National Republican., 1883-10-01

1t Is so with tho farmer. God made a
covenant with Noah respecting oarth's UNI
formity just as the tides come and 20, so
come and go day and night, summer and win
ter The farmer learns how TO fit into ma
ture, to give and take from her. 1t is hiss art.
As in material things, so in spiritual What
God wants of MS is only to adapt ourselves to
the great facts which are there. 1t is OF this
adaptation to God in spiritual things of which
/ shall speak in this discourse.
I. The wise thing for man TO do, i'll
spiritual things, is to accept tho facts of the
situation. Fact is alwaysa reality. A theory,
conjecture, may be phantom.
There are some men who arc always Won
dering why God did not consttu things
differently. If they could only have been
consultod They complain of thoir tendon
cies of their circumstances, of the cxactiOns
of Gods law, of the excessive natu re of pun
ishment, of the offensive nature of the way
of salvation. In a word, their whole talk is
to the effect that God is q hard man, and
their case Is a hard cass.
Set man down on u rocky New England
farm. IIe objects. He rises to u point of
order. lie would rather hunt or fish.
Ho has no tasto for blasting rocks
and extracting stumps, and so ho wonders
why God has SO circumstanced him, and
makes il his business to find fault. 1t is the
very spirit of the steward in the context.
There is no wisdom in blinking facts. man
cannot understand his environment without
admitting the facts in 1t which concern him
self Evangelical religion is tho only candid
one. 1t admits the facts of the case. 1t is %
serious thing to belong to the human race
to be descendant of tho first Adam, and to
know..of the second Adam. Between these two
facts the advocates of this system tako thoir
stand, less as philosophers than as Gods
stewards Hero is law in my members
which acts as the tides do. How
can / be delivered from it2 Tho
laws of mankind attest the truth
of the evangelical system. They are leveled
at man as he is. There is no room for the
play of sentiment in them. Take this one
fact, that mans tendencies are sinful. 1t
matters not whether he got them from his
father or his grandfather or from Adam. The
fact is the same. Over against this fact, God
has put another, the fact of salvation by the
atonement. Man gets away from God by sin.
By the atoncment God draws him back.
Against the fact of tides and rocks the gov
ernment sets light houses and the life saving
service. There is n reason for every light
house on the American coast. Tho fact of
the light house is u fact set against the other
fact of perils by wind and tide.
2. The wise thing for n man to do is not
only to accept the facts of the case, but to
make tho best use of them, The moment
man seeks to come into harmony with Gods
economy he not only has inward peace, but
his outward relations are all amicably ad-
justed Furl vessels sails and cast her an
chor and how soon she sets the waters at rest.
Lift her anchor, unfurl her Sails and bring
her round to the wind, and how quick she
speeds away like thing of life. Great
peace have they that love Thy law; nothing
shall offend them" Law and peace! What
God has joined together let not man put asun-
der. 1t is said we want new statement in
| theology, because meu of genius arc not willing
| to accept the old But David and Daniel and
| Paul, were they not men of genius? Carlyle
liked his mothers religion for her, and she was
his ideal of Christian mother. Burns put his
| estimate of Christianity into "The Coffin
Saturday Night" The ocean is full of mys-
terious currents. None is moro so than the
gulf stream, an ocean river mighter than the
| Mississippi or tho Amazon, whose movements
are as independent of its surroundings as
though 1t were banked in by piles of earth.
| The practical seaman does not wait to under
stand it; but avails himself of it. Chris
tianity is a great movement in the worlds
| history, like the gulf stream. Starting at
| Bethlehem and Calvary, nay at the very
throne of God, it encircles the earth. AS the
seaman takes the gulf stream to help him
along his watery pathway from continent
to continent, it is wise for man tC
adopt Christianity. Men violate and defy
natural laws; make IL their profession tc
do so. 1t is folly. 1t is sin. There is no use
| in dashing ones brains out against Gods CON
stitution of things. We can use this consti
tuition of things for our own good and for His
glory. 1t is all that He asks of us. 1t is
what we do in every other department Of life
Before we settle back, rs did the steward in the
parable, let us try what virtue there is in the
atonement; in the words of Jesus: "And i, il
1 be lifted up from the earth, will draw al
men unto me-"
To-day begin the labors of my fifteenth
year as your pastor. | need not tell you how
gladly; how sweet and holy the work looks
to me, and how unworthy L feel to under
take it. / thank you for the long rest you
have SO thoughtfully granted me; for your
undivided loyalty to each other and to this
church; for all your kindness to me and
mine; for the warmth of your welcome, which
l sec in your presence and read in your eyes
As left you, the angel of God touched onC
of our number, saying Come up hi gher.'
| seem to hear the echoes Of
the same message, uttered so recently
to another. Let it be the message of GOD
Himself to you and to me. If there is higher
plane of Christian living, let us seek 1t. i
there is n higher plane of Christian service
let us be found there with the shadows of the
other world falling upon us nay, with the
glories of tho other world coming down Il
meet us, with tho cry of the lost world ring
ing IN our ears, let us say of every duty, o
every opportunity, "Here am l. Lord, sent
me-"
At the close of the service men, women
and children gathered around the platform
to take their pastor by the hand and to give
him the welcome which their hearts prompted
THE CRISIS OF THE REFORMATION
,fe, ..rrtt