The Newtown bee., 1898-07-15
The Home Circle
1.-THE Spirit of Man.
A SERMON BY REV ROBERT CARTER OF
WASHINGTON.

WARRINGTON
Text, Heb. 4 II, "Let us labor therefore 10
enter into that rest"
Religion Is a thing to be worked at.
Mans spirit is faculty to be energetical-
ly cultivated. We all we'll understand
that farm or business must be faith
fully and diligently worked over If there
Is anything to be gotten out Of them; 1t
is surely the same with religion, 1t must
be labOred over TO get anything out of it.
We all we'll know that mans mind or
his hand must be cultivated, trained, II
they become able to accomplish anything
1t is the same with q mass soul; 1t mus
be cultivated, If it is going to amount TO-
anything. We follow the general rule
when it comes to training the body, or
enlIghtening the mind, and work hard for
them; we cannot escape that general rule
when 1t comes TO the soul. We must not
expect to get religion by sudden exper-
ience, or by a short and easy system.
Here, too, In religion we must work out
our salvation. The various stages of
faith, and hope, and repentance, and
growth, and enlightenment, and spiritual
grace; these are the fruits Of long and
thoughtful and careful spiritual labor. A
good man has work at his goodness as
surely as a good scholar works at his
scholarship, or good artist at his art, or
a good machinist at his machine. A
EraVerful man must work at his praying,
a generous man must labor unto gener-
Oslty, q thoughtful man must toll in
thinking and Christian man all around
must spend and be spent in laborlng at
his Christianity. i
Come to church even when the services
find little response In your life. Be faith
full to the prayer meeting, even though
prayer meetings are far below the ideal,
and seem In fact bore very often. Read
and think and pray even when ilumina-
tion seems very far off and thought Is IN
certain In It's grasp of truth, and prayer
grows cold upon the lips. say keep at
the practices which by their very nature
continually enforce attention to spiritual
things; and it will be as when the ath-
lete keeps up practice on the bars, there
will be many failures, and much monot-
ony, but afterwards the trained gymnast !;
or 1t will be a. when the practice 10 kept
up diligently over the piauo, the fingers
ever wandering to the wrong keys, and
the tunes getting more than familiar, get
ting monotonous, and dry, and yet the
end Ia a skilled performance. 1t lie so,
indeed 1t in so, with the spiritual powers |;
they are worth while tending to.
PATIENCE Is NOT WITHOUT HER PERFECT
REWARD.
The practice Of the presence Of God, the
attention to the dIYiner powers In the
world and In our lives, win develop the
faculty which knows God, and dwelis
with Him, and IL In turn blessed by his
favor. God Ia found of those that seek
Him. Spiritual power Ia the heritage OF
OF the man who works &C spiritual toll.
The spirit OF Ged flnds the man who Ia
bors up the heights TO meet that Holy
Presence,
More and more earnestly l would lay
1t upon you that the getting OF the good
OF religion Ia q matter OF work and labor
thereunto.
And the workers In spiritual life are
those who know and understand spiritual
counsel and blessing. Yen don't 90 to
the mechanics for advice la medicine.
You don't ask the sailor whether yon
have good case at law. You would not
be foolish enough to allow some quack
engineer Co do your doctorlng, or run
your lawsuit. Don't then be light head
ga enough I'd DO deeply cornared by the
last novels objection 90 religion, or by
the flashy and nnscIentliic doubts Of some
superficial taIker. Never put weight on