The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1889-08-07

will tomorrow go abroad or stay at home,
than 1t is ut present matter of free choice
whether you will accept Christ or reject
Him. III all the army Of banners there Is
not one conscript. Men are not to be dra-
gooned into Heaven. Among all the tens
Of thousands of the Lords soldiery there is
not one man but will tell you: II chose
Christ; wanted him; Idesired to be in His
service; am not a conscripx-I am avolun-
teer." o, that men had the same common
sense In the matters Of religion that they
have In the matters Of the world-the same
concentration, the same push, the same en-
thusiasmi In the one case secular enthu-
siasm; in the other concentrated enthu-
siasm.
Again remark; We want more common
sense in the buildingupand enlarging four
Christian character. There are men here
who for forty years have been running the
Christian race and they have not run a
quarter of a mile.
No business man would be willing TO have
his investments unaccumulative. II you in
vesta dollar you expect that dollar to cWne
home bringing another dollar on its back.
What would you think Of aman who should
invest $4,000 in monetary institution, then
go off for five years, make no inquiry in re-
gard to the investment, then come back,
step up to the cashier Of the institution, and
say: ''Have you kept those ten thousand
dollars safely that lodged with youl' but
asking no question about interest or divi-
dend. Why, you say, "that is not common
sense" Neither is II, but that is the way
we act in matters Of the soul. We make q
far more important investment than ten
thousand dollars. We invest our soul. Is 1t
accumulativel Are we growing in gracel
Are we get ting betterl Are we getting
worsel God declares many dividends, but
we do not collect them, we do not ask about
them, we do not want them. o that In this
matter Of accumulation we were as wise In
the matters of the soul as we are in the mat
ters Of the world!
How little common sense in the reading OF
the Scriptures! We get any otherb book and
we open it and we say: "Now, what does
this book mean TO teach met 1t is book on
astronomy; it will teach me astronomy 1t
is O book on political economy; IL will teach
me political economy" Taking up the Bi-
Bile, do we ask ourselves what 1t means to
teach. II means to do Just one thing; get
the world converted and get us all to Heaven.
That is what 1t proposes TO 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 to sharpen our
mental faculties for better argument, and
VIC 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 man lost
on the mo untainsl Night has come down
he can no find his way home and he sees a
light in mountain cabin; he goes To II, he
knocks at the door; the mountaineer comes
out and finds the traveller and says: swell,
here have lantern; you can take II, and
II will guide you on the way home;n and
suppose that man should say: ~ don't like
that lantern, don't like the handle Of 1t,
there are ten or fifteen things about II
don't like; II you can't give me better
lantern than that, won't have any.
No. God says this Bible is TO be a lamp to
our feet and a lantern TO 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. o, how much
wiser we would be IL by its holy light we
found our way to our everlasting home.
Then we do not read the Bible as We read
other books. We read IL perhaps four ol
five minutes Just before we retire at night
We are weary and sleepy, so somnolent We
hardly know which end Of the book Is up
We drop our eve perhaps on the story O
Sampson and the foxes, or upon some gen
ealogical table, imp portant in It's place, bu
stirring no more re ligious emotion than th'
announcement that somebody begat some
body else and he begat somebody else, In
stead of opening the book and saying
''Now must read for my immortal life. Ny
eternal destiny is involved In this book"
How little we use common sense In pray
erl We say: 10, Lord, give me this" anC
10, Lord. give me that, and 20, Lord, giv'
me something else" and we do not expec
to get it, or getting 1t, we do not know w
have Il. We have no anxiety about 1t. W.
do not watch and wait for its coming.
As merchant you telegraph or you writ
TO some other city for bill Of goods. Yot
say: "Send me by such express, orby sucf
n steamer, or by such q rail train" The day
arrives. You send your wagon to the depo
or to the wharf. The goods do not come
You Immediately telegraph: "What Is IN,
matter with those goodsi We ebaven't re
ceiyed them Send th EN- right away. W.
want them now, or we don't want them a
ALL" And you keep writing and you keel
telegraphing. and you keep sending you
wagon TO the depot, or 10 the express offic'
or TO the wharf, until you get the goods.
In matters Of religion we are not so wis
as that. We ask certain things to be sen
from Heaven. We do not know whethe
they come or not We may get them ant
we may not get them. Instead Of sever
o'clock in the morning saying: "Have 60
that blessingin at twelve O'Clock noonda,
asking; "HaveIg got that bles singin at sevei
o'clock in the evening, saying; Shave re
ceived that blessingP' and not getting II
pleading, pleading begging, begging-ask
ing, asking until you get. Now, my breth
rem, is not that common sensei II we ask
thing from God, who has sworn by Hi
eternal throne that He will do that whic
we ask, Is 1t not common sense that W
should watch and wait until we get III
But remark again: We wantmore CON
mon sense in doing good How many peopl
there are who want TO do good and yet ar
dead failuresl Why is lit They do not ex
ercise the same tact the same ingenuity
the same strategem, the same common sens
in the work Of Christ that they do in worldl
things. Otherwise they would succeed 4
this direction as well rs they succeed In tn
other. There are many men who have n
arrogant way with them, although they ma,
not feel arrogant Or they have patrc
MIXING way. They talk TO q man Of tn
world in manner which seems 10 say
"Don't you wish you were as good as ! am
Why, have To look clear down befor
I can see you, you are 80 far beneath me-
That manner always disgusts, Away
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