternity to find this door, which to-day hangs wide open, barred against you and hung with c.r.a.pe. O, how fearful will be those words, too late! too late!

All is lost.

"Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me, And that Thou bid'st me come to Thee, O! Lamb of G.o.d I come.

"Just as I am, tho' tossed about, With many a conflict, many a doubt, Fightings and fears within, without, O! Lamb of G.o.d I come."

JOHN III: 16

"For G.o.d so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Many of the glorious truths of the Gospel are both above the conception of man and altogether contrary to what his unrenewed nature would desire to publish. Heathen writers could tell of the cruelty and vengeful wrath of their imaginary G.o.ds. They could tell of deeds of daring, the exploits of Hercules, Hector, aeneas and others; but it was foreign to their nature to write: "G.o.d so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

1. The Gospel is glad tidings. It is the news that G.o.d is reconciled and wants to be at peace with man. Is this not good news? Have you never heard good news that made your heart leap for joy? Well, this is better news than any you have ever heard. G.o.d, not angry with you, but loving you, so as, at a great sacrifice, to make a way for the salvation of the world.

2. What was that sacrifice? It was the gift of His own Son. Think of it, oh sinner! G.o.d consenteth to give up His Son, to leave His glory and come as a stranger into the world, and to be born in great poverty, and with all the conditions of us poor mortals. Think of G.o.d looking down on Jesus, His Son, living this poor earthly life, here among strangers who did not recognize His divinity--nay, who became jealous of Him, and persecuted Him trying to kill him; and at last, after unheard-of tortures inflicted upon Him, did kill Him. Now, think of G.o.d giving up His Son to endure all this, and watching all this lonely and misunderstood and persecuted life of His only begotten Son, watching it and enduring it for thirty-three years, and then ask yourself how much G.o.d sacrificed to show His love for us sinners. Have you a son? If you have, don't you know how it stings you deeper for a man to mistreat or strike him than yourself? If a man should beat my little Pearl it would be harder for me to bear than anything, and yet this is what G.o.d endured for long years to show His love for you and me.

Think of the arrest of Jesus, His being tied, handcuffed, beaten more than once with fearful lashes, knocked in the face, spit on, and then nailed with spikes to a cross with thieves, and think of G.o.d looking at all this while it was going on, and you have some idea of what it means when it says G.o.d _gave_ His only begotten Son.

3. And the way to get this friendship of G.o.d and profit by this love is merely to _believe_ with all your heart on Jesus. It is hard to believe that G.o.d loves, really loves, such sinners as you are, and yet I am a living witness that He does; for I was as bad as any of you, and if G.o.d did not love me and take hold of me and save me, then I don't know what has happened to me, certain. So you must _believe_ it, even if it is hard to believe it.

4. But this glad tidings is for you and you and you--for _every one of you_. It is for _whosoever_, and that means everybody--everybody. A certain believing man in England said, "I rather it would _be whosoever_ than to have my name there. For if my name was there, I could say there might be another man of my name in the world, but when it says _whosoever, I know it includes me_."

5. It is to save us from _perishing_.

Oh, what an awful word is that, and what an awful thing it must be to perish. You have a taste of it now in your sins, and their saddening, darkening, hardening effect on you. You once had tender consciences. You once loved things and people that were pure and good and true, and you loved a Christian mother, wife, father or sister; but sin has so hardened you, that you care for none of these things now. Is it not so?

Well, this is a little taste of what it is to finally and forever _perish_.

But Christ was given that you might _not perish_. What, can Christ save me from my hardness of heart, from my black sins, from my uncleanness and debauchery, and from my awful darkness of mind and conscience?

Yes; He can, glory to His name. I am a living witness. He has saved me.

He can save others like me from all these awful effects of sin, even after they have lived in it for scores of years, as I did. Yes, and He saves from that awful _perishing_ which comes after this little, short life is over, whatever it is. Yes; Jesus can shut and bar the door of h.e.l.l, and no soul can enter there who believes in Him and lives for Him.

6. But He not only saves from perishing, He gives them eternal _life_,