The Penn's Grove record., 1892-02-12

Nersioh y Tue meaning. CouNiSaoa sNs
fever OF thirst; conversion is the slaking OF
that thirst Conviction is the pain; CONVEX
sion is the medicine that cures It, Ihou-
sands have experienced the former and never
experienced the latter.
There are m%ultitudes who think that as
o as q man is serious he is fit for probes
sion OF religion. What If n man should only
think seriously Of being a merchant; would
that make him a merchant What If q man
should only think seriously OF being q law
yer; would that make him q lawyer What
II a mar should only think seriously Oh being
a Christian; would that make him q chris
tianf Felix was convicted but not converted.
The jailer was convicted before he got oua
OF bed, but not converted till at the advice
OF Paul he believed In Christ Are you CON
victed but not convertedS
l tell you what you make me THINK OF,
You have made up you mind Tor proper
consideration to deed away a property:
You have drawn the deed. The seal Is al.
fixed opposite where you are to write your
name. The commissioner OF deeds ID pres
emit to witness. You have your pen In hand.
There Is ink in the pen. There is only one
thing for you to do, and that IS to sign your
name. Suppose you stop now without
signing your name, III does 1t all amount
tor Nothing.
So you have resolved TO give yourseiI up
to God. You propose to sign on to Him
your body. your mind, your soul. You nave
all things necessary for the transfer. The
angels of Coz are here to witness the eter-
nal transfer. Why do you not o with
your will complete the work. Halt where
you are and all goes for nothing. Sign your
name to this spiritual transfer.
Professor Arago. the mathematician, got
woefully discouraged in his work and was
about to give it up, when he saw some words
on the paper which had been used to stiffen
the cover Of his book, and the words being
! indistinct he dampened the cover until he
could take it of and see the words plainly
n he found they were words Of advice
given by UAlembert to a student, and the
s words esr Were, ,'G 100 on - sl rs g. yo 0n m0,t o ,yss vino vino
more step or all the steps you have taken
will amount to nothing. Go onl
Again learn from the misfortune of the
king Of Babylon what a terrible thing is the
loss Of reason. There is no calamity that
can possibly befall US sin this world so great
as the arrangement OF intellect-to have the
body of a man and yet to fall even below
the instinct Of a brute. In this world Of sad
sights the saddest is the IDIOTS stare. In
this wogld Of awful sounds the most awful
is the maniac's laugh. A vessel on the
rocks, when hundreds 20 down never to rise,
and other hundreds drag their mangled and
shivering bodies up the wintry beach, is
nothing compared to the laundering of intel
lects full Of vast hopes and a~ttainments and
capacities. Christ's heart went out to those
b were epileptic, falling into the fire, or
maniacs cutting themselves among the
tombs.
We are accustomed 70 be more grateful
for physical health than for the proper
working of our mind. We are apt to take
1t for granted that the intellect which has
served US 30 well will always be faithful.
We forget that an engine with such
tremendous power, when the wheels have
such v~astness Of circle and such swiftness Of
motion and the least impediment might put
balance by a divine hand. No human
power could engineer this train Of immortal
faculties.
How strange 1t is that our memory, on
whose shoulders all the successes Ind mis-
fortunes and occurrences of a lifetime are
placed, should not oftener break down, and
that the scales of judgment, which have
been weighing 80 much and SO long, should
not lose their adjustment, and that fancy,
which holds a dangerous wand, should not
sometimes maliciously wave il, bringing into
the heart f~orebo1ings and Authorizations the
most appalling. 1t 10 not strange that the
expectations OF this intellect should not be
dashed to pieces on its disappointmentsr
Though SO dslicately attuned, this instru.
ment Of untold harmonies plays or, though
fear shocks 1t, and ~vexations rack it, and
sorrow and JOY and loss and gain In quick
succession beat out of 1t their dirge or draw
from it their anthem. At morning Inc at
night, when in your prayer you rehearse the
objects Of YOU thanksgiving, next to your
salvation by Jesus Christ, praise the Lord
for the preservation of your reason.
How many fine intellects are being de-
stroyed by anodynes and anasthetics, which.
- -..z- 80 Dr0-tlAnan f~. -
in alienation of pain or insomnia, but by be-
ing employed continuously after awhile zap
ture and destroy. Chloral, cocoaine, bro
mide of potassium, opium and whole shelves
Of seductive etceteras that help turn
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS into imbecility into mad
ness. Do not tribe with opiates that beuumb
the brain. II you cannot live without the
perpetual and enslaving use OF them, you
had better die. Better die a sane man than
live a fool. What right have you to klll
your brain and put in wild jangls your
nervous SYSTEM But rum is the cause of
more insanity than anything else. There is
nothing like rum to put a man, like
Nebuchadnezzsr, down on all fours.
Again, learn how quickly turns the wheel
of fortune, from how high up to how far
down went Nebuchadnezzar. Those now in
places Of position and power, even though
they should live. will in a few years be dis.
regarded, while some, who this day are OBJ.
scure and poverty stricken, will ride uD on
the shoulders of the people TO take their turn
at admiration and the spoils Of office. Oh,
how quickly the wheel turnsI Ballot boxes
are the steps on which men come down as
often as they go up. OF those who were a
few years ago successful In the accumulation
of property how few have not met with re-
verses of fortune, while many of those who
then were straitened in circumstances now
mold the bonds and the bank KEYS of the ma
ton and win the most bows on the ex-
change.
or all fickle people in the world Fortune
Is the most tickle. Every day she changes
her mind, and woe to that man who putt
any confidence In what she promises or
proposes. She cheers when you go no and
laughs when you come down. Oh, trust not
4 moment your hearts affections to this
c~hangeable world. Anchor your soul In
God. From Christ's love gather your joy.
Then come sorrow or giadness, success or
defeat, riches or poverty, honor or disgrace,
health or sickness. lie or death, time or
eternity, all are yours and we are Christ's
and Christ is Gods.
Learn also from my subject the comfort
ing truth that Affections are arrested as soon
as they nave accomplished their mission.
For seven years did Nebuchadnezzar dwell
among the beasts of the field, but at the
expiration of that time his reason returned,
and as soon as with proper humility he
acknowledged the God of heaven he was
brought back to his palace and reinstatei in
his former afiuence M power. Now it
does seem that when heavy trials come lupon
us 1t is as though they had no limit. We
exclaim, "Al thy waves and thy pillows
have gone over me-" but forget that the
depth of that sea and the power of that
pillow are definitely determined.
God sees how much our pride is and He
sends Just enough adversely to humble it.
He sees Just how worldly minded we are aud
pulls US Just hard enough to detach US from
our follies. He sees low hard our heart it
and smites just hard enough to break it.
He sees how our eyes have been blinded and
He cuts only just enough to remove the scales
from our spiritual vision. As soon as
'Abraham's faith is sufficiently tried tn.
lamb is provided. As soon as Pharaoh CON.
sents to let the children OF Israel depart the
plague pauses. As soon as the Israelites have
been sufficiently disciplined by their wander
iDSs they find their way into Canaan. But
to some the limit Is not set in this life. Their
whole pilgrimage 10 through the wilderness
and the world Is to them a valley of tears.
But perhaps God has a special throne In
heaven that no ordinary saint can occupy,
and by extraordinary trials He has prepared
that Christian soul for extraordinary glory.
God will not keep you In the furnace one
moment too long. Just as soon as Paul had
met with enough imprisonment and scourg-
ings he reached up and plucked his eternal