Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-08-11


recate that. Oh, how much wiser we
would be il by its holy light we found
our way TO everlasting homel
Then we do not read the Bible as We
read other books. We read il 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 Samson
and the foxes. or upon some genealo-
gical table, important in its place, but
stirring 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 immortal life. My eternal
destiny is involved in this book"
WE SHOULD PRAY sESsIBLY.
How little we use common sense in
prayer! We say: "Oh, Lord, give me
this" and 'Oh, Lord. give me that"
and "Oh, Lord, give me something
else" and we do not expect 10 get it,
or getting it, we do not know we have
it, W. have no anxiety about il. We
do not watch and wait for its coming.
As a merchant, you telegraph or
you write to some other city for a bill
Of goods. You say; Send me by
such express, or by such n steamer. or
by such a rail train" The day ar,
rives. You send your wagon 10 the
depot or to the wharf. The goods do
not come. You Immediately tele-
graph; what is the matter with
those goodsl 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 t~elegraphing, and you
keep sending your wagon 10 the de-
pot, or 10 the express Office, OF to the
wharf, 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 special anxiety as to
whether they come or not. We may
get them and may not get them. In
stead Of at z o'clock in the morning
saying: Have l got that blessingi"
at ~ o'clock MONDAY, asking: Have
got hal blessings" at z o'clock in
the evening saying: Have | received
that b~lessingf" and not getting it,
pleading, pleading-begging, begging
asking, asking until you get. Now,
my brethren, is not that common
sensel II we ask a thing from God,
who has sworn by his eternal throne
that he will do that which we ask. is
II not common sense that we should
watch and wait until we get itl
COMMON SENSE IN DOING GOOD.
But / remark again: We want more
common sense in doing good. How
many people there are who want to do
good and yet are dead failuresl Why
is III They do not exercise the same
tact, the same ingenuity, the same
stratagem, the same common sense in
the work Of Christ that they do in
worldly things. Otherwise they would
succeed in this direction as wellas they
succeed in the other. There are many
men who have an arrogant way with
them, although they may not feel ar.
rogant. Or they have a patronizing
way. They talk to a man OF the world
in a name which seems TO say:
Don't you wish you were a. good as
amt Why, / have to look clear down
before | can see you, yo< are so far
beneath me-" That manner always
disgusts, always drives men away from
the kingdom Of Jesus Christ instead of
bringing them in. When | was a lad
| vas one day in a village store, and
there was a large group OF young men
there full Of rollicking and fun, and a
Christian man came in, and without
any introduction Of the subject, and
while they were in great hilarity, said
to one of them: George, what is the
first step of wisdoml" George looked
up and said; Every man TO mind his
own business" Well, il was a very
rough answer, but it was provoked.
Religion had been hurled in there as
though il were q bombshell. We must
be adroit in the presentation Of religion
TO the world.
BE NATURAL.
DO you suppose that Mary in her
conversation with Christ lost her sim
plicityl or that Paul. laundering
from Mars Hill, took the pulpit toner
Why is il people cannot talk as natur.
ally in prayer meeting and on relig.
ious subjects as they do in worldly
c~irclesi For no u ever succeeds in
any kind of Christian work unless he
works naturally. We want to initiate
the Lord Jesus Christ, who plucked a
poem from the grass of the field. We
all want 10 initiate him who talked
with farmers about the mGn Wig went
forth TO SOW. and talked with the fisher.
men about the drawn net that brought
in fish of all sorts, and talked with
the vine dresser about the i1er in the
vineyard, and talked with those newly
aifianced about the marriage supper,
and talked with the man cramped in
money matters about the two debtors,
and talked with the woman about the
yeast that leavened the whole lump,
and talked with the shepherd about
the lost sheep. Oh, we might gather
even the stars of tho sky and twist
them like forget-me-nots in the garland
Of Jesus. We must bring everything
TO him-the wealth of language, the
tenderness Of sentiment, the delicacy
Of morning dew, the saffron of float
ing cloud, the tangled surf Of the
tossing sea, the bursting thunder guns
Of the storms bombardment. Yes, ev,
cry star must point down to him, every
heliotrope must breathe his praise,