Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-02-03

where are you going to spend your
evenings? Let me tell you, while
there are many places of innocent
worldly amusement, IL is most wise
for you to throw your body, mind and
soul into Christian society. Come TO
me at the close of five years and tell
me what has been the result of this
advice. Bring with you the young
man who refused to take the advice,
and who went into sinful amusement
He will come dissipated, shabby in
apparel, indisposed to look any one IN
the eyes, moral character eighty per
cent off. You will come with principle
settled, countenance frank, habits
good, soul saved, and all the inhabit-
ants of heaven, from the lowest angel
up to the arch-angel and clear past
them to the Lord God Almighty, your
conductors
This is not the advice of nissan
thrope. There is no man in the house
to whom the world is brighter than 1T
is to me. 1t is not the advice of dys-
peptic-my digestion is perfect; 1t is
not the advice of a man who cannot
understand u joke, or who prefers
funeral; it is not the advice ola worm
out man, but the advice of a man who
cansee this world in all its brightness;
and considering myself competent in
judging what is good cheer, tell the
multitudes OF young men in this house
this morning that there is nothing in
worldly association so grand and so
beautiful and so exhilarant as in
Christian society.
know there is good deal of talk
about the self-denials of the Christian.
have to tell you that where the Chris
tian has one self-denial the man of The
world has thousand self-denials.
The Christian is not commanded to
surrender anything that is worth keep
ing But what does man deny him
self who denies himself the religion of
Christ? He denies himself pardon for
sin; he denies himself peace of con-
science; he denies himself the JOY of the
Holy Ghost; be denies himself COM
Portable death pillow; he denies him
self the glories of heaven. Do not
talk to me about the self-denials OF the
Christian life Where there is one in
the Christian life there are thousand
IL the life of the world. ''IIer ways
are ways of pleasantness."
Again: / find great deal of re-
ligious sunshine in Christian and divine
explanation. To great many people
life is an ineXplicable tangle. Things
turn out differently from what was
| supposed. There is useless woman
in perfect health. There is an in
dustrious and consecrated woman n
complete invalid Explain that There
is bad man with $50, 900 of income.
There is good man with $500 of in
come. Why is that? There is foe of
coaiafv nh, 1fxvac HAinO oil the
damage he can. to rs years of age; and
here is a Christian father, faithful in
every department of life, at 35 years of
age, taken away by death, his family
left helpless, Explain that Oh!
there is no sentence that oftener d-o rs
from your lips than this: II cam ::
understand it"
Well, now religion comes in just at
that point with its illumination and
its explanation. There is a business
man who has lost his entire fortune.
The week before he lost his fortune
there were twenty carriages that
! stopped at the door of his mansion.
The week after he lost his fortune all
the carriages you could count on one
finger. The week before financial
trouble began people all took off their
hats to him as he passed down the
street. The week his financial pros
poets were under discussion, people
Just touched their hats without any
wise bending the rim. The week he
was pronounced insolvent, people just
| joited their heads as they passed, not
| tipping their hats at all; and the week
the sheriff sold him out all his friends
were looking in the store windows as
| they went down past him,
Now, while the world goes away
from a man when he is in financial
distress, the religion of Christ comes
to him and says, "You are sick, and
your sickness is to be moral purifca-
ton; you are bereavcd: God wanted
in some way to take your family to
heaven, and he must begin somewhere,
and SO he took the one that was most
beautiful and was most ready to CO."
do not say that religion explains
everything in this life, but
do say it lays down certain
principles which are grandly con-
solatory. You know business
men often telegraph in ciphers. The
merchant in San Francisco telegraphs
to the merchant in New York certain
information in ciphers which no other
man in that line of business can under
stand; but the merchant in San Fran
cisco has the key TO the cipher, and the
merchant in New York has the key to
the cipher, and on that information
transmitted there are enterprises in
volving hundreds of thousands of dol
lars. Now the providences of life
sometimes seem to be senseless rig
marole. a mysterious cipher; but God
has key to that cipher, and the Chris
tan key to that cipher, and though
! he may hardly be able to spell out the
meaning, he gets enough of the mean
ng to understand that it is for the
best. Now is there not sunshine in
that? Is there not pleasure in that?
Far beyond laughter, it is nearer the
foundation of tears than boisterous
demonstration. Have You ever cried
for joy? There are tears which are
eternal rapture in distillation.
There are hundreds of people in
this house who are walking day by day
in the sublime satisfaction that all is
for the best, all things working to-
| gether for good for their soul How a
man can get along through this life
without the explanation is to me a
mystery What! is that child gone
forever? Are you never to get it back?