The Penn's Grove record., 1894-08-03

slate all the past weeks Inconsistencies You
have no more right to take such a mans life
as a specimen Of religion than you have to
take the twisted irons and split tim6srs that
lie on the beach at Coney Island as a spect-
men OF an American ship. 1t is time that we
drew a line between religion AMI the frail-
lies OF those wao profess ".
Again. there may be some OF you who, In
| the attempt after u Christian life, will have
10 run against powerful passions and ap-
| petites. Perhaps 1t is a disposition to ange
! that YOU nave to contend against, n per-
| haps, while In a very serious moot, you
hear of something that makes you feel that
YOU must swear or die. L OIL Cnris-
| liam man who was once so exasperate | that
| he said 10 a mean customer. 81 cannot swear
| at you myself, for I am a member OF the
| church, but II you will go down stairs my
partner in business will swear at you. All
your cool resolutions heretofore have been
iorn 10 tatters by explosions OF temper.
Now, there is no harm in getting mad IL you
! only get mad at sin. You need to bride
and saddle these hot breathed passions. an
with them ride down injustice and wrong:
There are q thousand things In the world
that we ought to be mad at. There Is no
harm in getting redhot II you only briag to
the forge that which needs hammering. A
man who has 40 power OF righteous indig-
nation is an imbecile. But be sure 1t Is a
righteous indignation and not a petulancy
that blurs and unravels and depletes tho
soul.
There Is a large class OF persons in midlife
who have still in them appetites that were
aroused in early manhood, mt a time when
they pridsd themselves on being a little
fast, y ''high livers, " ''iree an | easy" hail
fellows well met" They are now paying in
compound interest Tor troubles they collect.
ell txeuty years ago. Some OF you aretry.
ing 10 escape. ami you will, yet very nar-
rUwiy, "as with the skin OF your teeth"
Col and your own soul only know what the
sttu5gle is. Omnipotent grnco LAS pulled
out many q soul thnt was deeper u tbs
mire than you are. Tney nheIns peaen =
heaven. the multitude whom Col has res
cued from the thrall OF suicidal habits. l
YOU this day turn your back on the wront
and start anew, Col will help you. oh, th'
weakness of human helpt Men VIII sym
pathize for a while and then turn you of.
Ii You ask tor their pardon, they VIII give
It and say they will try you again /; but, fall
tion. thew cast You OF forever. But God
forgives seventy times seven-yea,. seven
hundred times-yen, though this be the ten
thousandth time He is more earnest, more
sympathetic, more helpful this last time than
when you took your first misstep.
II. with all the influences favorable for a
right life, men make SO many mistakes, now
mug0 nhIubE II Is Wuftl. " otfsh 1SHNS
appetite thrusts its iron grapple into the
roots OF the tongue an | pulls o man down
with han ls of destruction II under such
circumstances he break away, there Will be
no sport in the Undertaking, no MONDAY en-
ioyment, but a struggle In which the wres-
Tiers move from side 10 side AMI benz AMI
twist and watch for an opportunity to get In
n heavier stroke until, with ono final effort,
in which the muscles are disten lei, and tho
veins start out, AMI the blood starts. the
swarthy habit falls under the knee OF the
yictor-escaped at last rs with the skin oil his
teeth.
In the last day 1t will be found that Hugh
LatImer and John Knox and Huss and Rid
lev were not the greatest martyrs, but Chris
tian men who went up incorrupt from the
COMMUNICATIONS and perplexities OF Wall
street, Water street, Pearl street, Broad
street, State street. Third street, Lombard
street and the bourse. On earth they were
called brokers or stockholders or retailers or
importers, but in heaven Christian heroes.
No fapots were heaped about their feet, no
inuuisition demanded from them recanta-
ton, no soldier aimed a spike at their heart.
but they had mental tortures, compared
with which all physical consuming is as the
breath OF a spring morning
1 find in the community a large class OF
men who have been SO cheated, SO lied about,
so outrageously wronged that they have lost
faith in everything. Ina world where every
thing seems so topsy turvy they do NOT see
how there can be any God. They are con-
founded and frenzied and misanthropic.
Elaborate argument TO prova to them the
truth of Christianity or thetruth OF anything
else touches them nowhere. Hear me, all
such men l preach TO you no rounded
periods. no ornamental discourse, but l put
my hand on your shoulder and invite you
into the peace OF the gospel. Here is a rock
on which you may stand firm, though the
waves dash against 1t harder han the At
lantic, pitching Its surf clear above Eddy
stone lighthouse. DO not charge upon God
all these roubles OF the world. As long as
the world stuck to God, God stuck TO the
world, but the enrth seeded from His gov
Ell nment, and hence all these outrages and
all these woes. God is good. For many
hundreds of years He has been coaxing the
world 10 come back to Hin, but the more He
has coaxed the more violent have men been
in their resistance, and they have stepped
back and stepped back until they have
dropped into ruin.
Try this God, ye who have had the blood
hounds after YOU, and who have thought
that God had forgotten you. Try Him and
see if He will not help. Try Him and see II
He will not pardon. Try Him and see II he
will not save. The flowers OF spring have
no bloom so sweet asthe Towering Of Christ's
affections. The sun hath no warmth COM
| pared with tho glow OF His heart. The
waters have no refreshment like the foun-
lain that will slake the thirst OF thy soul. Al
the the reindeer stands with his lip
and nostril thrust into the cool mountain tor
rent the hunter may be coming through the
thicket. Without c%rlckling u stick under
his foot he comes close by the stag, aims his
gun draws the trigger, aud the poor thing
rears in its death agony and falls backward,
its antlers crashing on the rocks, but the
painting heart that drinks from the water
brooks OF Gods promise shall never be ia
tally wounded and shall never die.