El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1898-08-01

leave for the south this morning on q
bridge inspecting tOur.---Albuquer-
que Democrat.
Baptist Church.
Rev. w. O. Millican preached in the
First Baptist church yesterday from
the text. ''Rejoice in the Lord al
ways, and again say rejoice. Phil.
IVA. He said in part:'Religion is no
long faced affair The angels in an
nouncing it to the shepherds called it
'glad tidings''. Its natural tendency
is to make men glad. This it will al
ways do if we will allow 1t. To refuse
it this right oflwsy is robbery tooursel-
yes and an insult to God. True, like
the Psalmist, we must sometimes walk
through the valley of the shadow of
death; like Peter, we must sometimes
weep over our own sins, but if we will
we may likewise say out of these stony
places we may raise a Bethel, and say
with David sgain 81 will sing unto
the Lord as long as 1 live''. 81 will be
glad in the Lord. Along with the
command to rejoice the apostle indi-
Gates the sphere of rejoicing, ''In the
Lord.
The natural disposition Of man is to
rejoice. But many fall short of the
rejoicing mentioned in the text. Like
the bubble in the air but finds nothing
when it lays hold on it, so many seek
pleasure in the bubbles OF worldly
pleasure only to find it melting away
to nothing or to real sorrow after they
have grasped it. Jesus gives the only
true rejoicing. L once talked to young
man who made much of his sister.
He had proper appreciation for other
young ladies and was even popular
hut he hos Of IL RI him Co
should it be with US. There are other
people than Jesus, and other things
than distinctively religious things in
which we may and should take great
interest and rejoice greatly. But Jesus
should be the best of all to US. The
third suggestion of the text is the time
to rejoice, always" Conybeare Il
Howson translate here, sat all times. :"
But how can we rejoice ''at all times"
1t may be an easy thing to do when the
church is prosperous or in the midst of
a great revival: when the secular af-
fairs of life run smoothly and the ia
mily is prosperous and healthy, when
our neighbors are our friends and do
all they can to help us along in the
world.
But reverse the picture. Let the
churches be cold and lifeless. let power
ty surround us until the wolf is at the
door, let son be away to war or daught-
er sick at school, let death come in and
snatch away our children or our par
ents, and how can we rejoice then?
All! there is the mystery of Christian
ity. Take men who have no Christ,
no savior, let these ills come upon
them and they will oft times take
arms against the sea of trouble and by
opposing end them. But not so with
the man who has the proper concep-
ton of Christianity, who lives close to
his his g Gaa In tra the cbr idss of
comes to him laden with richest
perfumes, spices and enervating slim
ulants from land beyond the sky
Down into the back-alley of his abode,
into the hard places of labor, into the
highway Of wandering, into the galleys
Of persecution, or palaces of sorrow.
come to him symphonies from celestial
harps and harmOnies from angelic
choirs. And he reioices in the Lord.
The apostle who wrote the text affords
an eminent illustration of obedience to
it. Ten years prior to the date of this
text he had been imprisoned in the
very city to which he is now sending
this letter. Hard circumstances in
which to rejoice, but at midnight the
stiffness of the silent hour was broken
by strains of sweetest music. Paul and
Silas were rejoicing in ''songs of loud
est praise.
Read the eleventh chapter of second
Corinthians where he gives long list
of his trials, and hear him say in al
most the same breath, ~ am filled
with comfort, / am exceeding joyful in
all our tribulations." Look at his sur
roundings when he wrote this text.
He is at Rome. Having failed of trial
he was remanded to prison. His coun-
trymen in Rome have also forsaken
him. Nero has divorced his young
wife and married his bloody mistress.
This woman is proselyte to the ma
ton that seeks Paul's life. She has
unlimited control over the heartless
court. Divine honors are paid to her
and her infant daughter. What could
the Apostle hope from such a situa-
ton? Hear him as he writes in this
epistle, Him" Timothy, II hope
to send without delay as soon as / see
how it will go with me-" And then he
speaks OF suffering 1.-THE likeness of
-Christ's-death.' And yet in all
this hear him again as he says. But
though my blood be poured, i re-
joice for myself, ETC." And then as he
opens the last division of this letter he
writes "Finally brethren rejoice in the
Lord" And then, lest they forget it
text, "Rejoice in the Lord always: and
again l say rejoice"
Is the world black and cold and dark
to you: Come to Jesus, feast thyself in
the Lord, and thy soul shall be filled
with rejoicing forever and forever.
T