El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-27
BAPTIST CHURCH.
Sermon preached by Rev. ". D.
MilIican on Sunday.

man. The theme of the book OF Pro
| verbs is wisdom; It's motto, the lear OF
| the Lord Is the beg1nnlcg OF WISDOM.
| This is not the wisdom OF the WORLD"
that Paul says shall come 10 naught,
| but that wisdom that comes with an
experimentaI knowledge of sins for
| given, aud that stretches forth a gulC-
| ing hand such as we find in the divine
religion, to guide US in all the affairs
of this life and lead Us safely into the
| life that Is everlasting.
This is not the wisdom OF highly
developed knowledge though it must
| have a certain amount of knowledge
as its found alton. Religion is after all,
primarily d matter of heart and not OF
head IL is a great thing for many
| Door soul that this is the Case. Ii God
had required any special amount OF
knowledge many persons could not
have attained to 1T and many OF others
would not. But God has made the way
SO easy that man, Though way
faring fool, need not err therein"
This does not have reference to the
various and difficult doctrines of the
church, but the one doctrine of guilt
| for sin and salvation through Jesus
Christ.
Indeed, religion is a matter primari-
| ~ of love. And q child or even fool
can love, and therefore are eligible to
| salvation. 1 had very little knowledge
| of the detail of the plan of salvation
until 1 was fifteen years of age, but
long before this. know now, l loved
the Lord: and we are told that he that
lOveth is born of God; and our text
says 1.-The fear of the Lord is the be-
ginning of wisdom"
If then we would have our children
and the youth of our community have
wisdom we must get them to begin at
the beginnings" get them to fear
the Lord"
Among some of the tribes in Africa,
you can find an idol lifted high on q
pole. These natives believe this idol
to be u God, who sees all they do
within the range of its vision and who
is sure to punish for every wrong. The
consequence is, they will not do a
wrong thing or dinsrily In its presence.
Why? Because they fear the displeas-
ure and punishmen of the idol.
So ought men be taught to fear the
true God. You may call it servile
fear if you wish, but it is the basal
fear of every soul, who loves the Lord.
God, as he is revealed to US in the
word.
And man Is a fool who believes
thus in God, not to fear him thus until
he gets up to a highe fear.
The trouble is that many do not be-
lieve in a God who sees and cares for
and will punish our every wrong.
While in the country this summer, l
was talking to q young man, the broth
err of Methodist minister, but who is
profane and ungodly. And he said to
me: 81 do not believe even the church
people for the most part believe that
God will do what the bible claims he
will: because If they really did, they
would do better themselves and strive
n ard tn cyot nt hal RI fl1rp fn ,H n
escape his wrath" And then he frank
ly confessed that while he knew his sins
might cause him some Inconvenience
here" thank God there are some things
we cannot deny; "even the fool who
bath said in his hesrtthere 10 no God",
cannot deny that there is punish
ment for sin--he feared no punish ment
here after. And then he added that
if he believed this, he would fear God
so supremacy that he would not dare to
disobsy him.
'.And 80 it is: we need to get men to
fear God and fill the wrath to come.
And until they do this. L doubt If
child or man ever turned"
The greatest sermon Jonathan
theme "Sinners 10 the hands of an
angry Coz" 1t laid the foundation |
for great religious upheaval and |
turning to God such as was only known /
in the days of Wesley and White
field.
Where is the secret? 1t showed men
as they seldom are shown that there Is |
a hell; that from its depths of torment
no dives can ever come; that to its |
victims no Lazerus can ever go even |
with cooling drop of water, that it's
torments are forever and forever and
OF such character, as can only be con-
ceived of by our idea of the suffering |
in fire and birthstone. No wonder
they turned to God for mercy.
L shall never forget the anguish that
took hold of my soul, when without q
Savior, read the passage in James
2:1O, "Whosoever shall keep the whole
law and yet offend in one point, he is
guilty of it all.'' Is it any wonde err that
could not sing, nor sleep, nor eat?
Why. my whole soul was broken up,
and in every note of the organ, and
word of the sermon and song, heard |
it shall die" l believed it. and hence
my grief. But this is just what 1
needed. 1t drove me to the cross, ard |
in six hours thereafter 1 was sheltered |
meath its precious blood and |
singing in my joyful soul,
SHOULD earth against my soul engage,
And fiery darts be hurled;
Then can smile at satan's rage,
And face frowning world"
Then it was that 1 received high |
er form of fear. That's all right John
ME, go ahead and pull the cherries even |
If your father should find it out, he is
too good 10 burt YOU" II know that"
said Johnnie, ''but if pull them it will |
hurt him. and 1 cannot do that" This
is the higher fear, and an assurance of
great advance in wisdom. But the
N hor -
them in succession. The first drives
him to the father as his only hone.