I had to notice during the war, when enlisting was going on, sometimes a
man would come up with a nice silk hat on, patent-leather boots, nice
kid gloves, and a fine suit of clothes, which, probably, cost him $100;
perhaps the next man who came along would be a hod-carrier, dressed in
the poorest kind of clothes. Both had to strip alike and put on the
regimental uniform. So when you come and say you ain't fit, haven't got
good clothes, haven't got righteousness enough, remember that He will
furnish you with the uniform of Heaven, and you will be set down at the
marriage feast of the Lamb. I don't care how black and vile your heart
may be, only accept the invitation of Jesus Christ and He will make you
fit to sit down with the rest at that feast.
"Those Hypocrites."
"I won't accept this invitation because of those hypocrites in the
churches." My friend, you will find very few there if you get to heaven.
There won't be a hypocrite in the next world, and if you don't want to
be associated with hypocrites in the next world, you will take this
invitation. Why, you will find hypocrites everywhere. One of the
apostles was himself the very prince of hypocrites, but he didn't get to
heaven. You will find plenty of hypocrites in the church. They have been
there for the last one thousand eight hundred years, and will probably
remain there. But what is that to you? This is an individual matter
between you and your God.
"I Can't Feel."
"I can't feel," says one. That is the very last excuse. When a man comes
with that excuse he is getting pretty near the Lord. We are having a
body of men in England giving a new translation of the Scriptures. I
think we should get them to put in a passage relating to feeling. With
some people it is feel, feel, feel all the time. What kind of feeling
have you got? Have you got a desire to be saved, have you got a desire
to be present at the marriage supper? Suppose a gentleman asked me to
dinner, I say, "I will see how I feel." "Sick?" he might ask. "No; it
depends on how I feel." That is not the question--it is whether I will
accept the invitation or not. The question with us is, will we accept
salvation--will you believe? There is not a word about feelings in the
Scriptures. When you come to your end, and you know that in a few days
you will be in the presence of the Judge of all the earth, you will
remember this excuse about feelings. You will be saying, "I went up to
the Tabernacle, I remember, and I felt very good, and before the meeting
was over I felt very bad, and I didn't feel I had the right kind of
feeling to accept the invitation." Satan will then say, "I made you feel
so." Suppose you build your hopes and fix yourself upon the Rock of
Ages, the devil cannot come to you. Stand upon the Word of God and the
waves of unbelief cannot touch you, the waves of persecution cannot
assail you; the devil and all the fiends of hell cannot approach you if
you only build your hopes upon God's Word. Say, I will trust Him, though
He slay me--I will take God at His word.