The Monitor-register., 1897-12-10

s~trumentality. 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 faoul-
ty of your mind, in every passion of
your soul, you are a free mana free
mainland 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 a 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 a matter of free
choice whether you will accept Christ
or reject him!
In all the army of banners there is
not DIG conscript. Men are not to be
~dragooned into heaven. Among all the
tens of thousands of the Lords soldiery
lu6I6 Is uOb Ou6 ludA Uub WILL J6ll yOu.
! ST chose Christi wanted him. I de-
sired to be in his service. I am not a
conscript| am a volunteer" Oh, that
men had the same common sense in the
matters of religion that they have in
the matters of the world, the sanIe con-
centration, the same push, the same en-
thusiasm-in the one case a secular en-
thusiasm, in the other a consecrated
enthusiasm
Again, I 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 tie Christian race, and
they have not run a quarter Of a 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 $10,-
900 in a monetary institution, hen 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, 900
safely that I lodged with your" but ask
ing no question about interest or about
dividend? Why, you say, "That is 40
common sense" Neither is it, but that
is the way we act in matters of the soul.
We make a far more important invest
ment than $40, 600. We invest our soul.
Is it accumulative? 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 &C.
emulation we were as wise in the mat
tiers 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:
Nov, what does this book mean to
teach me? 1t is a book on astronomy; it
will teach me astronomy. 1t is a book
on political economy; it will teach me
political economy" Taking up this BIZ
BILE, do we ask ourselves what it means
to teach? 1t means to do just n thing
get the world converted and get US all
to heaven. That is what it proposes to
do. But instead of that we go into the
Bible as botanists to pick flowers, or
we go as pugilists to get something to
| fight other Christians with, or we go
as logicians trying to sharpen u men
tai faculties for a better argument, and
we do not like this about the Bible, and
we do not like that, and we do not like
the other thing. What would you think
of a man lost on the mountains? Night
has come down, he cannot find his way
home, and he sees a light in a noun
tain cabin. He goes to it. He knocks at
the door. The mountaineer comes out
and finds the traveller and says: "Well,
here l have a lantern. You can take it
and it will guide you on the way
home" And suppose that traveller
should say "Idon't like that lantern. l
don't like the handle of it. There are
10 or 10 things about it l don't like.
If you can't give me a better lantern
than that 1 won't have any?'
Now, God says this Bible is to be a
lamp to our feet and a lantern to our
path, to guide us through the midnight
of this world to the gates of the celes-
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 if by
it's holy light we found our way to our
everlasting home! 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 u 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 he
begat somebody else, instead Of open
ing the book and saying, "Now I must
read for my immortal life; my eternity
is involved in this book"
Common Sense In Prayer.
How little we use common sense in
| prayer! We say, so Lord, give me
this, and 80 Lord, give me that, and
go Lord, give me something else," and
We do not expect to get it, or, getting
it, we do not know we have it. We
have no anxiety about it. We do not
watch and wait for it's coming. AS a
merchant you telegraph or you write to
some other city for a bill of goods. You
say, "Send me by such express or by
such a steamer or by such a rail train"
The day arrives. You send your wagon
to the depot Or to the wharf. The goods
do not come. You Immediately tele-
graph: "What is the matter with those
goods? We haven received them. Send
them right away. We want them now,
or we don't want them at ALL" And
you keep writing, and you keep tele-