The intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1887-1891, 1889-08-10

TO come home bringing another dollar on
its back. What woul you think of a man
who should invest $40, 600 in a monetary
institution, then go off 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 $4,000 safely that l lodged with
but asking no question about inter-
est OF about dividend. Why, you say,
That is not common sense" Neither is
1t, but that is the way we act in matters
of the sou. We make a far more i'm
portant investm snt than $40, 900. We in
vest our soul. 1t is accumulativep Are
we growing in gracep Are we getting bet
teri Are we getting worsep 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 rs wise in the mat
ters of the souI as we are in the matters
of the w6rldl
How little common sense in the reading
of the Scriptures? We get any other book
and we open it and we say: Now, what
does this book mean to teach mep 1t Is a
book on astronomy; 1t will teach me as
tronomy. 1t is a book on political econo-
my; it will teach me political economy"
Taking up the Bible. do we ask ourselves
what it means to teachf 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 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 a better 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 tho mountains? Night has como
down; he can not find his way home and
he sees a light in a mountain cabin; he
goes to II, he knocks at the door; the
mountaineer comes out and finds the trav-
eler and says: "We ell. here ! have a Ian
tern; you can take 1t and it will guide you
on your way home" And suppose that
man should a y II dom like that lam
tern; l don't like the handle of it; there
are ten or fifteen things about it 1 don't
like; IL you can't give me a better lantern
than that l won't have any,"
Now, Goo says this Bible Is to be a lamp
to our feet and n lanSern to our path, to
guide Us through the midnight Of this
world to the gates OF the celestial city.
We take hold of II 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 ever
lasting home!
Then we do not read the Bible as we
read other books. We read it perhaps
four or five minutes just before we retire
at night. We are weary and sleepy, so
somnolent we hardly know which end of
the book 10 up. We drop our eye perhaps
an tha otOru - Sa,,,, aaI NIa o.. -.
upon some genealogical table. important
in Its place, but stirring no more religious
emotion than the announcement that
somebody begat somebody else and he be-
gat some body else, instead of opening the
book and saying: Nov I must read for
my immortal life. MY eternal destiny is
involved in this book"
How little we use common sense In
prayerl We say: 30. Lord. give me
this" and 80. Lord, give me that" and
20. Lord, give me something else," and
we do not expect to get it, we do not
know we have it. 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 bill of
goods. You say: 'Send me by such ex-
press, or by such a steamer, or by such a
rail train" The day arrives. You send
you wagon TO the depot or to the " hart.
The goods do not come. You Immediately
telegraph: 'What is the matter with the
goodsi 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 be
sent from Heaven. We do not know
whether they come or not. We nave not
any especial anxiety as to whether they
come or not. We may get them andsmay
not get them. Instead of at seven O'Clock
in the morning saying: "Have | got that
blessing?" at twelve O'Clock monday ask
ing: Have l got that blessing?" a seven
o'clock in the evening saying: "Have l
received that blessing?" and not getting
it, pleading, pleading-begging, begging
asking, asking until you g t it. Now,
my brethren, is not that comm N sensef
If we ask a thing from God, who has
sworn by His eternal throne that He will
do that which we ask. is IL not common
sense thai we should watch and wait until
we get it?
BaU L remark again: We want more
common sense IN doirg good. How many
people there are who want to do good and
yet are dead failures? Why is II? They
do not exercise the same tact, the sam
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
well as they succeed in the other. There
are many men who have an arrogant way
with them, although they may not feel
arrogant. Or they have a patronizing
way. They talk to a man of the world in
a manner which seems to say: ''Don't
you wish you were as good as | am? Why,
l rave to look clear down before l can see
you, you are so far beneath mo-" That
manner always disgustJ, always drives
men away from the kingdom of Jesus
Christ instead of bringing them in.
When l was a lad 1 was one day In q
village store and there was q 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
10 one of them: George, what Is the
}hrst step of wisdom?" George looked up
and said: Every man to mind his W
uSluOSa "Olly ~ was a Nciy bouBh
ANSWER, but it was provoked. Religion
had been hurled In there as though 1t were
a bombshelL. We must be adroit In the
presentation of religion to the world.
Do you suppose that Mary in her con-
versation with Christ lost her simplicity
or that Paul, thundering from Mars Hill,
tool the pulpit toner Why is it people
can not talk as naturally in prayer meet
ing and on religious subjects az they do In
worldly circlesi For no one ever succeeds
IN any kind of Christian work unlessFb5
works naturally. We want to mitats the
Lord Jesus Christ, VINO p1ucked a poem
from the glass Of the field. We all want
to initiate Him who talked with farmers
about the man who went forth to SOW, and
talked with the fishermen about the
drawn net that brought in fish Of allasofts,
and talked with the yiner dresser
about the idler the vineyard,
md t~alked~-wfth those newly aft
anced about the marriage supper, and
talked with the man cramped in
money matters about the two debt
ors, and talked with the women about
The yeast that leavened the whole lump,
and talked with he shepherd about the
lost sheep. o, we might gather ever the
stars of the sky m twist them like for
get me- ots IN the garland OF Jesus. We
must bring every thing to Him-the wealth
of language, The tenderness of sentiment,
the delicacy of morning dew, the saffron
of floating cloud, the tangled surf of the
tossing sea, the bursting thunder guns OF
the storms bombardment Yes, every
star must point down TO Him, every hello
trope must breathe His praise, every DROP
in the summer Shove must flash Hi.
-Ior,, al tn trao h.oanhaa - tha foroot
must thrun thelr music In the grand
L Aa.ak- uuLiaI- nLal nnIaLHaAn ua.ld "a