Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1889-08-15

Heaven. Among all the tens of thousand
OF the Lords soldiery there is not one mai
but will tell you: 81 chose Christ;
> wanted Him; l desired TO be in His ser
vice; am not conscript-I am a volun
teer" O, that men had the same common
sense in the matters of religion that they
have in the matters of the world-th,
same concentration, the same push. tn,
same enthusiasm! In the one case a sec.
ular enthusiasm; in the other, a conse-
Grated enthusiasm.
| Again 1Temark: We want more common
sense in the building uu and charging Of
our Christian character. There are mer
here who have for forty years been run
ming the Christian race and they have moi
run quarter Of a mile.
No business man would be willing tC
have his investments unaccumulatiye. II
You invest dollar you expect that dollar
to come home bringing another dollar on
its back What would you think of mau
who should invest SO 900 in monetary
institution, then go off FIVE years. make
no inquiry in regard to the investment.
then come Seck, step up to the cashier OF
the institution and say: Have you kept
those $4,000 safely that l lodged with
your" but asking no question about inter-
est or about dividend Why, you say,
That is not common sense" Neither is
it, but that is the way we act in matters
Of the soul. We make a far more i'm
portant investm mt than SO. 900. We in
vest our soul 1t is accumulaiive? Are
we growing in grace? Are we getting bet
ter! Are we getting worse? 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 mat
tiers OF the soul as we are in the matters
of the world!
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 me? It is a
book on astronomy; it 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 teach? 1t means to do
just one thing; get the world converted
| and get US 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 go as pugilists to get something to
fight other Christians with, or we 90 as
logicians trying to sharpen our III sntal
faculties for better argument and we do
not like this about the b bic and we do not
like that, and we do not like the other
thing. What would you think of a man
lost on the mountains? Night has com
down; he can not find his way home and
he sees a light in a mountain cabin: he
goes to it, he knocks at the door; the
mountaineer comes out and finds the trav-
eler and says: ''W ell. here have a Lam
tern; you can take it and it will guide you
on your way home" And suppose that
man should say: Il don't like that Ian
tern; l don't like the handle of it; there
are ten or fifteen things about it don'5
like; if you can't give me better lantern
than that won't have any,"
Now, God says this Bible is to be a lamp
to our feet and lantern to our path, t.
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 if 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 is up. We drop our eye perhaps
on the story of Samson and the foxes. or
upon some genealogical table. important
IN its place, but stirring no more religious
emotion than the announcement that
eomebody begat somebody else aud he be-
gat some body else, instead of opening the
book and saying: NOW 1 must read for
my immortal life. Nv eternal destiny is
involved in this book"
How little we use common sense in
prayer! 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 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
your wagon to the depot or to the wharf
The goods do not come. You Immediately
telegraph: ''What is the matter with the
goods? 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 no: know |
they come or not We have not |
any especial anxiety as to whether they |
come or not. We may get them and may
not get them. Instead of at seven O'Clock |
in the morning saying: ''Have I got that |
blessing" at twelve O'Clock MONDAY ask
ing: Have 1 got that blessing" al seven
O'Clock in the evening saying: Have 1
received that blessing" and not getting
it pleading, pleading-begging, begging
asking, asking until you get it Now.
my brethren, is not that comm IN sense?
If we ask a thing from God, who has
sworn by His eternal throne that He will
do that which we ask, is it not common
sense that we should watch and wait until
we get it?
But / remark again: We want more
common sense In doing good. How many
people there are who want to do good and
yet are dead failures? Why is it? They
do not exercise the same tact, the sam
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
4 manner which seems to say: Don't
you wish you were as good as am? Why,