Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-12-02

Extract from a Recent Sermon by Prof. Swing, c.
t1 Chicago,] @
To the multitude the sacred volume
tells a straight forward story. They see
in it the picture of the human heart in all
its sinfulness and in all its divineness too.
They see the dark destiny of sin and
the bright destiny of virtue. One is
called hell, the other heaven. They do
not descend into particulars about the re-
gion of sorrow or tie region Of joy. They
feel that the one is 10 be dreaded, the
other loved. There on the open page lies
the doctrine of repentance, far more i'm
pressive in Peter and in Magdalepe than
in any system of abstract doctrine There
lies the doctrine of faith in Christ, sWeeter
IN the group around Jesus, in the apos-
ties and martyrs, than in any confession
of any church. There in the Gospels
lives and moves and dies and rises again
the Redeemer in a charm and power to
which the learning of commentators can
add nothing. In fact, n may perhaps
be glad that there is an army of earth's
inhabitants, old and young, white and
black, hidden away in the obscurity which
ignorance and poverty bring, to whom
human wisdom in the form Of " etcrnally
begotten,'' and externally proceeding"
and limited atonement," and inabili-
ty" has never come, but to whose hearts
the Bible tells its simple story as a moth
er talks to her confiding child. Much Of
modern theology is only great banks Of
cloud rolling up between the human fam
lily and the moral sun. AS the damp
wales Of earth and the bitter ocean are al
ways exhaling vapors that keep our sky
clouded and that expose the beautiful
earth to perpetual storm, so from the In
t~ellect, in its extravaganza vanity, clouds
arise that hide both Creator and Savior
from the upturned faces of mankind
Upon Goat Island, in the Niagara, upon 6
Sunday, years ago, l found, hidden away
at the root of a tree, a servant from the
hotel reading in his Testament about the
crucitixion. He was an old, emancipated
slave. Upon being questioned as to
whether he loved that passage above all,
he said he always cried over the idea that
for even black men a Christ should have
died. J wondered whether any OF the
formulas of men about that death could
ever entice from a slaves heart such trib-
ute of weeping. Here an humble fugi-
tive slave came to fulfill the image Of Ten
nySon
All subtle thought, all curious fears,
Borne down by gladness SO complete,
lie bows. he 0athes the Savior's feet
With costly spikenard and with tears.
Thus, doubt it not, the common people
CLEAN from the sacred page the very gold
en sheaves which the Lord let fall for
man. They find them in all the wide
field reaching from Abraham to st. John.
Not the entire multitude will thus be
found extracting honey from this great
field of flowers. Man will never move in
a solid phalanX toward any form Of good.
| Many are called but few are chosen. The
downward path is always broad, the up
ward path narrow. F0c5Iis descen8us
A0ern5. Hence, when I speak Of the
blessings which the common people draw
from the Bible | am not dreaming of an
unbroken host porting over a divine book,
but Of many souls, many indeed, which in
youth and in old age, in joy andin sorrow,
in darkness and in light, are at times TAX
ing up the Bible to trace in it the path of
hope for time and eternity. Could you
call all these together this day from all
the corners of our land and from the
lonely ships on u seas they would come
in such a multitude, and so pressing the
book to their hearts, that even were you
an infidel you would bless God that SO
many souls were drawing so much happi-
ness from the two T~eStament5. The hard
est heart might weep for joy that SO many
had found infinite peace.