The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-01-08

hcav>.ii wno l,!;I!l,S ..!!S own huS,H>SS
We III have ou posts OF duty. 3no |
standing there God appears 70 Us. We
arc all Stephenson ShcDhcrdeSScs, and
we have our tlock Ks OF cares a%;annoy-
anceS and anxictics. and wc must tend
them
EVc sometimes hear very good pco-
pie =ay: Ii | had 4 month or 4 year
or two to do nothing but attend TO re-
licious things, I would bca great deal
better than l am now" You are mis-
taken. Generally the best people are
the busy people. Elisha was blowing
in the field when the prophetic mantle
fell on him. Matthew was attending
to his custom house duties when Christ
commanded him to follow. James and
John were mcnding their nets when
Christ called them to be fishers of
men. Had they been snoring in the
sun Christ would not have called their
Incidence into the apostleSlip. Gideon
was at work with the Hail on the
threshing floor when he saw the angel.
Saul was with great fatigue hunting
ND the lost asses when he found the
crown of Israel. The prodigal son would
never have reformed ard wanted to
have returned to his Il; .crS !:ousc If
ne had not first gone into business,
though it was swine feeding. Not
once out of a hundred times will
Iazy man become a Christian. Those
who have nothing to do are IN very
unfavorable circumstances for the re-
ceivinc of divine manifestations. II
is not when YOU are in idlencSs, but
when YOU are, like the Bethlehem
shepherds, watching your tlocks, that
the glory descends and there is JOY
among the angels OF God over your
soul penitent and forgiven.
ssREJoicE AND BE EXCEEDING GLAD.
Nv subject also strikes at the delu-
sion that the religion of Christ is
dolorous and grief lnfusing. The mu-
sic that broke through the midnight
heavens was not q dirge, but an an
them. It shook Joy over the hills. 1t
not only dropped upon the shepherds
but it sprang upward among the
thrones. The robe of Saviours
Righteousness is not black. The Chris
tan life is not made up of weeping
aud cross bearing and war waging.
Through the revelation of that Christ
mas night find that religion is not a
groan, but a song. In world OF sin
and sick bed and sepulchers, we must
have trouble; b1t in the darkest night
the heavens part with angelic song.
You may, like Paul, be shipwrecked,
but exhort you to be of good cheer,
for YOU shall al escape safe to
the land. Religion does not show
itself in the elongation OF the
face and the cut of the garb. The
Pharisee who puts his religion into
his phylacterv has none left for his
heart. Fretfulness and complaining
do not belong to the family of Chris
tan eraccs which move into the heart
when the devil moves out. Christian
ity does not frown upon asnuscments
and recreations It is not a cEnic, it
is not u shrew, it chokes no laughter
it ouenches no light, it defaces no art.
Among the happy, it is the happiest.
It is Just as much at home on the play
ground as ii is in the church. 1t is
Just as graceful in the charade as it is
| in the psalm book 1t sings just as
we'll in Surrey gardens as it prays in
St. Paul's. Christdied that we might
live. Christ walked that we might
ride. Christ wept that We might
laugh.
Again, my subject mpresses me
with the fact that glorious endings
sometimes have very humble begin
nings. The straw pallet was the start
ing point, but the shout in the mid
night sky revealed what would be the
glorious consummation. Christ on
Mary's lap, Christ on the throne OF
| universal doninion-what an humble
staytng-, What GLORIOUS ending!
Grace begins Oh small scale IN the
heart. You see only men as trees
walking The grace of God IN the
heart is a feeble spark, and Christ has
to keep both hands over it lest it be
blown out. What an humble begin
ming! But look at that same man
when he has entered heaven. No
crown able to express his royalty. No
palace able to express his wealth. No
scepter able to express his power and
his dominion. Dripping from the
fountain that drips from the everlast-
ing Rock. Among the harpers harp
ing with their harps. On sea of
glass mingled with fire. Before the
throne Of God, to go 40 more out for
ever. The spark of grace that Christ
had to keep both hands over lest it
come to extinction, having famed up
into honor and glory and immortal
ity. What humble starting! What
glorious consummationl
The New Testament church was on
a small scale. Fishermen watched it.
Against the uprising walls crashed in
fernal enginery. The world said
anathema. Ten thousand people re-
joiced at every seeming defeat, and
said: ssAha! aha. so we would have
it." Martyrs on fire cried: ''How
long, o Lord, how long2" Very hum
BILE starting, but see the difference at
the consummation, when Christ with
his almighty arm has struck off the
last chain of human bondage, and
HiD1alaya shall be Mount Zion; and
Pyrenees, Moriah; and oceans. the
walking place OF HIM who tloo the
wave cliffs of stormed Tiberias, and
island shall call to island, sea to sea,
continent to continent. and, the song
of the worlds redemption rising, the
heavens, like great sounding board,
shall strike back the shout OF salvation
to the earth until it rebounds again to
the throne Of God, and all heaven, ris-
ing on their thrones, beat time with
their scepters Oh, what an humble
beginning. What a glorious ending.
Throne linked to a manger, heavenly
mansions to stable
cHNsT's CHURCH EVER GROWING.
My subject also impresses me with
the effect of Christ's mission upward
and downward Glory to God. peace
to man. When God sent his son into