The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-10-23
HOPE AND HE'LL.
The Extremes Of Religious Teaching
Which Do You Prefer?-"A Core
spondence Fixed With Heaven Is
Sure a Noble Anchor"
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
"A Better Hope" is our theme. The
text is Heb. 6;19, switch hope we have
as an anchor OF the soul"
Ia Burns "Cotter's Saturday Night
we find a charming picture OF family
prayers in a Scottish household.
s"rhen, knee ling down, 10 heavens eternal king,
Thesaint, th Q father and the hnsband Prays."
and as a result OF the atmosphere OF
the atmosphere of faith and devotion in
that home,
slope springs exulting on triumphant wing"
In any hour and in any heart where
Gods truth 10 earnestly sought and cor
daily welcomed there may be the same
hope which animated the hearts OF the
Scottish farmer and his family. Three
thoughts deserve special mention.
/. The need OF such q bracing, whole
some hope. () People are unsatisfied
and dissatisfied. A healthy soul finds
the gains, ambitions, pleasures OF this
world Stat, stale and Improbable" In
a way and to a certain extent they are
legitimate and right but are incapable
OF satisfying the cravings of mans inn
mortal, heaven-born spirit. So many Of
the hopes and ambitions of men while
they may be good SO far as they go, yet
looked at from the viewpoint OF God
are unworthy those whom the creator
made 10 his image. (2) Then again We
hear the vail Of sorrow and feel the
pangs of bereavement. HE whom thou
lowest is dead" There are sad separa.
tions here. There must be happy un.
ions somewhere. Such is the craving
and the reasoning of the orphaned heart
(3) Sin weighs heavily upon the chariot
wheels OF mans progress. Like q cloud
it hides from us the face of God. II
mars the divine image in man. Sin Grip
pies our energies, darkens our intellect
corrupts our affections. There must be
an ~atonement, a remedy, ahope.
2. And "there is q good hope through
grace" a hope that is las an anchor u
the soul sure and steadfast." Ciarenct
in "King Richard Third" dreams: n "
"My dream was heightened after life
Oh then began the empest TO my soul!
passed methought the melancholy food,
With that grim ferryman whom poets write o
Into the kingdom Vt perpetual night"
But no need to the believer in Jesus o
such an experience as that OF Clarence
Listen to David:
.Yea, though I walk through deaths dark vale
Yet will | Fear no Ill,
For thou art with me and thy rod
And staff me conifort STILL
In Jesus u "better hope" sin find
an atonement, a pardon, the weary
storm-tossed soul a haven OF rest, ever,
true man and woman an example wor
thy of their imitation. "He that hatl
this hope in him puritieth himself evel
as He is pure"
3. Who may have this hope? Tn
"heirs of the promise" Not the Inca
descendants of Abraham. .'for he is no
a Jew who is one outwardly = = Blu
he is a Jew which is one inwardly, an
circumcision is that of the heart."-Ron
III.
All, then, who exercise the faith an
obedience OF Abraham may be heir
with him of this blessed hope. Let u
then flee for refuge to the hope set be
fore us. And remember that, as Cow
per says: s"
Throughout mankind, the Christian kind q
least,
The re awells a consciousness in every breast
Tina folly ends where genuine hope begins
Aud he that finds his heaven
Must lose his sins
NJ. e. CHURCH.
Evening sermon: The Gospel O
Hades Luke, l6;l9-3l.
This familiar story of Dives and Laza
rus, is sometimes called a parable, bu
the scriptures do not publicly so declare
Whether a parable or actual history,
is just as important for the purposes 70
which it was uttered. 1t represents tw
lives, characters, deaths, and then lift
the vail and furnishes US a glimpse G
their post mortem existence and exper
ences. There are three important lef
sons for us here.
/. Man is two-lived, immorta
Whether rich man or beggar, saint c
sinner. This is both an awful and glor
GUS thought. Immortality does ne
necessarily imply eternal life. With {
without the former, we must live 70
ever. There is no evading it. Annihil;
ton is absurd. Immortality is not il
credible. Nature demonstrates its po
sib lily, by a larger lie through dealt
Instinct awakens in us wonder, hope {
fear concerning it. The scriptures al
positive, in prophesy and promise.
this lesson we are permitted to look in,
the realm of the dead, and behold the
still living. The relation of this life
the next is plainly taught here, ais
Dives erred in living only for one lii