The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1889-08-08

behind our back and walk up and
down in front of the mine of eternal
riches, and say: "Well, if am to be
saved, will be saved; and if | am to
be damned ] will be damned. and there
is nothing to do about it." Why. nv
brother, do you not do that way In
business matters? Why do you not
tomorrow go to your store and sit
down and fold your arms and saw:
II these goods are to be sold,
are not to be sold, they will
not be sold; there is nothing
for me to do about it," No,
you dispatch your agents, you print
your advertisements, you adorn your
show windows, you push those goods,
you use the instrumentality. Oh that
men were as wise in the matter of the
soul as they are wise in the matter of
dollars and centsl This doctrine of
Gods sovereignty, how it is misquoted
and spoken of as though it were an
iron chain which bound us hand- and
foot for time and for eternity, when.
SO far from that, in every fiber of your
body, in every faculty of your mind,
Ia every passion Of your soul, you are a
free man and it is no more a matter OF
free choice whether you will to-mor-
row go abroad or stay at home, than
1t is this moment a matter of free
choice whether you will accept Christ
or reject him. In all the army of
banners there Is not one conscript.
Mon are not to be dragooned into
heaven. Among all the tens of thou
sands of the Lords soldiery there is not
one man but will tell you: II chose
Christ; wanted him; l desired to be
In his service; am not a conscript-I
am 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 concentration.
the same push, the same enthusiasm /
In the one case secular enthusiasm
In the other, a consecrated enthusiasm
THEY MAKE HASTE SLOWLY.
Again | remark: We want more
common sense in the building up and
enlarging of our Christian character
There are men here who have for forty
years been running the Christian
race, and they have not run a quarter
of q mile
No business man would be willing
TO have his investments unaccumula-
tive. If you invest a dollar you
expect that dollar to come home bring
ing another dollar on its back. What
would you think of man who should
invest ten thousand dollars in q mon
etary institution, then GO off for FIVE
years, make no inquiry in regard 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 your" but asking no question
about interest or about dividend.
sense" Neither is it, but that is the
way we act in matters Of the soul.
We make far more important invest
ment than ten thousand dollars. We
invest our soul. Is it accumulative2
Are we growing in grace2 Are we
getting better2 Are we getting worse 2
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 accumula-
ton we were as wise in the matters of
the soul as we are in the matters of
the worldl
COMMON SENSE II SCRIPTURE READING.
How little common sense in the
reading of the Scripturesl We get
any other book and we open it and we
say: Nov, what does this book mean
to teach me2 1t is book on astronomy !;
it will teach me astronomy. It is q
book on political economy; 1t will
,..1.{s.a1 NIL
up the Bible, do we ask ourselves what
itmeans TO teacha 1t 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 tho Biblo as botanists TO
pick tlowers, or we 60 as pugilists to
get something to fight other Christians
with, or we go as logicians trying to
sharpen our mental faculties for bet
ter 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 mountains2 Night
has come down; he cannot find his
way homo and he sees light in a
mountain cabin, he goes to 1t, he
hhoShS dt 1ho NoVt t!ao hlouueSAhSS.
comes out and finds tho traveller and
says; "Well, here I have a lantern !;
you can take it and IL will guide you
on the way home;" and suppose that
man should say: II don't like that
lantern, / don't like tho handle of 1t,
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 @
lamp to our feet and n lantern to our
path, to guide us through the midnight
of this world TO the gates of the celes-
tial city. We take hold Of it in sharp
criticism, and deprecate this, and dep
recate that. Oh, how much wiser we
would be 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. 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 Samson
and the foxes, or upon some genealo-
gical table, important in its place, but
stirring no more religious emotion
than the announcements that somebody
begat somebody else and he begai
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 sENsIBLY.
How l,ftta wa
prayerl 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 to get it
or getting it, we do not know we have
it We have no anxiety about it VIZ
do not watch and wait for its coming
As a merchant you telegraph on
| you write to some other city for bill
of goods. You say: Send me by
| such express, or by such a steamer, ol
by such a rail train" The day ar
rives. You send your wagon to tbs
depot or TO the wharf. The goods dc
not come. You Immediately tele
| graph; What is the matter with
those goods9 We haven't received
them. Send them right away. w,
want them now, or we don't wan
them at ALL" And you keep writing
and you keep telegraphing. and yoI
keep sending your wagon to the de
pot, or TO the express office, or TO tn,
wharf, until you get the goods.
In matters of religion we are not S,
wise as that We ask certain thing.
TO be sent from heaven. We do no
know whether they come or moi. w
have not any special anxiety as I.
whether they come or not. We ma,
get them and may not get them. In
stead of at z o'clock in the mornin,
| ...~:,n.. ssTJavo e,ot thaf hlecSfn nu q