The Penn's Grove record., 1892-06-17
PENIS GROVE. n. J.. FRIDAY. JUNE II. 1899.

nTSb UTGScE lpLlOn IHtb L rive 10 u man Wnen
| find him full of doubts and fears about his
eternal interest Is to go to work for Col
Ten thous1nl voices ara lifted up asking for
your help. Go and help.
have another word of counsel to give
those who have just entered Christian life,
and that is, be faithful in prayer. You
might as well, bushes men, start out in the
morning without food and expect to be strong
all that day-you might as well abstain
e-om fool all the week aud expect to be
strong physically, as to be strong without
prayer. the only way to get any strength
into the soul is bv prayer, aud the only
difference between that Christian that is
worth anything and that who is worth
nothing is the fact that the last does not
pray and the other DOES.
And the only difference between this
Christian, who is getting along very fast in
the holy life, and this. who is only getting
along tolerably, is that the first prays more
than the last. You can graduate a mans
progress in religion by the amount of
prayer not by the number of hours, per.
haps, but by the earnest duplication that
he puts up tt Got. There is no exception to
the rule. Show me a Christian man who
neglects this kind of duty, and | will show
you one who is Inconsistent. Show me a
man who pr!ys, and his strength and his
power cannot be exaggerated. Why, just
give to a man This power of payer and you
give him almost omnipotence.
This afternoon you will see two Sabbath
school teachers That one does not gain the
attention of her class. This one does. What
is the difference between them, their intel
lects being about equal. The first thought
on!y of her own apparel. The other came
from great prostration before God in earnest
application, asking that Gods mercy might
come unou the school and that in the after,
noon she might gain the attertion of those
five or six tumortals that would he around
ha- Tina ana Tgaah1- hos ~ 4AnFrrl ~.
her class. The other sits as with the strength
of the Lord Col Almighty
Another word OF counsel | have to give
Be careful in Bib'e research. A great many
good tooSs are now coming out, We cae.
not read halt Of them. AT every revolution
of the printing press they are coming. They
cover our parlor tables. aud are in our sit
ting rooms ami l~inraries. Glorious books
they are, We thank God every day for the
work of the Christian printing press. But 1
have thought tnat perhaps the followers of
Christ sometimes allow this religious litera-
tore to take their attention from Gods
Word, and that there NAV not be as much
BitP reading as there ought to be
n is that with your own experience
just calculate in your minds how much re
iigious literature you have read during the
year and then how urge a portion OF the
Word of God you have read, and then CON
trast the two and answer within your own
soul whether you are giving more attention
to the books that were written by the hani
of man or that written by the hand OF Cod.
Now, you 20 to the drug store and you get
the mineral waters, but You have noticed
that the waters are not SO fresh or spark
ling or healthiul as when YOU get these very
waters at Saratoga and Sharon-getting
them right where they bubble from the
rock.
And l have noticed the same thing in re-
gard to the truth of the Gospel; while thero
Is a good deal OF refreshmeLr aud health of
the Gospel of God as it comes through gool
books, | find it is better when l come to the
eternal rock OF Gods Word an drink forth
that fountain that bubbles up fresh and
pure to the lie and the reireshment and tue
health of the SOU.
Read the Bible and it brings you into tho
association of the best people that ever livei.
You stand beside Moses aud learn mis- meek
ness, beside Job and learn his patience, be-
side Paul and catch something of his enthus-
iasm, beside Christ and you lesl His love.
AMI yet how stran ge it is that a great many
men have given their whole lives to the as
saulJing OF that book. | cannot understand
it. Tom Paine worked against that book us
though he received large wages and was in
splred by the very power of darkness, con-
Tossing that all the tune he was writing ho
did not have the Bible anywhere near hinl-
How many powerful inte,lects have endeav-
ored to destroy it, Hume, Bolingoroke,
' ttfh "hAVA ~ { AZ
men now are warning against the truth of
Gods Word What do you think of thelnf
l think it is mean and will prove it. l will
prove it is the meanest thing that has ever
been done in all the centuries.
There is a ship at sea and in trouble. The
captain and the crew are at their wits end.
You are on board. You are an old seaman.
You come up and give some good counsel,
which is kinily taken. That is all rIgnt.
But suppose, instead OF doing that, in the
| midst OF all the trouble, you pick up the only
compass that IS on board and pitch it over
the tatfrail2 Oh, you say, thar is dastarily.
But is it as mean as this? Here Is the vessel
OF the world going on with sixteen hundred
millions OF passengers, tossed and driven IN
tine tempest, and at the time We want help
the infdel comes and he takes hold of the
only compass and he tries to pitch it over
board. 1t is contemplate beyond everything
i that is contemplate. Have you any better
lightf Bring 1t on it you have. Have you
any better comfort to give usf Bring it on
il you have. Have you any better hope?
BRING it on if YOU have, and then you may
have this Bible and l snail never want 1t
again.
But | can think Of a meaner thing than
thar, and thai is an old mau going along on
the mountains with a staff in one hand and
a lantern in the other, Darkness has come
on suddenly, He is very old, just able to
| pick his way out amid the rocks and prect-
pices leaning on his staff with one hand and
| guiding himself with the light in the other.
You c5me M and say: Father, You seem TO
be lost. You are a iOng way from home"
YES" he replies And then you take him
I by the hand and lead him nome. That is
very kim of you. But suppose instead oil
thai you should snatch the staff from his
| hands and hurl it over the rocks. ana snatch
| the lantern and blow it out? That would be
dastardIy. contemplate until there is no
depth OF contempt beneath It. II you nave
a better staff, give it to him. Ii you nave a
better light, give it to hlm,
|. When God has nut the staff of the Gospel
in our hands and the lamp OF Gol's Word 10
light our feet. are you going TO take from Us
our only support and our only illumination
l love the sting of the wasp and Inc rattle-
snake better than | do the man VINO wants
to clutch the Word of God from my grasp;
Cling to your Bible II this Bible should
be DESTROYED, if all the Bibles that nave ever
been printed should be destroyed We coula
make up a Bible right out OF lh's aua!ehce.
From that Christian mans experience l take
one cluster of promises, ant ron t13J o'u
Christian mans experience another. l put
them all together, and thinS wou'H nave
You sFe, my H1CnGs. ! save re- tried 4
hid the fact that | have largo expectation
OF you who have entered the Christian life.
Do not be discouraged, Press IN toward
ttlN iTlZ's bDh bteloF ADi dl'A iFi''t ''lbit
you. Keep your courage ur. Look in thirty
years from no " upon this cnurCh. Another
man in the pulpit. Other faces in the pews
Another man leaiinG the song. Others
carrying around the aims boxes OF the
church. All changed. Thirty years have
gone and | look into the faces Of the people,
and / say: ''Why, it seems 10 me l have
Seen the5~ people somewhere, but ! cannot
exactly say where. Oh, yes, now | begin to
think Thesa were the converts in lS5@ and
1890. Why, now you have changelP
''Oh, yes they say, "of course we have
changed. Thirty years makes a great
change. / say "How many wrinkles there
are in your facesf' ''Oa, yes" they say,
thirty years make a great many wrinkles
Have you kept the iaitrg' Yes, we have
kept the faith . ''Whers are those people
| who used to sit in the pew with youf' "All
gonsT' ''Then l say, well | feel lonely;
come, let us sing one of the Old hymns We
used to sing thirty years ago, in ls93, on
: communion day. Any OF you know the old
tune? Some one hum it. Yes, that's it.