The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-08-22
''pEHoLD, 1 STAND AT THE DOOR,
REV. OsgOOd f. Cooks Sermon at
Grace Church.

rev. OSSOOu r. COOKS sermon at
Grace Church.
Rev. Osgood F. Cook preached an In
teresting sermon at Grace Methodist
Church last night from the text:
behold. stand at the door and knock;
if any man hear my voice and open the
door, will come unto him, and will sup
with him, and he with me-" Revelation,
800
The love of a mother, pale and wan, with
the care of a child, the love of a patriot
leaving home and loved ones to suffer
hardships privation and want; the unset
fish love of the Moravians voluntarily in
generated in a leper's prison with the
promise of relief only by death, altogether,
cannot compare, said Rev. Mr.. Cook with
the love of Christ in the condescension
noted in the text.
Here are the three paradOXes of the Cos
pei said Mr.. Cook. First, the richest ruler
begging a the door of a pauper Christ
knocking at the door of a human heart.
He sent no ambassador servant or dep
uty Death didn't end all. The same
yesterday, to-day and forever, the
living Christ seeks an entrance.
He stands according to a pro-
meditated plan. His presence Is no acct
dent, no passing hesitancy. His nearness
door stands between, His eagerness to
enter His intensity of desire by His atti-
tude and knock. He knocks by His word
by providence and by the conscience upon
the door of the reason, the imagination
the heart and the will.
Next, he said, is the most powerful King
a supplicant before a subject. IF any
man." The freedom of the viii and uni
versal redemption are here expressed. The
latch Is on the inside of the heart, the will
is left untrammelled. no man is coerced.
This is the ground of condemnation. 1t is
useless to be troubled over the question:
"Why are not more people conYerted?"
The answer is in this fact. Christ ex-
planned it when He said eye will not come
unto me that ye might have life" Yet
"any man" has the privilege, every man
has the opportunity. This corresponds
with the ''whosover" of the Bible.
Now the simplicity of the plan of saliva
ton is seen: IF any man open the door"
This is a stumbling block TO many, who
are expecting to do some great thing al
most impossible to be saved Like Naman
of old they win not believe in the efficacy
of simple faith and obedience. THE way
faring man, though a fool, cannot err
therein"
Again, said the preacher. an offended
God supping with a sinner. 'The SUI
preme Judge eating with a criminal"
we ought to act as though conscious of
his presence; we ought to furnish the best
entertainment within our power; We ought
to enjoy fellowship with him. His pres
ence will be a restraint to the warning
passions and angry tempers and the
house of his habitations. our hearts and
lives must be kept pure and clean. Then
the relation win be changed. Christ be-
comes the host. What entertainment he
afford! Every blessing comes from his
bountiful hands. Every good and perfect
gift needed by the soul is freely given. He
is wisdom for the ignorant, balm for the
wounded, medicine for The sick. clothing
for the naked, money for the poor. bread
for the hungry, water for the thirsty, an
advocate for the accursed, pardon for the
condemned, life for the dying, resurrec-
ton for those moldering in the grave.
I'VE have thought II strange, "ssaid Rev.
Mr. Cook, that their was no room at the
inn that He came unto His own and
His own received Him not that the foxes
had holes and birds Of the air had nests,
but the son Of man had not where to lay
his head that while His followers went
80 often unto comfortable homes while He
went sleepless nights on the Mount Of
olives; It IL stranger and baser by far
that after centuries Of light upon His
pathway, one should refuse TO open wide
the door and let the Savior Ia. Behold,
there Is life for a look az the crucihed one.
Behold n stranger at the doorl
He gently knocks, has knocked before;
Has waited long q waiting stu;
You treat no other friend 70 H.
o lovely attit8dei He stands
with melting heart and bleeding hands
y Matches kindness. and re shows
This matchiels kindness 70 His fo0