Milford chronicle., 1895-05-03

ledllu litleus anu you Aiiu tlb MEANS YOU
!. would go and spend the summer in Ger
r many and the winter in Italy, and yoI
would think it q very cheap outlay If yoI
had to go all round the earth to get bacl
your physical health. Have you made AM
effort, any expenditure, any exertion, fol
your immortal and spiritual health?
Oh, that you might now begin TO seei
after God with earnest prayer Some o.
! you have been working for years and years
for the supH It Of your families Have you
given one-hilf day to tho working out Of
your salvation with fear and tremblingi
You came hero with an earnest purpose, J
take it, as I have como hither with an
earnest purpose, and we meet face to face,
and tell you; first Of all, If you want Ia
find the Lord you must pray and pray
I and pray.
1 remark again you must seek the Lord
through Bible study. The Bible is the
newest book in the world. ooh" you say,
ait was made hundreds Of years ago, and
tho learned men of King James translated
It hundreds Of years ago" 1 confute that
idea by telling you it is not five minutes
old, when Cod by his blessed spirit re-
translates it into tho heart. If you will
in the seeking Of tho way of life through
Scripture study, implore Gods light to fail
upon the Page, you will find that these
promises are not one second old, and that
they drop straight from the throne of God
lntoyour heart.
There arc many people to whom the
Biblo does not amount to much. If they
merely look at the outside beauty, why, it
will no moro lead them to Christ than
Washington's farewell address or the Koran
Of Mohammcd or the Shaster Of the Hin
docs 1t is tho inward light Of Gods word
you must get. l went up to the Church of
tho Madeleine, in Paris, and looked at the
doors, which are the most wonderfully
constructed 1 ever saw, and 1 could have
staid there for a whole week, but I had
only little time; So having glanced at
the wonderful carving on the doors, 1
passed in and looked at the radiant affairs
and the sculptured dome. Alas, that so
many stop at the outside door of Gods
holy word looking at the rhetorical beau
ties, instead Of going in and looking at
the affairs Of sacrifice and the dome Of
Gods mercy and salvation that hOvers over
penitent and believing sOulsl
Oh, my friends, if you merely want to
study the laws of language, do not go to
the Bible. 1t was not made for that. Take
"HOwe's Elements Of Criticism" 1t will
D
want to study metaphysics, better than
the Bible viii be the writings of William
Hamilton But if you want to know how
to have sin pardoned and at last to gain
the blessedncss of heaven search the Scrip
lures, "for in them We have eternal life"
j When people arc anxious about their
souls, there arc those who recommend good
books. That is all right. But I want to
tell you that the Bible is the best book un-
der such circumstances. Baxter wrote 81 A
Call to the Unconverted, - but the Bible is
the best call to the uncOnverted. Philip
Doddridge wrote 'The Rise and Progress
of Religion In the Soul" but the Bible is
the best rise and progress. John Angel
James wrote "Advice to the Anxious In
quirer - but the Bible is the best advice
to the anxious inquirer.
Oh, the Bible is the very book you need,
anxious and inquiring soull A dying sol
dier said to his mate, "Comrade, give me
a dropr' Tho comradc shook up the can
teen and said, There isn't drop of water
in the canteen." ooh, said the dying
soldier, "that's not what want; feel in
my Snapsacl for my Bible, " and his COM
rade found the Bible and read him few
of the gracious promises, and the dying
soldier said: "Ah, that's what l want.
dying soldier, is there my comrade?' Oh,
blessed book, while we livel Blessed book
when we diel
Church Ordinances.
I remark again we must seek God
through church ordinances. "What, say
you, "can't a man be saved without going |
to church?' l reply, there are men, sup
pose, in glory who have never seen a !
lint 41,o obrrroI, fc tho fl.f7nfr,oT ]
means by which we are to be brought to |
God, and if truth affects us when we are |
alone it affects us moro nightly when we 1
nre in the assembly, the feelings of others |
emphasizing our own feelings. The great /
law of sympathy comes into play, and q |
truth that would take hold only with the /
grasp Of a sick man beats nightly against |
the soul with a thousand heart throbs.
When you come into the religious circle,
come only with ono notion and only for
ono purpose-to find the way to Christ.
When I see people critical about sermons,
and critical about tones of voice. and crit
ical about sermonic delivery, they make
me think of a man in prison. He is con-
demned to death, but an officer Of the gov
eminent brings a pardon and puts it
through the wicket of the prison and says:
"Here is your pardon. Come and get it,"
"Whatl Do you expect me to take that
pardon offered with such a voice as you
have, with such an awkward manner as
you haveg would rather die than so COM
promise my rhetorical notionsl' All, the
man does not say that; he takes It'll 1t is
his life He does not caro- how 1t is handed
to him. And if today that pardon from
the throne Of God is offered to our souls
should we not seize it, regardless Of all
The Accepted Time.
But come now to the Last part OF my
text. 1t tells us when we are to seek the
Lord while he may be found" When
is that9 Old agef You may not see old
age. Tomorrow You may not see to-
morrow. Tonight You may not see to-
night Now Oh, If 1 could only write
on every heart in three capital letters that
word N-O-W-now
Sin is an awful disease. I hear people
say with toss Of the head and with
trivial manner, ooh, yes, I'm a sinner"
Sin is an awful disease. 1t is leprOsy. 1t
is dropsy. 1t is consumption. 1t Is all
moral disorders in one. Now, you know :,
there is a crisis in a disease. Perhaps you
have had some illustration of it in your
family. Sometimes the physician has
called, and be has looked at the patient
and said: "That case was simple enough,
but the crisis has passed. If you had called !
me yesterday or this morning, could ,
have cured the patient. It is too late now;
the crisis has passed" Just so it is in the
spiritual treatment Of the soul-thore is a
crisis.
There are some here who can remember
in life when, If they had bought ]
D certain property, they would have be- ]
come very rich. A few acres that would ,
have cost them almost nothing were offered
them. They-refused them. Afterward a {
large village or city sprung UP on those !
acres Of ground, and they sec what a mis- 1
take they made in not buying the proper ,
BY. There was an opportunity Of getting Z
Il. 1t never came back again. And so it I
is in regard to mans spiritual and eter- I
nal fortune There is q chance; if you let
that go, perhaps it never comes back. Ger
tainly that one never comes back.
A gentleman told me that at the battle