The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1889-08-15

sEMs M nsSs S4s NY@g
lheuit isvSst tlo.cooin emsuetAsy IAstltu
ton, thSa % eoaD9 lor 6ye years. make IA
inquiry III regard to the ihvestm int, then
come back, step MP to the cnShier or the III
1titutiOn md sny. Have you kept those
41O, 900 safely that j lodged with you?n but
a si1lss g.: a WIZ. 9ou a .ss. int. ,ntsa' & o oe s ee%.
monIssnse." Neither 10 1t, but that il the
way W act IN matters OF the soul. Wemnke
Q far more impOrtan. Investment than $1O,.
600. We invest our soui. It 10 accumnla.
tivs9 Are we growing In grader Are We get
ting betterf Are We getting worsef God dc.
clares many dividends, but we do not collect
them. We do not ask about them. Oh, that
In this matter Of accumulation We were as
wise III the matters OF the soul az We are
In the n alters Of the world
How little cOmmon-sense In the reading OF
the scripturssl We get any other boob and
v * ap's ao.. as ssi. W bo sex; Mean
to teach mcf Il u a book on astronomy; it
will teach me astronomy. 1t IL q book ON
political economy; 1t will teach me political
economy" Taking up the bible, do we ask
ourselves what it means to teach7 1t means
to to- DO y. Just It, one = thing 9! Get the world conyer.
1t proposes to do. But instead Of that We
go into the bible a. botanists to pick flowers,
70 y H. light { other Christians Iii aomeS WITH.
or We go as logicians trying to sharpen our
mental faculties for a better argument. and
do not like that, and we do not like the
other thing. What would you think of q
man lost on the mountains7 Night has
come down; he cannot find his way home
and he sees q light in q mountain cabin
he goes to it. he knocks Of the door: the
mountainecr comes out and finds
have q q lantern: a you ean take T t. and ni IL viii
guide you on the way home" And suppose
that man should say: ~ don't like that
lantern, l don't like the handle of it; there
are ten or fifteen things about it Idon't like;
ifyou can't give mo a better lantern than
that l won't have any" 4
Now, God says this bible is to be a lamp to
our feet and a lantern to our path, to guide
gates OF the celestial city. We take hold OF
it in sharp criticism and deprecate this and
deprecate that. Oh, how much wiser we
would DO II by it's 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 retire at night.
We are weary and sleepy, so somnolent we
hardly know which end Of the book is up.
We drop our eyes perhaps on the story Of
Samson and the foxes or upon some geneal.
ogical table, important in it's place. but
stirring no more religious emotion than the
announcement that somebody else and he
begat somebody else, instead Of opening the
book and saying: Nov / must read for my
immortal life: My eternal destiny is involved
in this book"
We want no bible to prove that we are sin.
ners. Any man VIII IL not willing to &C.
knowledge himself an imperfect and sinful
being is simply Q fool and not to be argued
with. We oil feel that sin has disorganized
our entire nature. That 10 one fact. Another
fact is that Christ cam to reconstruct, to re-
store, to revise, to correct, to redeem. That
is q second fact. The third facti that the only
time 9 are sure Christ will pardon US is the
present. Now, what ia the n sense
thing for US to do in view ofthese three facts?
You will all agree with me, to quit
sin, take Christ, and take him now.
you had perfect confidence should tell you
Observation-Disclosures )morning between11
and IL o'clock you could by q certain Hnan-
cial transaction make $4,000, but that
Tuesday perhaps you might make it, but
there would not be any::positiveness about
it, and Wednesday there would rot he SO
80 on less and ~less-when would you attend to
would dictate: "Inmediately "'''7'e viii
attend to that matter between II and -
o'clock tomorrow Monday morning, for
then l can surely accomplish it, but Tuesday
l may not: and Wednesday there is less
prospect. l will attend to ittomorrow." Now
let US bring our ~common.sense into the mat
ter OF religion. Here are the hopes of the
gospel. We may get them now. Tomorrow
we may get them and wemaynot. Next day
we may and we may not. The prospect less
and less and less.
The only sure time would not
talk to you in this way II l did notknow that
Christ was able to save oil the people, and save
thousands as easily as save one. I would
not go into q hospital and tear off the
bandages from the wounds i'll had no balm
to apply. l would not lave The face to tell
q man he is q sinner unless / had at the
same time the authority of saying he might
be saved. Suppose in Venice there Ii q
Raphael, a faded picture, great in it's time,
tory describes that picture. 1t is nearly
faded away. You say: ooh, what q pity
that SO wonderful a picture by Raphael
should be nearly defacedl' After q while n
mar comes up. very unskillful in art, and he
proposes to retouch it. You shy; "Stand
will only make it worse" Aftera while there
comes an artist who was the equal Of na-
phaeL. Hesays: ~ will retouch that picture
and bring out all Its original power" You
have full confidence in his ability.
He touches it here and there.
Feature after feature comes forth.
and when he is dom with the picture It is
complete in all it's original power. Now God
impressed his image On our race, but that
image has been defaced for hundreds and for
thousands OF years, getting fainter and
fainter. Here comes mp q divine Raphael.
He says: II can restore that picture" He
has oil power In heaven and on earth. He
lie the equal to the one who made the picture,
the image Of the ono who drew the image OF
God in our soul. He touches this sin and It
is gone, that transgression and it disappears,
and oil the DETACHMENT vanishea, and where
sin abounded gracedoth much more abound"
Will you have the DETACHMENT or will yon
have the restoration? I am we'll persuaded
that il I could by touch Of heavenly pathos
in two minutes put before you what has
been done to save your soul there would be
an emotiona1tide overwhelming. Mamma"
said o little child to her mother when she was
being put to bed ut night, mamma, what
makes your hand SO SCARED and t visited and
unlike other peoples hands?" WELL" said
the mother. 'smy child, when you were youDg-
er than you are now, yoars ago, one night
after l had put you to bed / heard q cry, q
shrek upstairs. ] came up and found the
bed was on fire, n you were on fire, and I
tors OF the burning garments, and while l
was tearing them of and trying to get you
away I burned my hand, and it hos been
burned and Scared ever since, and hardly
looks any more like o hand; but l got that,
my child, in trying to save YOU" o mani
o womani / wish today I could show you the
hrruod HAND ~ Nhrsok- hr,~~noJ - ~Ino1:~-