The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1900-07-25
tough q one for God to act upon. Though

one end resting upon the rock Of eternal
promises and the other on the foundations
of heaven. Demetrius wore a robe 80 in
crusted with jewels that no one sitter him
ever dared to wear it.. But our Kipg, Jesus,
takes off the robe of His Righteousness, q
and reaches it out to the worst wretch IN
all the earth and says: "Put that on! Wear
it now! Wear it forever"
Again, the grace of God is like salt ID
the way we come at it. The salt on the
surface is almost always impure-that
which incrusts the Rocky Mountains ana
the South American pampas and in lndla
but the miners 90 down through the
shafts and through the dark labyrin.hs and
along by galleries Of rock. and with
torches and picka1es, find their way under
the very foundations of the earth to where
the salt lies that makes up the nations
wealth. To get to the best saline springs
Of the earth huge machinery goes down,
boring depth below depth, depth below
depth, until from under the very roofs OF
the mountains the saline water supplies
the aqueduct. This water is brought to-
the surface and is exposed in tanks to the
sun for evaporation, or it is put in boilers
nightly heated and the water evapnrates,
and the salt gathers at the bottom OF the
tank. The work is completed, and the TOR
| tune is made.
So with the grace e. God v5 + is s to tbs be
concentered energies of body, mind and
soul we must dig for it. No man stumbles
accidentally on it. We need to so down
to the very lowest strata of earnestness
and faith to find it. Superficial explora-
ton will not turn it up. We must, strive
and implore and dig until we strike the
spring foaming with living, waters. Then
the work Of evaporation begins, and as,
when the saline waters are exposed to
the sun the Vapors. float away, leaving
nothing but the pure white salt at the bot
tom of the tank, so, when the Christians
soul is exposed to the Sun of Righteous.
and worldliness float off and there is
chiefly left beneath pure white holiness OF
heart Then, sas in the case of the salt,
the furnace is added. Blazing troubles,
sturred by smutted stokers of worldlness
and the crystallization of grace.
Have you not been in enough trouble to
have tnat work 60 on? was reading OF
| Aristotle. who said there was field OF
flowers in Sicily 80 sweet that once q
hound, coming on the track of game, came
to that field and was bewildered by the
perfumes and SO lost the track On, that
our souls might become like "a field which
the Lord hath blessed" and exhale so much
] of the sweetness of Christian character
that the hounds Of temptation, coming on
our track, might lose it and go bowling
back with disappointment! i.
But I remark again that the grace OF
God is like the salt in its rreseryative
quality. You know that salt absorbs the
moisture of articles of food and infuses
| them with brine. which preserves them for
a long while. Salt is the great antiputre-
factor of the world. Experimenters, in
preserving wood, have tried sugar and
else. but as long as the world stands
Christ's words will be suggestive. and men
will admit that as great preservatlve
"salt is good"
But for the grace of God the earth would
have become a stale carcass long before
this. That grace is t6fSonly prese-vative
Of laws and constitutions and literatures.
Just as soon as q ~ 6$efnment loses this
salt of divine gracs e berisbes. The philo-
sophy of this day, 80 far as it is antagonis.
tic to this religion, putrefes and stinks.
The great want of our schools of learning
and our institutions of science today is
les and spectroscopes. and philosophical ap:
paratus, but more OF that grace that will
| teach our men of science that the God OF
the universe is the God of the Bible.
How strange it is that in all their mag.
nifcent sweep of the telescope they have
not seen the morning star of Jesus, and
that in all their experiments with light and
heat they have not seen the light and felt
| the warmth of the Sun of Righteousness!
We want more of the salt of Gods grace
in our homes, in our schools, in our col.
leges, in our social life, in our Christianity.
And that which has it will live; that which
| hoo ,nt 1r,n T 10 fandpn-
cy of everything earthly to putrefaction
and death, the religion Of Christ the only
preservative.
| Nv subject is one of great congratulation
to those who have within their souls this
gospel antiseptc. This salt will preserve
them through the temptations and sor-
rows of life and through the ages of eter.
nifty. do not mean to say that you will
have smooth time because you are
Christian. On the contrary. if you do your
whole duty 1 will promise, you rough
time. You march through an enemy's
country, and they will try to double up
both fanks and to cut you off from your
source of supplies. The war you wage will
not be with toy arrows, hut sword plunged
| to the hilt, and sDurring on your steed
over heaps of the slain. But I think that
| God omnipotent will see YOU through. I
know He will. But why do talk like an
atheist when I ought to say I know He
will? "Kept by the power Of God through
faith unto complete salvation"
When Governor Geary, of Pennsylvania,
died years ago I lost a good friend. He
impressed me nightly with the horrors Of
war, In the eight hours that we rode to-
| getRcr in the cars he recited to me the
scenes THROUGH which he had passed in the
civil war. He said that there came one
battle upon which everything seemed to
pivot. Telegrams from Washington said
that the life of the nation depended on
that struggle. He said to me: ~ went into
that battle, sir, with my son. His mother
and I thought everything of him. You
know how a father will feel toward his
son who is coming up manly and brave and
GOOD. WE'LL the battle opened and con-
ccntered, and it was awful. Horses and
riders bent and twisted and piled up to-
cether. It was awful. sir We quit firing
and took to the point of the hayonet.
We'll. sir, didn't feel like myself that day.
I had prayed to God for strength for that
particular battle. and went into it feel
ing that I had in my right arm the
strength of ten giants and as the Gov
crnor brought his arm down on the back
of the seat it fairly made the car trcmble.
'!Well." he said, "the battle was desperate,
but after awhile we gained little. and we
marched on a little. ! turned round to the
troops and shouted Come on, boysn and
I steppcd across a dead soldier. and 10, it
was nv son! I saw Mt the first glance he
was dead, and yet did not dare to stop
minute. for the crisis had come in the bat
tie, so I lust got down on my knees: and
threw nv arms around him. and l gave
him one good kiss and said, Iiood-by,