The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-10

OAAA &AASy
and have 1t in their possession Not
withstanding all this, what is the cir
cumstance? One would suppose that
the announcement would SET people
in great excitement UP and down our
streets, and at midnight men would
Knock at your door asking how they
may get those treasures. Instead of
that many of us put our hands behind
our back and walk UT and down I'm
front Of the mine OF eternal riches and
say. well, If I am to be saved. I will
be saved, and If 1 am to be lost I will
be lost. and there Is nothing TO do
about it."
Why, my brother. do o not do that
way in business matters? Why do
you not tomorrow go to your store
and sit down and say: IF these goods
are to be sold, they will be sold, n IL
they are not to be sold, they will not
be sold. There Is nothing for me to
do about it," No. you dispatch your
agents, you print your advertisements,
you adorn your show windows. you
push those goods, you use the instru-
mentality. Oh, that men were as wise
in the matter of the soul as they are
in the matter of dollars n cents!
Gods Sovereignty.
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
eternity, when. so far from that in
every fiber Of your body. in every
faculty Of your mind in every
passion OF your soul, you are a free
mana free man-and it will no more
tomorrow be a matter of choice wheth-
er you shall go to business through
PannCv1ua MIA aUan11a nr coma Otfnar
street, it will be no more a matter of
choice with you tomorrow whether you
shall go to Philadelphia 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 armies of banners there is
not one conscript. Men are not to b.
~dragooned into heaven. Among all the
tens of thousands Of the Lords soldiery
there is not one man but will tell you,
Il chose Christ: 1 wanted him; I de-
sired to be in his service; I am not a
cOnscript-I 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 same
concentration the same push, the same
enthusiasm! In the one case, a secular
enthusiasm; in the other, a consecrat-
ed 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
have not run a quarter of a mile.
A. business man would be willing to
have his Investments unaccumulative.
If you invest a dollar, you expect that
dollar to come home bringing nothe
dOllarOn it's back What would you think
Of a man who should invest $40. 900 in
a monetary institution. then go off for
five years, make no inquiry in regard
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 you?" but asking no
question about interest or about divi-
dend? Why, you say, THAT is not
common sense" Neither is it, but that
is the way we act in matters Of the
SOU. We make far more important
investment han $40, 200. We invest our
sou. Is it accumulative? Are we
growing in grace? Are we getting bet
ter? Are we getting worse? God de-
clares many dividends, but we d. not
collect them. We do not ask about
them. Oh, that in this matter of ac-
cumulation we were as wise in the
matters Of the soul as we are in the
matters of the world!
Eternity In The Bible.
How little common sense in the read
ind 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
1t will teach me astronomy. 1t is a
book on political It will
! teach me political economy" Taking
up this Bible, do we ask ourselves what
it means to teach? 1t means to do just
one thing. Get the world converted
and get us all to heaven. That is what
it purposes 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 ether Christians
with, or we go as logicians trying to
sharpen our mental faculties for a bet
ter 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
mar lost on the mountains? Night has
come down. He cannot find his way
home, and he sees a light in a noun
ain cabin. He goes to it; he knocks at
the door. The m~Ountaineer comes out
and finds the traveller and says: well,
here 1 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.
1 don't like the handle Of it. There
are 10 or Is things about it I don't like.
If o can give me a better lantern
tina that, I won 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. we no 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 min
utes 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