Milford chronicle. [volume] (Milford, Del.) 1878-1974, 1889-08-09

row 20 to your store and sit down and fold
your arms and say; IF these goods are to
be sold, they viii be sold; and If they 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 adver-
tisements, you adorn your show windows,
you push those goods, you use the instrI-
mentality Oh that men we're as wise in
the matter Of the soul as they are wise in
the matter Of dollars and centsl This doc
trine Of Gods sovereignty, how il is mis-
quoted 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, in every passion Of
your soul, you are free man, and it is no
more a matter Of free choice whether you
will tomorrow 20 abroad or stay at home,
than It is this moment a matter Of free choice
whether you viii accept Christ or reject him
In all the army Of banners there is not one
conscript. Men are not to be dragooned into
heaven. Among all the tens Of thousands Of
the Lords soldiery, there is not one man but
viii tell you; II chose Christ; / wanted him
desired to be in his service; l am not aeon
script am volunteer Oh that men had
the same common sense in the matters Of re-
lgion that they have in the matters of the
world-the same concentration, the same
push, the same enthusiasm In the one case,
a secular enthusiasm; in the other, a conse-
Grated enthusiasm.
THEY MAKE HASTE SLOWLY
Again l 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 a milel
No business man would be willing to have
his investments unaccumulative. II you in
vest dollar you expect that dollar to come
home bringing another dollar on its back.
What would you think of man who should
invest ten thousand dollars in monetary in
stitution, then go of for five years, make no
inquiry In regard to the investment, then
come back, step up to the cashier of the in
stitution and say; Have you kept those ten
thousand dollars safely that l lodged with
your but asking no question about interest
or about dividend. Why, You say, THAT is
not common sensen Neither is it, but that
is the way we act in matters Of the soul We
make far more important investment than
ten thousand dollars We. invest our soul
Is it accumulativel Are we growing in
ting worsel God declares many dividends
but we do not collect them, we do not ask
about.thenl, we do not want them. Oh that
in this matter Of accumulation we were as
wise in the matters of the soul as we are in
the matters of the world
COMMON SENSE IN SCRIPTURE READING.
How little common sense in the reading Of
the Scriptures We get any other book and
we open it, and we say; ''How, what does this
book mean to teach met 1t is book on astron-
omy; it will teach me astronomy. 1t is book
on political economy it will teach me political
economy" Taking up the Bible, do we ask
ourselves what it means to teachs 1t means
to do just one thing; get the world con-
verted and get all to heaven. That is what
it proposes to do. But instead Of that, we go
into the Bible as botanists to pick flowers, or
we 60 as pugilists TO get something to fight
other Christians with, OF we 60 as logicians
trying to sharpen our mental faculties for
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 the mountainsl
Night has come down; he cannot find his
way home, and he sees light in a mountain
cabin; he goes to it, he knocks ut the door;
the mountaineer comes out and finds tho
traveller and says; "Well, here have a Ian
tern; you can take it and it viii guide you
on the way home;" and suppose that man
should say: 81 don't like that lantern; don't
like the handle of it; 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 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 depreciate this and
depreciate that Oh, how much wiser we
would be if, 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 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 eye perhaps on the story of Samson and
the foxes, or upon some genealogical table
important In its place, hut 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
life. My eternal destiny is involved
in this Book"
WE SHOULD PRAY sENsIBLY.
How little we use common sense in prayer!
We say: "Qh, Lord, give me this, and 'Oh,
Lord, give ne that" and "0h, 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. We do
not watch and wait for its coming
AS merchant you telegraph or you write
to sonW other city for bill Of goods Xou
say; "Send me by such express OF by such
steamer or by such rail train The day
arrives You send your wagon to the depot
Or to the wharf The goods do not come.
You Immediately telegraph: "What is the
matter with those goodsl ave 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 tele-
and keep sending your wagon to
the depot, or to the express oiace, or to the
wharf, until you get the goods.
u 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
,ome or not We have not any special anxi
sty as TO whether they come or not We
may get them and may not get them. In
stead of at o'clock in the morning saving.
Have | got that blessingF at l2 O'Clock,
asking; "Have got that bless.
ngln at o'clock IN the evening saving.
Have / received that blessingf' and not
getting it, pleading, pleading begging, beg.
ying-asking, asking until you get it. Now,
ny brethren, is not that common sensel If !
We ask thing from God, who has sworn by
lis eternal throne that he will do that which
no ask, is it not common sense that we should
watch and wait until we get itl
COMMON SENSE IN DOING GOOD.
But remark again We want more com.
non sense in doing good. How many people |
here are who want to do good, and yet ar,
lead failuresl Why is it, They do not ex.
,rcise the same tact, the same ingenuity, the |
anne stratagenl, the same common sense in
he work Of Christ that they do in worldly |
hings 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 |
I1ogant. 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
we're as good amt Why, have to look clear