Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-12-10
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would send people in great excitement
up and down our streets, that at mid
night men would knock at your door,
asking how they may get those treas
ures. Instead of that many of us put
our hands behind our back and walk up
and down in front Of the mine Of eter-
nal riches and say, "Well, if am TO
be saved I will be saved, and if l am to
be lost / will be lost, and there is moth
ing to do about it. "
Why, my brother, do you not do that
way in business matters? Why do you
not tomorrow go to your store and sit
down and fold your arms and say, "If
these goods are to be sold, they will be
sold, and if they are not to be sold they
will not be sold; there is nothing for
me to do about il. " No, you dispatch
your agents, you print your advertise
ments, you adorn your show windows,
you push those goods, you use the in
strumentality. Oh, that men were as
wise in the matter Of the soul as they
are wise in the matter Of dollars and
cents
Not One Conscript.
This doctrine of Gods sovereignty,
how it is misquoted and spoken Of as
though it were an iron chain which
bound us hand and foot for time and
for eternity, when, so far from that in
every fiber Of your body, in every facul-
ty of your mind, in every passion Of
your soul, you are free mana free
man-and it will no more tomorrow be
a matter of choice whether you shall go
TO business through Pennsylvania ave-
nue. or some other street, it will be no
more matter of choice with you to-
morrow whether you shall go to Phila-
delphia or New York or stay at home,
than it is this hour matter Of free
choice whether you will accept Christ
or reject him
In all the army Of banners there is
not one conscript. Men are not to be
dragooned into heaven. Among all the
tens Of thousands Of the Lords soldiery
there is not one man but will tell you:
II chose Christi wanted him. de-
sired to be in his service. l am not a
conscript-I am volunteer. oh, that
men had the same common sense in the
matters Of religion that they have in
the matters Of the world, the same con-
centration, the same push, the same en-
thusiasm-in the one case a secular en-
thusiasm, in the other a consecrated
enthusiasm
Again, l remark we want more COM
mon sense in the building up and en-
larging Of our Christian character.
There are men who have for 40 years
been running the Christian race, and
they have not run quarter Of mile.
No business man would be willing TO
have his investments unaccumulative.
If you invest a dollar, you expect that
dollar to come home bringing another
dollar on its back. What would you
think of a man who should invest Sl0,-
900 in q monetary institution, then go
off for five years, make no inquiry in re-
gard to the investment, then come back,
step up to the cashier Of the institution
and say, "Have you kept that $40, 600
safely that l lodged with your" but ask
ing no question about interest or about
dividend? Why, you say, "That is no
common sense" Neither is it, but that
is the way we act in matters Of the soul.
We make far more important invest
ment than $40, 600. We invest our soul.
Is it accumulatiyeG Are we growing in
grace? Are we getting better? Are we
getting worse? God declares many divi-
dends, but we do not collect them; we
do not ask about them; we do not want
them. Oh, that in this matter OF ac-
cumulation we were as wise in the mat
ters of the soul as we are in the matters
Of the world
The Purpose Of the Bible.
How little common sense In the read
ing of the Scriptures We get any other
book, and we open it, and we say;
"Now, what does this book mean to
teach me? 1t is a book on astronomy; it
will teach me astronomy. 1t is book
on political economy; it will teach me
political economy" Taking up this BIZ
BILE, do we ask ourselves what 1t means
10 teach? IL means 10 do just one thing
get the world converted and get Us all
10 heaven. That is what it proposes to
do. But instead Of that we go into the
Rible as botanists to pick flowers, or
we 90 as pugilists to get something TO
fight other Christians with, or we go
as logicians trying to sharpen our men
tai faculties for better argument, and
we do not like this about the Bible, ana
we do not like that, and we do not ike
the other thing. What would you think
Of a man lost on the mountains2 Night
has come down, he cannot find his way
home, and he sees a light in noun
tain cabin. He goes to it. He knocks at
the door. The mountaineer comes OUT
and finds the traveller and says: well.
here have a lantern. You can take 1t
and It will guide you on the way
home" And suppose that traveller
should say: II don't like that lantern. L
don't like the handle Of it. There are
10 or is things about it / don't like
II YOU can't give me better lantern
than that won't have anyF'
Now, God says this Bible is to be q
lamp TO our feet and lantern to our
path, to guide us through the midnight
Of this world 10 the gates OF the ceies-
tial city. We stop and say we do not
like this about it, and we do not like
that and we do not like the other thing.
Oh. how much wiser we would be II by
its holy light we found our way TO our
everlasting homel Then we do not read
the Bible as we read other books. We
read it perhaps four or five minutes Just
before we retire at night We are weary
and sleepy, so somnolent we hardly
know which end Of the book is up. We
drop our eye perhaps on the story OF
Samson and the foxes, or upon some
genealogical table, important in its
place, but stirring no more religious
emotion than the announcement that
somebody begat somebody else. and ne
begat somebody else instead OF open
ing the book and saying, "Now must