Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1889-08-10

|
rives. You send your wagon to the
depot or to the wharf. The goods do
not come. You Immediately tele-
graph: "What is the matter with
those goods2 We haven't received
them. Send them right away. We
want them now, or we don't want
them at all" Ard you keep writing
and you keep telegraphing, and you
! keep sending your wagon to the de-
| pot, 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 OF not. We
have not any special anxiety as to-
whctherthey como or not. We may
| get themaid may not get them. In
stead Of ats7 o'clock in the morning
saying: Have l got that blessing2"
at IL o'clock MONDAY, asking Have.
gotjtha., blsssipag 81 aeEe
that blessiing and : not getting 1T!
fSpleading, pleading begging, begging
asking, asking until you get. Now,
my brethren, is not that common
sense2 If we ask 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 it3
COMMON SENSE IN DOING GOOD.
But remark again: We want more
common sense in doing good. How
many people there are who want to do
good and yet arc'dead failures! Why
is it2 They do not exercise the same
TACT the same ingenuity, the same
stl:ltagcm. the same common sense in
the work of Christ that they do in
worldly things Otherwise they would
succeed in this direction us wcllas they
succeed in the other. There are many
men who have an arrogant way with
them, although they may not feel ar.
rogant. Or they have patronizing
way. They talk to a man of the world
in manner which seems to say:
Don't you wish you were as good as
am2 Why, / have TO look clear down
before can see you, you are SO far
beneath me-" That manner always
dissusts, always drives men away from
the kingdom of Jesus Christ instead OF
bringing them in. When | was lad
was one day in village store, and
there was 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
to one of them: George, what is the
first step OF wisdomi" George looked
up and said: every man to mind his
own business. Well, it was very
rough answer, but it was provoked.
Religion had been hurled i'll there as
though it were bombshcll. We must
be adroit in the presentation of religion
TO the world.
BE NATURAL.
Do you suppose that Mary in her
conversation with Christ lost her SIM
plicity7 or that Paul, laundering
from Mars Hill, took the pulpit toner
Why is it people cannot talk as natur
ally in prayer Seeting and on relig-
.in..s;-.ssl,f5Si. cts asSsShey do in worldly
1afiy NfnJfs ,iTSIIafI 7rporrv- ne
works naturally. We want to initiate
the Lord Jesus Christ, who plucked a
poem from tho grass 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 fisher
neil about the drawn net that brought
in fish of al sorts, and talked with
the vine dresser about the iCaer i'll the
vineyard, and talked with those newly
affianced about the marriage supper,
and talked with the man cramped i'll
money matters about the two debtors.
and talked with the woman about the
Yeast that leavencd the whole lump,
and talked with the shepherd about
the lost sheep. Oh, we might gather
even the stars OF the sky and twist
them like forget-mc-nots i'll the garland
of Jesus. We must bring everything
to hin-thc wealth Of language, the
tenderness of sentiment, the delicacy
of morning dew, the saffron OF float
ing cloud, the tangled surf OF the
tossing sea, the bursting thunder guns
of the storms bombardlnent. Yes, ev-
cry star must point down to him, every
heliotrope must breathe his praise,
every drop in the summer shower
must fash his glory, all the tree
! branches of the forest must thrum
their music in the grand march which
| shall celebrate a world redeemed.
Now, all this being so, what is the
common sense thing for you and for
me 10 do2 What we do | think will
depend upon three great facts. The
! first fact that sin has ruined us. 1t has
I, blasted body, mind and soul. We
WIN. no Bible to prove that we are
sinners. Any man who is not willing
to acknowledge himself an Imperfect
and sinful being is simply fool and
not to be argued with. We all feel
that sin has disorganized our entire
nature. That is one fact. Another
fact is that Christ came to reconstruct,
to restore. to revise, to correct, to re-
deem. That is a second fact. The
third fact is that the only time we are
sure Christ will pardon us is the pres
ent. Now, what is the common sense
thing for US to do in view of these
three facts? You will allagrec with me
to quit sin, take Christ and take him
now Suppose some business man in
j whose skill you had perfect confidence
should tell you that tomorrow Mon
day) u,ornine between IL and ~ o'clock
YOU could by certain financial trans
action make FIVE thousand dollars, but
that on Tuesday perhaps you might
make it, but there would not be any
positiveness about it, and on Wednes.
day there would not be so much, and
Thursday less, Friday less, and so on
less and less-when would you attend
to the matter2 Why, your common
sense would dictate: Immediately l
will attend to that matter between
II and ~ O'Clock tomorrow (Mon-
i do,., p,orn;no for then can surely