The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-08-14

desired to be In His service; l am not a
i conscript-I am a volunteer" Oh, that
men had the same common-sense in the
matters OF religion that they have in the
| matters of the world-the same concen-
tration, the same push, the same enthusl-
asm! In the one case secular enthusl-
asm, IN the other a consecrated enthusl-
asm.
Again ! remark: We want more COM
nonsense in the building up and enlarg-
ing OF our Christian character. There are
men here who have for forty years been
running the Christian race, and they have
not run quarter OF a mile.
| No business man would be willing TO
have his investments unaccumulative. Ii
| you invest a dollar you expect that dollar
to come home bringing another dollar on
| its back. What would you think of man
who should invest $4,000 in a monetary
| institution, then go off for five years,
make no inquiry in regard to the invest
ment, then come back, step up to the
cashier of the institution and say: Have
YOU kept those $4,000 safely that / lodged
with your" but asking no question about
| interest or about dividend. Why, you
say, THAT is not common-sense." Neither
| is it, but that is the way we act In matters
| of the soul. We make a far more impor-
| tant investment than $4,000. We invest
/ our soul. Is it accumulative? Are we
| growing in grace? Are we getting better?
| Are we getting worse7 God declares
many dividends, but we do not collect
| them, we do not ask about them, we do
not want them. Oh. that in this matter
| OF accumulation we were as wise in the
matters of the soul as we are in the mat
! tiers of the world
| How little common-sense in the reading
of the scriptures We get any other book
I and we open it and say: Now, what
does this book mean to teach me? 1t is a
| book on astronomy; it will teach me
/ astronomy. 1t is a book on political econ
omv; it will teach me political economy.
| Taking up the bible, do we ask ourselves
what it means to teach? 1t means to do
! Just one thing: Get the world converted
and get US all TO heaven. That is what it
proposes 10 do. But instead of that we go
into the bible as botanists TO PICK flowers,
or we go as pugilists TO get something TO
| fight other Christians with, or we go as
| logicians trying 10 sharpen our mental fac
ulties for a better argument, and we do
not like this about the bible, and we do
not like that, and we do not like the other
| thing. What would you think of a man
lost on the mountains? Night has come
| down; he cannot find his way home and
he sees a light in mountain cabin; he
| goes to it, he knocks at the door; the
mountaineer comes out and finds the trav-
eler and saws: 'Well, here / have Ian
tern; you can take it and it will guide you
on the way home" And suppose that
man should say: 81 don't like that Ian
term 1 don't like the handle of it; there
are ten or fifteen things about it / don't
] like; if you can't give me better lantern
than that l won't have any,"
Now, God says this bible is to be lamp
| to our feet and a lantern 10 our path, TO
| guide us through the midnight of this
| world to the gates of the celestial city.
We take hold of it in sharp criticism and
| deprecate this and deprecate that. Oh,
| how much wiser we would be if by its
holy light we found our way to our ever
lasting home
Then, we do not read the bible as we
| read other books. We read it, perhaps,
! four or five minutes Just before we retire
| at night. We are weary and sleepy, 80
somnolent we hardly know which end of
! the book is up. We drop our eyes, per-
| haps, on the story of Samson and the
! IOxes or upon some genealogical table, I'M
! portant in its place, but stirring no more
/ religious emotion than the announcement
| that somebody begat somebody else and
he begat somebody else, instead OF OPEN
/ ing the book and saying: "Now, l must
read for my immortal life. My eternal
destiny is involved in this book"
We want no bible to prove that we are
| sinners. Any man who is not willing to
| acknowledge himself an imperfect and
sinful being is simply fool and not to be
argued with. We all feel that sin has dis
organized our entire nature. That is one
fact. Another fac Is that Christ came to
reconstruct, to restore, to revise, to cor
rect, to redeem. That is a second fact.
/ The third fact is that the only time we are
sure Christ will pardon us is the present.
| Now, what is the common-sense thing for
us to do in view of these three facts? You
| will ali agree with me, TO quit sin, take
/ Christ, and take Him now. Suppose some
/ business man in whose skill you had per-
/ feet confidence should tell you that to-
morrow (Monday) morning between IL
and IL o'clock you could by a certain
financial transaction make $1,000, but that
! Tuesday, perhaps, you might make it, but
there would not be any positiveness about
| 1t, and Wednesday there would not be so
much, and Thursday less, Friday less, and
so on less and less-when would you at
| tend to the matter? Why, your common
sense would dictate: Immediately 1
will attend to that matter between IL and
! u o'clock tomorrow Monday morning
for then / can surely accomplish it, but
Tuesday may not, and Wednesday there
is less prospect. l will attend to it to-
morrow" Now let us bring our common
sense into this matter OF religion. Here
are the hopes of the gospel. We may get
them now. Tomorrow we may get them
and we may not Next day we may and
we may not The prospect less and less
and less and less.
The on sure time now-now. ] would
not talk to you in this way if l did not
know that Christ was able TO save all the
/ people, and save thousands as easily as
save one. | would not 90 into hospital
and tear off the bandages from the wounds
If had no balm TO apply. / would not
have the face to tell a man he is sinner
unless l had at the same time the author
ity of saying he might be saved. Suppose
IN Venice there is Raphael, faded pic
ture, great in its time, bearing some marks
of Its greatness. History describes that
picture. 1t is nearly faded away. You
say: "Oh what pity that so wonderful
a picture by Raphael should be nearly de-
faced" After awhile a man comes up.
very unskillful in art, and he proposes to
retouch it. You say: "Stand off,
would rather have it just as it is; you will
only make it worse" After awhile there
comes an artist who was the equal of
Raphael. He says: 81 will retouch that
picture and bring out all its original pow
| ar - Won have f,,u oo,G1o~ao - =