The Penn's Grove record., 1889-08-24

that they have IN the matters OF hne
yorld-the same concentration. the
same uush. the same enthusiasm! In
the one case y secular enthusiasm; in
the other a consccrated enthusiasm.
III. Again remark: W wantmore
common sense in the building up and
OF CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
There are men here who have for forty
wears been running the Christian race,
and they have not run a quarter OF q
mile, No business man would he Will
ing to have his investment unaccumu-
latiye. Ii YOU invest dollar. you ex-
rect that dollar To come home bringing
another dollar onitS hack. What would
vaa think 81 = man who should invest
Ten thousand dollars in a monetary IN
sfsfsiiau. then 60 of foT FIVE years,
msks no inquiry in regard to the IN
vesfment then come hack, step up to
the cashier ~ the institution, and say:
Have Won kept thusc ten thousand
dollars safely thai / lodged with youg
hut asking ne questions about interest
nr alsGi diyideIt Why, yon say
that Is not common sense, Nelther
i IL Int that l. the Way We act IN mat
tars af the sonl. We make a far more
lmporiani investment ilan tenthouSlnd
dollars We invest our soul Is 1t ac-
cumulatives Are We growlngm grace
Are We getting hrfters Are vi getting
worse God declares many dividends,
hut We do not collect them, w do not
ask about them. VT Go not want them.
oh that in this matter Of accumulation
/ we were as wise in the matters OF the
s,ul - We Are IN the matters OF the
world
N. HoN little cmn.uu sense
IN REApIS6 TIE S~yAIPTrREs'
We get any Other book. and Veopen II,
and Ne Sav: Now. vat this book
mean 10 teach me? 1t IS a book on
astronomy: ii will teach me astronomy:
I, is q hook on political economy: II viii
teach me political economy. Taxing
M the Bible. do vt ask ourselves what
il means ~ teach5 Ii means 10 do Just
one thing; get the world converted and
| get rs al to heaven. That Is what 1t
proposes to do. But instead of that.
We 60 to the Bible a botanlsis TO PICK
flowers " We - a. Qlslllsts to get
/ something's fight other Christians with,
or We 20 IS ~logiciAns irving to sharpen
/ our mental faculties for . better argu-
ment: and We do not like this about the
Bible, and Vt Dc not Ike that, and we
do not ike the other thing. What
would YOU think Of
A Losr IN THE MOUNTAINS?
Night has come down; he cannot find
! his way home, and he Sres a light IN a
mountain cabin, he gees to it, he knocks
AT the door, the mpuntaineer comes out
and finds the traveller. andsys: Well,
here | have a lantern: You can take 1t,
and it will guide You on the way home;'
and suppose that man should say: 81
don't like that lantern, | don't Ike the
handle Of il: there ar ten or fifteen
things about il | don't ike: II you can't
give me "a better lantern than that L
won't have any |
Now. God saws this Bible Is to be a
lamp to feet and a lantern TO our
patti. 10 Guide Us through the midnight
Of this world { the gatesof the celestial
city. We take hold Of il in sharp criti- !
cism, and deprecate this and deprecate
that. Oh, how much wiser We would
be if by Its holy light We foundeur way
to our everlasting home, !
Then we do not read the Bible as We
read other books We read it perhaps
four or five minutes Just before We re-
tire at night. We are weary and sleepy |
so somnolent We hardly know which
end Of the book is up. We drop our
| eye, perhaps, on the story Of Sampson
| and the foxes, or upon ONE ~genealogi-
cal tale, important in its place, but STIR
ring no more religious emotion than
the announcement that somebody begat
somebody else and he begat somebody
else; instead of opening the book and
saying, "Now ! must read for my i'm
mortal soul Ny eternal destiny is In
volyed in this book"
Y. Again / remark how little We use
COMMON SENSE IN PRAYER
We say, ''Oh Lord, give NE this" and
"Oh Lord, give M 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 il. We have no
anxiety about it. We do not watch and
wait for its coming.
As a merchant. YOU telegraph or you
write to some other city for a hill of
goods. You say: Send NE 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, What 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 telegraphing, |
and you keep sending your wagon TO
the depot, or to the express Office, or to
the wharf, until you get the goods.
In matters of religion We are not so !
wise as that. We ask certain things to !
he sent from heaven. We do not know
whether they come or not. We have !
not any special anxiety as to whether
they come or not. We may get them,
and may not get them. Instead Of at 7
o'clock in the morning saving, Have /
got that blessing?' al Il o'clock noon
day asking, "Have | got that blessing?"
at 7 O'Clock in the evening, saying:
Have | received that blessinp?' and
not getting it, pleading, pleading
pNEbHS h0h4HS, hshlup, uUtll
you get. Now, my brethren, is not that
common sense? II We ask a thing from
God, who has sworn By His eternal
throne that He will do that which we
ask, is it not COMMON sense that we
should watch and wait until We get it?
VI. But | remark: We want more
common sense
IN DOING coon.
How many people there are who want
to do good and yet are dead failuresl !
Why is it? They do not exercise the
same tact, the ann ingenuity, the same
s~tratagem, the same common sense, in
the work of Christ that they do in
worldly things. Otherwise they would
succeed in this direction al we'll as thew
succeed in the other. There are many
men who have an arrogant way with
them, although they may not feel AFRO
giant. Or they have a pa|tronizing way.
They talk to a mar Of the world in a
manner which seems to ray: Don't Won
wish You were as good as / am? WHY /
have too look clear down before | can
see You, you are 50 far beneath mel"
That manner always disgusts,
DRIVES H. AWAY
from the kingdom Of Jesus Christ in
stead Of bringing themin. When was