The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1895-05-08

thou canst not lie Thou hast told me
to come for pardon and ] could get it:
[ come, Lord. Keep thy promise and
liberate my captive soul
Oh, that you might have an altar in
the parlor. in the kitchen. in the store.
in the barn, for Christ will be willing
to come again to the manger to hear
prayer He would come to your place
of business, as he confronted Matthew,
the tax commissioner. If measure
should come before congress that you
thought would ruin the nation. how
you would send in petitions and re-
monstrances And yet there has been
enough sin in your heart to ruin it
forever, and you have never remon-
strated or petitioned against it. If
your physical health failed, and you
had the means. you would 60 and
spend the summer in Germanr and the
winter in Italy, and you would think
it very cheap outlay if you had to go
all round the earth to get back your
physical health Have yoa made any
effort, any expenditure, any cxertion,
for YOUR immortal and spiritual health
Oh, that you might now begin to
seek after God with earnest prayer
Some of you have been working for
years and years for the support of your
families. Have you given one-half
day to the working out of your saliva
ton with fear and trembling? You
came here with an earnest purpose, l
take it, as I have come hither with an
earnest purpose, and we meet face to
face, and / tell you, first Of all, if you
want to find the Lord you must pray
and pray.
remark again you must seek the
Lord through Bible study. The Bible
is the newest bookin the world. "Oh,"
YOU say, 1T was made hundreds of
years ago, and the learned men of
King James translated it hundreds of
wears ago." l confute that idea by
telling you it is not five minutes old,
when God, by his spirit, retranslates
it into the heart. If you will, in the
seeking of the way of life through
Scripture study, implore Gods light to
fall upon the page. you will find that
these promises are not one second old,
and that they drop straight from the
throne of God into your heart.
There are many people to whom the
Bible does not amount to much. Ii
they merely look at the outside beau
ty. why, it will no more lead them to
Christ than Washington'sfarewel ad-
dress or the Koran of Mohammed Or
the Shaster of the Hindoos. It is the
inward light of Gods word you must
get. l went up to the Church of the
Madeleine, in Paris, and looked at the
doors, which are the most wonderful-
lv constructed | ever saw, and could
have staid there for whole week, but
l had only little time; so, having
glanced at the wonderful carving on
| the doors, l passed in and looked al
the radiant altars and the sculptured
dome Alas, that so many stop at the
outside door of Gods holy word, look.
ing at the rhetorical beauties, instead
of goingin and looking at the altars Of
sacrifice and the dome OF Gods mercy
and salvation that hovers over peni
tent and beliving souls.
Oh, my friends, if you merel y want
to study the laws of language, do not
90 to the Bible. 1t was not made fo1
that. Take 'Howe's Elements of Crit
cism :" it will be better than the Bible
for that. If you want to study meta
physics, better than the Bible will be
the writings of William Hamilton
But if you want to know how to have
sin pardoned and at last to gain the
blessedness of heaven search the Scrip
lures, 'for in them ye have eterna
life
When people are anxious about then
souls, there are those who recommend
good books. That is all right. But
want to tell you that the Bible is the
best book under such circumstances
Baxter wrote "a Call to the Uncon
verted," but the Bible is the best cal
to the unconverted. Philip Doddridge
wrote THE Rise and Progress of Relig
ion In the Soul" but the Bible is the
best raise and progress. John Angel
James wrote Advice to the Anxious
Inquirer, but the Bible is the best ad
vice to the anxious inquirer.
Oh the Bible is the very book yor
need, anxious and inquiring soul. 4
dying soldier said to his mate, "Com
rade, give me drop" The comradf
shook up the canteen and said, There
isn't a drop of water in the canteen.
ooh " said the diving soldier. that:
not what want; feel in my knapsacl
! for my Bible" and his comrade foune
the Bible and read him few of the
gracious promises, and the dying sol
der said: "Ah, that's what 1 want
There isn't anything like the Bible fol
a dying soldier, is sthere, nay comrade?'
Oh. blessed book, while we live
Blessed book when we die.
I remark again we must seek Coo
through church ordinances. What,
say YOU, cant man be saved with
ont going to church2" I reply, there
are men. I suppose, in glory who have
never seen church, but the church Il
the ordained means which we are to be
brought to God, and if truth affects u:
when we are alone it affects us more
nightly when we are in the assembly
the feelings of other emphasizing oul
own feelings The great law of sym
pathy comes into play, and a truth
that would take hold only with the
grasp of sick man beats nightly
against the soul with thousand hear
throbs.
When you come into the religion:
circle, come only with one notion and
only for one purpose-to find the way
to Christ. When I see people critlca
about sermons, and critical about
tones of voice, and critical about ser
monic delivery, they make me think
of man in prison. He is condemned
to death, but an officer of the govern
ment brings pardon and puts it
through the the wicket of the prison
and says: Here is your pardon
| Cor,a ond crat # - s.What' Do Vol