The Monitor-register., 1897-12-10

brain alert. Where there is also const1pa-
| ton DR., Pierce,s Pleasant Pellets should be
used. Both of these great medicines are
for sale by all medicine dealers.
is it? They do not exercise the same
tact, the same ingenuity, the same STRAIT
agem, the same common sense in the
work of Christ that they do in worldly
things; otherwise they would succeed
in this direction as we'll as they succeed
in the other. There are many men who
have an arrogant way with them, al
though they may not feel arrogant in
their soul, or they have a patronizing
way. They talk to a man of the world
in a which seems to say: "Don't
you wish you were as good as / am?
Why, 1 have to look clear down before /
can see you, you are SO far beneath me. "
That manner always disgusts, always
drives men away fromsthe kingdom of
Jesus Christ instead of bringing them in.
Working Naturally For the Gospel.
When I was a lad, 7 was one day in
a village store, and there was q large
group OF young men there full of rollick-
ing and fun, and a Christian man came
in, a very good Christian man, and
without any introduction of the subject
and while they were in great hilarity
said to one of them, George, what is
the firststep of wisdom?" George look
ed up and said, every man to mind
his own business" Well, it was a very
rough answer, but it was provoked. Re-
ligion had been hurled in there as
though it were a bombshell. We must
be natural in the presentation of religion
to the world. Do you suppose that
Mary in her conversations with Christ
lost her simplicity or that Paul, thun-
dering from Mars hill, took the pulpit
tone? Why is it people cannot talk as
naturally in prayer meetings and ON re-
ligious subjects as they do in worldly
circles? For no one ever succeeds in any
kind of Christian work unless he works
naturally. We want to initiate the Lord
Jesus Christ, who plucked a poem from
the grass of the field. We all want to
initiate him who talked with farmers
about the man who went forth to SOW
and talked with the fishermen about
the drawn net that brought in fish of
all sorts, and talked with the vine
dresser about the idler in the vine-
yard, and talked with those newly af1-
anced about the marriage supper, and
talked with the man cramped in money
matters about the two debtors, and talk
ed with the woman about the yeast that
leavened the whole lump, and talked
with the shephsfd-aboutythesl lost Sheep.
Oh,.@e. might gather even the stars
of the sky and twist them like forget
menots in the garland of jesus! We
must bring everything to him-the
wealth of language, the tenderness of
sentiment, the delicacy of morning dew,
the saffron of floating cloud, the tangled
surf OF the tossing sea, the bursting
thunder guns of the storms lombard
ment. Yes, every star must point down
to him, every heliotrope must breathe
his praise, every drop in the summer
shower must flash his glory, all the tree
branches of the forest must thrum their
music in the grand march which shall
celebrate a world redeemed.
Now, all this being So, what is the
common sense thing for you and for me
to do? What we do, | think, will depend
upon three facts-three great facts:
The Only sure Time.
The first fact, that sin has ruined us.
1t has blasted body, mind and soul. We
want no Bible to prove that we are sin
ners. Any man who is not willing to
acknowledge himself an imperfect and
a sinful being is simply a fool and not
to be argued with. We all feel that sin
has ~disorganized our entire nature.
That is one fact. Another fact is that
to revise, to correct, to redeem. That is
a second fact. The third fact is that the
only time we are sure Christ will par
don US is the present. Now, what is the
common sense thing for us to do in view
of these three facts? You will all agree
with me to quit sin, take Christ, and
take him now
Suppose some business man in whose
skill you had perfect confidence should
tell you that tomorrow, Monday morn
ing, between IL and 10 O'Clock, you
could by a certain financial transaction
make SIS, 900, but that on Tuesday per-
haps you might make it, but there
would not be any p~ositiveness about it,
and on Wednesday there would not be
so much, and Thursday less, Friday
less, and SO on less and less-when
| would you attend to the matter? Why,
| your common sense would dictate,
Immediately I will attend to that mat
ter, between IL and ~ o'clock tomor-
row, Monday morning, for then I can
surely accomplish it, but on Tuesday I
may not, and on Wednesday there is less
to it tomorrow" Now, let us bring our
common sense in this matter of religion.
Here are the hopes of the gospel. We
may get them now. Tomorrow we may
get them and we may not. Next day we
may and we may not, the prospect less
and less and less and less, the only
sure time now-now. I would not talk
to you in this way if I did not know
that Christ was able to save all the PEG.
pie. I would not go into a hospital and
tear off the bandages from the wounds
if I had no balm to apply. I would not
have the face to tell a man he is a sin
ner unless l had at the same time the
authority for saying he may be saved.
The Divine Raphael.
Suppose in Venice there lisa Raphael,
a faded picture, great in its time, bear
ing some marks of its greatness. History
describes that picture. 1t is nearly faded
away. You say, ooh, what a pity that
SO wonderful a picture by Raphael
should be nearly defacedl' After
awhile a man comes up, very unskillful
in art, and he proposes to retouch it.
You say "Stand off. / would rather
have it just as it is. You will only make
it worse" After awhile there comes an
artist who was the equal of Raphael.
He says, 81 will retouch that picture
and bring out all it's original power. ;
You have full confidence in his ability.
He touches it here and there. Feature
after feature comes forth, and when he
is done with the picture it is complete
in all its original power.
Now, God impresses his image on oul
race, but that image has been defaced
for hundreds and for thousands of years,
getting fainter and fainter. Here comes
up a divine Raphael shall call him
divine Raphael. He says, II cap restore
that picture. He has all power in heag-
| en- and on earth. He is the equal o4