Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-05-21

A lecture by II; l.. Hastings, before the Massa-
! chusetts Annual Convention OF tn y. NJ. {. Asso-
ciationS at Spencer, october Is, 1881
CONTINUED FROM LAST WEEK.
Suppose, for example, all the good
people of this town should try the
Bible, say for single year. Suppose
you start tonight, and say, eve have
heard about the book, and now we will
begin and practice its teachings just
one year" What would be the result?
/ There would be no lying, no stealing,
no selling rum, no getting drunk, no
tattliDg, no mischief making, no gos-
siping, no vice nor debauchery. Every
man would be a good man, every
woman a good woman; every man
would be a good husband, father or
brother; every woman a good wife,
mother or sister; every one in the CON-
munity would be peaceable; there would
be no brawls, no quarrels, no fights, no
lawsuits; lawyers would almost starve
to death; doctors would have light
practice, and plenty of time to hoe in
their gardens; courts would be useless,
jails and lockups empty, almshouses
cleared out of their inmates, except a
few old stagers left over from the past
generation; taxes would be reduced,
hard times would trouble nobody,-all
would be well dressed and well cared
for; and presently the news would go
abroad, and we should hear in Boston,
"What wonderful times they are hav-
ing up there in old Spencer. The peo-
pie have all gone to living according to
the Bible" The news would get into
all the local papers, the Springfield
papers, the Boston papers, the New
York papers the telegraph wires
would be kept busy with the news;
they would hear of it in Cleveland, in
Cincinnati, in Chicago, in ST. Louis,
in New Benford, and Fall River, and
Portland; and the reporters would
start off to investigate. One would be
inquiring, care there any houses to
let in Spencer? any to sell? any build
ing lots? any farms for sale?" Capt.
talists would come here; some man
from Boston would say, 81 am going
to move to Spencer; | am sick Of the
noise and hurry of the city, and l want
place where / can bring up my chill
dreD, and not have them go to perdi-
tion;" there would be general rush
from all quarters to Spencer. 1t would
raise the price Of real estate twenty
five per cent. in six months, taxes
would come down, property would go
up, and good people from far and near
would want to move into town, and
then nobody who was worth having
there would want to move out. And
this would be the direct result of read
and obeving this book Now, if
book will do that for a community,
what kind of book is it? Is such
book the Lords book or the DEVILS
book 1t seems to me that such book
which will do such work as that, must
be the Book of God, inspired by the
very breath of the Almighty.
The book is it's own witness. 1t
bears it's own fruits and tells it's own
story. The great trouble with us is,
we do not read this book, we do not
use it, we do not understand it. 1t is
sorrowful fact that you can hardly
20 into prayer-meeting but you are
likely to hear quotation from the
Scripture that is not in the Bible and
never was. You may hear, "In the
midst of life we are in death, " from the
prayer-book; "He tempers the wind to
the shorn lamb, F." from an old romance;
"God unchangeably ordains whatso-
ever comes to pass" from the Cate
chsm; accompanied by passages mis-
quoted, misunderstood and misapplied,
which show that the people do not
read their Bibles, and do not under
stand them: and the worst thing about
it is, one-half the people who go to
meeting do not know the difference.
We need to read the Bible, to search
it, study it, believe it, and obey it, and
we shall find that it is filed with
sanctifying power to our own souls.
and that it is the word of salvation to
the lost and perishing.
But says one, 81 do not understand
the Bible. | read it but | cannot
make anything of it. Somehow it is
Obscure, and my mind does not take
hold of it," How do you read your
Bible? ooh, read chapter now
and then; | read it here and there"
Suppose your boy comes home from
school and says, II can't make any
thing OF this arithmetic; it is all dark
to me-" You say to him, "How did
you study it?" "Oh, read little at
the beginning, and then | turned to
the middle and read little here and
there, and skipped backward and for
ward. But don't understand it, /
can't see into it,"
You say to him, "My son, that is
not the way to understand arithmetic.
You must begin at the beginning with
the simplest elements, master every
principle, learn every rule, solve every
problem, and perform every example,
and then the whole book will open to
you as you go on"
When you read q novel do you begin
in the middle and read page here and
line there, and skip about hither and
thither and say, "I can't make any
thing of this book" No; you begin
at the beginning where "a solitary
horseman was seen one dark, tempes-
tuous night, riding along upon the
margin of swollen stream which
wound about the base of lofty noun
tain, on which stood an ancient CASTLE"
etc, etc. There is where you begin;
and you read every line and every
page Of the book until you get to the
end Sometimes they print a column
or two of story in paper, and go
and scatter it through the town, and at
the end of it you will read. "The re-
mainder of this thrilling story will be
found in the coumes of the Weekly
Blazing Comet; and then you start off
down 70 the nnws rnnm and hnv the