The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-04-17
Sunday Services.

Services were conducted by Rev. j. H. Albert,
who took as his text Matthew iv: 4. Below is
given brief outline of his sermon:
When Jesus answered Satan in the words of our
text it was not for himself alone, but as an exam
pie for all men. We are apt to look at the life
that Christ led and the temptation which He re.
sisted as the most natural thing for Him to do but
1t does not seem to apply to us or be expected of
u.s. We seem to forget that He had taken upon
Himself our nature and felt hunger as keenly as
we do. We must have our pleasures, our enjoy.
ments and bodily comforts. The body is the
spirits workshop, its machinery, and should be
kept in good condition, but the body should never
be permitted to degrade the spirit. 1t is better
that the machinery should perish than that the
workman be destroyed. God has created nothing
in vain; everything has its mission. The body
must be sustained by food, but the spirit must be
cherished and sustained by the word of God. God
has set each of us work to accomplish. We
must have something to work out if we expect to
succeed in this world and fit ourselves for eternity
see young men every day that am certain will
fail in the affairs of this life; they will never be-
come good business men, they will never become
good professional men. Why? 1t is not because
they lack ability but because they have nothing
to work for they have 10 purpose in life. 1 see
men who have toiled many weary months go into
the saloon; they are arrested and fined fifteen or
twenty dollars and when their hard earned money
is gone they 60 back to the weary tread-min of
life Why do they act thus? 1t is because they
have not purpose in life.
There are men and women before me to-day who
if they could only realize that God had some
higher purpose for them than the sordid things
of this life-if they could realize this they could
marshal the hosts of heaven to their service. We
must learn that it is not leaving off some Of the
bad things that we were once accustomed to do, it
is not simply reading the Bible that makes US
Christians. If we wish to gain purity of character
and spiritual growth we must pour life out in do.
ing Every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God"
We talk of men of great strength of character
and how they are able to stand alone but their
strength may be coming from above in answer to
wlte's prayers, and many men 60 to ruin when
their wives are laid in the grave. We cannot
rudderless boat drifting down the river, a play
thing Of the wind and waves. You and 1 may not
agree in our religion but there is one thing think
that we will agree upon, and that is this that the
man who holds steadfast to the things of God is
the only one who has true strength of character
Somebody has said that we cannot mistake the
human voice for any other sound; neither can we
mistake the true man of God
When was boy used to gather that beaut-
full flower. the mountain lily, upon the mountain
side. 1t grew among the rocks without tree or
shrub around it and often the rattlesnake would
thrust its venomous head from beneath its shade.
If you try to rise above your surroundings into
higher moral atmosphere you may hear the SER
pent's hiss and the venom of malice may fall
around you, but with Gods words shining in your
soul you will grow in purity of character and work
out your eternal salvation.
We rise in glory, sink in pride,
Where boasting ends. there dignity begins.