The Newtown bee., 1892-05-13
THE SECULAR PULPIT.
The Sermon


 The Sermon
 The sermon, to-day, beloved, is the parable of Adam Ezra In ancient days, there dwelt in the fair plain of Sharon a noble chief, Ben Solon. To him, God had given one son, fair of form and noble of heart. Ben Solon trained his son in all the ways of wisdom. AS child, he was taught the secrets of the heavens and the language of the stars; his body was hardened to toll and he learned how to gain fruit from the fields and to win golden harvests from the level plains. But, in process of time, Adam Ezra came to mans estate. His father gave him q worthy portion of fields and vineyards and bade him seek home, a household for himself. But, about this time, a grievous distemper visited Adam Ezra. His mind became disturbed. He mocked at God, laid all the circumstances of his life to chance, ceased to till his fields. When his sire reasoned with him, he an- swered that the world owed him living and he was not minded to weary his body WiGII tOlI III fdID Auu SO LuC cdTly TdiIS fell upon his fields unsown and the latter came down upon the harvest of weeds. The vineyard, also left untrained and at the mercy of the foxes, was smitten with mildew and ravaged by beasts and bear him no clusters. When the harvest time came, Adam Ezra awoke as from a dream. He called for Ben Solon, his father and said, "Oh my father, how far have l wandered from thine instructions and thy example. Thou didst teach me the ripe grapes, one must care for the tender vines. But I, like the fool, have mocked at God, forgotten thy teachings and lived as one who had neither soul nor future. Forgive me, o my father and may the Most High also forgive my folly.' Then Ben Solon made answer, ''Son of my love, thou art forgiven. But know that thy action in these past months is but as the action of many men for all their lives. They mock at God, who gives them life. They seek not to reap harvests for heaven, though they think by some chance to enter therein to find full garner. They live in selfish ness and grovel in lust, they yield to pas sion and are angry with their fellows without cause. Yet they expect to enter the heavenly city where are only the pure and holy. Great is their folly, my son, and thy year of distemper may well teach them to reverence God and SOW the seed of good deeds for the harvest of Heaven" Then Adam Ezra bowed his head and was silent, and he gave thanks unto his Maker, who had restored to him his soundness of mind respecting these things.
 The Lord knoweth the way of the righteous.-[ Psalmist.
 What the world calls chance the Christ ian calls providence.
 Where the skeptic fears, the child of God trusts.
 Better have a little knowledge and much peace than to have a great deal of knowledge and no peace.
 He only is truly rich who is the mas ter and not the slave of his money.
 A blue bird brings more joy to mems hearts than crow. So an humble life may bless the world more than a famous one.
 It is not only better to be right than to be president, but it is also better to be right than to gain world by fraud [Karl Hugh.
 The worst evils are those that never arrive.
 The secret of happiness is never to allow your energies to tagnate.-[ Adam Clark.
 The devil tries his best to keep even with the missionary by sending a big lot of whisky on the same boat.
 It is probably easier for God to stop the sun than it is to stop the man. who has been all his life travelling in one way. Were there not forgiveness with God there would have been no commandment to repent.
 You may depend upon it that he is good man whose intimate friends are all good Lavater.
 The Lord tells us to carry our cross and cast our care, but we often try to cast our cross and carry our care.
 
 Dark seasons are never pleasant to us, but are always good for us. Acloudless sky could never produce good harvest. -[ Jackson.
 In all the interpretations of Scripture, the literal sense is to be presumed and chosen unless there be evident cause to the contrary.-L Bishop Jeremy Taylor. As burning candles give light until they are consumed, so godiy Christians must be occupied in doing good as long as they live.[Cawdray.
 The more men of different churches get near to Christ, the more they forget their sectarian differences, and see eye