The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-08-05

will to-mor OW 20 abr ad or stay at nome,
than it is this moment matter OF Tree
choice whether You will accept Christ or
reject him. In al the army Of tanners
there Is not one c3nscriDt. Men are not 70
be draCooned into eaven. in all the tel
of thousands Of the Lords soldlery there IS
not one man but viii tell you; Il chose
Christ: wanted him: desired 70 be in his
seryice:I am not cOnscript-l am vol
unteern on. tat men had the same com
mon sense in the matters OF religion that
they have in the matters Of the world-the
same concentration, the same push, the
same enthusiasm, In the one case a peculiar
enthusiasm: in the other a consecrated en-
thusiasn.
Again | remark: We want mora com
mon sense in the building up aid enlarging
of our christian character. There men
here who have for forty years been running
the christian race, and they have not run
quarter of mile!
No business man would be willing to
have his iuves nents unaccumu atlve. II
you invest a dollar, YOU expect that dollar
TO come home bringing another d liar on
It's back. What would YOU thi k Of a ran
who should invest ten thousand dollars III
g monetary institution, then 20 of for five
years, make no inquiry in regard to the in
vtstmeut. then come back, step up
to the cashier of the institution,
and say: Have you kept those ten
thousand dollars safely that / loig d
witt youp but asking 10 question about
interest or about d1viden /. Why, you say,
That is not common sense" Neither is 1t,
but that is the way we act in matters Of the
soul We make a far more important IN
Vestment than ten thousand dol ars, Ne IN
vest our soul. Is it accumul ,tives Are we
growing in gracei Are We getting better!
Are we getting worsel God decla es mans
DIVIDENDS, but we do not collect them, we
do not ask about item, we do not want
them. Oh that in this matter Of accumula-
ton we were as wise IN the matters of the
soul as we are in the matters of the world!
How little common sense in the reading
of the Scriptures! We get any or book
and we open it a we say: Now, what
does this book mean to teach me2 IL IS
book on astronomy; it viii teach me
astronomy. 1t is a book on political
economy: it will teach me political
economy" Taking up the Bible, do g
ask ourselves what it means TO teach! 1t
means to do lust ole thing: get the world
converted ana get US al 10 heaven. Tha Is
what it proposes to do. But instead of
that, we go into tue Bible as botansJs to
pick flowers. or we 60 as pngllistS to get
something TO fight other Chris ians with,
or we 60 as loglcians trying to
sharpen our mental faculties for a bet
ter argument, and we do not Ike this ,oDt
the Bible. and we do not like that. and we
do not like the other thing. What would
YOU thi of man lost on the mountainsl
Night has ONE do m; he cannot find his
way home and he sees a light in a m untain
cabin; he goes to it, he knocks at the door;
the mOuntaineer comes out and finds the
traveller and SAYS: well, here | have a
lantern; you can take it and it will guide
you on the way hcme;" and suppose tn It
man should say: 81 don't like that lantern,
| don't like the handle of it, there are ten or
fifteen things about it | don't like; if you
can't give me a better lantern than that |
won't have any"
Now. God says this Bible is to be a lamp
to our feet and a lantern to our path, to
guide us Uhr ugh the midnight Of this world
TO the gates of the celestial CITY. We take
hold Of it in sharp criticism, and depreciate
this and depreciate that. On, how much
wiser we would De if by its holy light we
found our way to our everlasting homel
Then we do not read the Bible as we read
other books w read it perhaps four or
five minu es Just before retiring at night.
We are weary and sleepy, so somnoent we
hardly know which end of the book is up.
We drop our eye perhaps on the story of
Samson and the foxes, or upon some gen
ealogical table, imp rtant in its place, but
stirring no more religious emotion than the
announcement that somebody begat some
body else and he begat someb dy else, =
stead of opening t e book and saying: IN W
/ must read for my immortal life. NY
eternal destiny is involved in this book"
How little we use comm n sense in
prayer We say: "Oh, Lo d, give me this"
and ION, Lord, give me that" and "Oh,
Lord, give me something else" and we do
not expect to get it, or getting it, we do
not know we have it. We have no anxiety
about it. We do not watch and wait for
its coming.
As merchant, you telegraph or you
write to some other city for bill of goods.
You say: Send me by such express, or
by such a steamer, or by such a rail train. "
The day arrives You send your wagon to
The depot or to the wharf. The goods do
not come. You Immediately telegraph:
''Whau is the matter with those goods. We
haven't received them. Send them right
away We want them now, or We don't
want them at all And you keep writing
and you keep telegraphiug, and YOU keeu
sending your wagon to the depot, or to the
express Office, or to the WHAT, until you
get the goods.
In matters of religion we are not so wise
as that. We ask certain things to be sent
from heaven. We do not know whether
they come or not. We have not any spe-
cial anxiety as to w ether they come or not
We may get them and may not get them
Instead of at Z o'cl ok in the morning saw
ing: Have | got that blessingW at L
O'Clock monday. asking: "Haye / got tina
blessiugm at Z O'Clock the evening saying
''Have 1 received that tlessingF and moi
getting it, Pleading, pleading-begging
begging asking, asking until you get. Now
my brethren, is not that common sense? L
we ask THU from God, u no has sworr
by his eternal throne that he will do tina
which we ask, is it not common sense tina
we should watch and wait until we get it,
But l remark again: We want NOR
common sense IN d ing good. How many
people there IRE who want to do good anC
yet are dead failuresl Why is it, The,
do not exercise the game tact, the sam,
ingenuity, the same stratagem, the SAM
common SO Sc in the work of Christ tina
they do in worldly thing. Otherwise thel
would succeed in this direction as well a
they succeed in the other. There are many
men wfo have an arrogant way with the n
although they nay not feel arrogant. o.
they ave patroniZing way They tall
TO man of tue world in d manner whicl
seems to say: Don't you wish you wer
as good as l ama Why, | hav
to look clear down before
can see you, you are so IA
beneath me-" That manner always dis
kingdom of Jesus Christ instead of bri gin
them in. When l was lad was one da,
in village store, and there was a larg
group of young men there full of rollicki
and fun, and a christlal man came in, an
without any introduction the subject
and while they were IN great hiarity, sal
10 one Of fhaYl- ttfraO ora what is +ha frs