The Brookhaven leader., 1891-06-25

=
ported, is the perfect law. And the
Gospel which Christ announced while
| dying on that mount from which
brought that stone in yonder wall,
and which Paul preached on that hill
from which bought yonder granite, is
the Gospel that is going to save the
world. Young man, put on that Gospel
armor! No other sword will triumph
like that. No other shield will protect
| like that. No other helmet will glance
| off the battle-axes like that. Our theo-
! logical seminaries are doing glorious
work, but il ever such theological semi
naries shall cease to prepare young men
for this plain Gospel advocacy, and
shall become mere philosophical schools
for guessing about God, and guessing
about the Bible, and guessing about the
soul they will cease their usefulness,
| and young men, as in olden time, when
they would study for the Gospel min
istry, will put themselves under the
care of some intelligent and warm
hearted pastor, and lneel with him in
| family prayer at the parsonage, and go
with him into the room of the sick and
the dying, and see what victories the
grace of God can gain when the couch
of the dying saint is the Marathon.
That is the way the mighty ministers
of the Gospel were made in olden times
Oh, for great wave of revival to roll
over our theological seminaries, and
our pulpits, and our churches, and our
| ecclesiastical courts and over all Christ
endom! That would be the end of con-
| trovcrsy. While such 81 deluge would
| float the ark of God higher and higher,
it would put all the bears and tigers
and reptiles of raging ecclesiasticism
fifteen cubits under.
Now, what is the simple fact that
you in the pew and Sabbath-school
class and reformatory association and
we in the pulpits have to deal with? II
is this: That God has somewhere, and
it matters not where, but somewhere,
provided great Heaven, great for
quietncss for those who want quiet,
great for vast asSemblage for those who
like multitudes, great for architecture
for those who like architecture, great
for beautiful landscape for those who
like beautiful landscape, great for
music for those who like music, great
for professions for those who like armies
on white horses, and great for anything
that one especially desires in such
rapturous dominion; and through the
doings of One who was born about
five miles south of Jerusalem, and died
about ten minutes walk from its east
ern gate, all may enter that great
Heaven for the earnest and heartfelt
asking. Is that all? That is all. What
then, is your work and mine? Our work
is to persuade people to face that way
and start thitherward, and finally go
in. But has not religion something to
do with this world as we'll as the next?
Oh, yes; but do you not see that if the
people start for Heaven on their way
there they will do all the good
they can? They will at the very
start of the journey get SO much
of the spirit of Christ, which is Il
spirit of kindness and self-sacrifice
and generosity and burden bearing and
helpfulness, that every step they take
will resound with good deeds Oh, get
your religion off of stills! Get it down
out of the high towers! Get it on
level with the wants and woes of our
poor human race. Get it out of tho
dusty theological books that few PEG
pie read and put it in their hearts and
lives. Good thing is it to profess re.
ligion when you join the church, but
every day somehow we ought to pro
Tess religion.
A peculiar patchwork quilt was, dur
ing the civil war, made by a lady ana
sent to the hospitals at the front. She
had a boy in the army, and was natur-
ally interested in the welfare of sol
diers. But what patchwork quilt she
sent! On every block of the quilt was,
a passage of Scripture or verse of 8,
hymn. The months and the years Of
the war went by. On that quilt many
wounded man had lain and suffered
and died. But one morning the hos
pital nurse saw patient under the
blanket kissing the figure of leaf
in the quilt. and the nurse supposed he
was only wandering in his mind. But
no, he was the son of the mother who
had made the quilt and recognized
that figure of n leaf as part of a gown
his mother used to wear, and it re-
minded him of home. do you know
where this quilt came from?" he asked.
The nurse answered: 81 can find out,
for there was a card pinned fast to it,
and | will find that. Sure enough, it
confirmed what he thought Then the
nurse pointed to a passage of scrip
ture in the block of the quilt, the pas
sage which says: when he was yet a
great way off his father saw him and
ran and fell on his neck and kissed him."
Yes said the dying soldier. 81 was
great way off, but God has met me, and
had compassion on me-" ''Shall write
to your mother and tell her that the
lost one is found, and the dead is alive
again?" He answered, 81 wish you
would, if it would not be too
much trouble" Do you suppose
that woman who made that quilt
and filled it with Scripture passages had
any trouble about who Melchizedek
was, or how the doctrine of Gods SOW
ereignty can be harmOnized with mans
free agency, or who wrote the Penta-
touch, or the inconsistencies of the
Nicene creed? No, no: go to work for
God and suffering humanity, and all
your doubts, and fears. and mysteries,
and unbeliefs put together will not be
heavy enough to stir the chemists
scales, which is accustomed to weighing
one-fiftieth part of a grain of camo-
mile flowers Why stop a moment to
understand the mysteries where there