Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-12-11

you keep writing, and you keep tele-
graphing and keep sending your wagon
to the depot or to the express Office or
to the wharf until you get the goods. In
matters of religion we are not SO wise
as that We ask certain things to be
sent from heaven. We do not know
whether they come or not. We have not
any special anxiety as to whether they
como or not We may get them and may
not get them Instead of at o'clock in
the morning saying, Have got that
blessing" at IL o'clock MONDAY asking,
"Have got that blessing?" at o'clock
i'll the evening saying, "Haye received
that blessine?' and not getting it, plead
ing, pleading, begging, begging, asking,
asking until you get it. Now, my breth-
rem, is not that common sense? II we
ask Il thing from God. who has sworn
by his eternal throne that he will do
that which We ask, is it not common
sense that We should watch and wait
until we get it:
Eut | remark, again, we want more
COMMON scnse in doing good. Oh, how
many people there are who want to do
good, and they are dead failures. Why
is it? They do not exercise the same
tact, the same ingenuity, the same STRAIT
agem, the same common sense i'll the
work of Christ that they do in worldly
things; otherwise they would succeed
in this direction as well 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 patronizing
way. They talk to a man of the world
in Il manner which seems to say: Don't
you wish you wers as good as I am?
Why, l have to look clear down before l
can see you, you are so far beneath me- "
That manner always disgusts, always
drives men away from the kingdom of
Jesus Christ instead of bringing them IN.
Working Naturally For the Gospel.
When l was lad, was one day in
q village store, and there was large
group of young men there full of rollick-
ing and fun, and Christian man came
in, 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 first step of wisdomf" George look
cd up and said, Every man to mind
his own business. Well, it was very
rough answer, but it was provoked. Re-
ligion had been hurled in there as
though it were bombshell. We must
benatural i'll 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-
lgious subjects as they do in worldly
circles? For no one ever succeeds i'll any
kind of Christian work unless he works
naturally. We want to initiate the Lord
Jesus Christ who plucked 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 il fish of
all sorts, and talked with tho vino
dresser about the idler in the vine-
yard, and talked with those newly afii-
anced about the marriage supper, and
talked with the man cramped i'll money
matters about the two debtors, and talk
ed with the woman about the yeast that
lcavened the whole lump, and talked
with the shepherd about the lost sheep
Oh, we 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 langGage, the tenderness of
sentiment, the delicacy of morning dew,
the saffron OF floating cloud, the tangled
surf OF the tossing sea- the bursting
thunder sans Of the storms lombard
ment. Yes every star must point down
to him, every hcliotropc must breathe
his praise, every drop in the summer
shower must flash his glory, all the tree
branches Of tie forest must thrum their
music i'll the grand march which shall
celebrate 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:
Tie 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 sim
ners. Any man who is not willing to
acknowledge himself an imperfect and
sinful being is simply 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
Christ came to reconstruct, to restore,
to revise, to correct, to redeem. That is
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
kill you had perfect confidence should
I'll you that tomorrow, Monday morn
ing, between IL and II O'CLOCK, you
could by certain financial transaction
make So, 900, but that on Tuesday per-
laps you might make it, but there
would not be any positiveness 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 will attend to that mat
ter, between IL and IL o'clock tomor-
row, Monday morning, for then I can
surely accomplish it, but on Tuesday [
may not, and on Wednesday there is less
prospect and less and less l will attend
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