The Penn's Grove record., 1901-02-08

was q man who In great misfortunes lost
all he had and was positively beggared
city, where the land records are kept, an
bouncing to him that a great fortune is
his. Now he is as opulent as he was pau
perized. He doffs his rags and puts on
respectable attire and moves into a home
appropriate for a man of vast estate. His
worldly circumstances were all wrong last
year; they are all right this year. On the
next street is a man who was from perfect
health Frustrated, and he seemed to be
sick unto death, but a skillful physician
took correct diagnosis of his disease, and
bv prompt and vigorous treatment re-
stored him to his former vigor. As to his
health he was all wrong before. Now he
is all right. In these two ways l illustrate
my theme.
BY sin we have all been morally bank
rupted. Christ the Lord from His inf
mite riches pays our debts and empara-
discs Us in His mercy. From His richest
wardrobe He put on us the clean robe of
His righteousness, and gives us a palace
in the heavens when we are ready to go
uD and take it. Now, as to our spiritual
estate we are all right. We were morally
diseased. but Christ, the physician. by a
bath in the fountain of His grace. cures us.
Now. as to our spiritual health we are
all right. That is the way we come to the
righteousness spoken of in the text. 1t is
d contributed righteousness, a made-over
righteousness, an imputed Righteousness.
The moment you get into right relations
with Christ the Lord that moment you can
appreciate the magnificent comfort OF the
text, and ] defy you in all this great book.
from the first verse Of the first chapter of
Genesis to the last verse OF the last chap
ter Of Revelation, to find me a passage
with higher and deeper and broader and
longer comfort thar that of the text,
urhtah n rs HDara nc fhn AfIarfta noaoY,
half way between the continents, and high
as the sun when the clock is striking II
at noon. But | shall be swamped with
the oceanic tides of this subject unless the
Lord help me to keep a foothold. "Sav
We to the righteous that it shall be well
with him"
Bear in mind that but few people can
stand worldly success. Water is a good
thing, but too much OF it will drown.
Fire is a good thing, but too much of it
will destroy. Light is a good thing, but
too much Of it dazzles and blinds. Sue
cess is a good thing, but too much of it
has overwhelmed many for this world and
the next: If it were best for us, we would
all be millionaires, live in palaces like the
Alhambra, and be as personally attractive
rs Cleopatra appeared to Antony. But
the most Of folks could not endure such
superabundance, and it is absolutely neces-
sary in order to keep them right that 999
men out Of 1000 should find life a struggle.
1t keeps them out of mischief. After
where by ten minutes of employment a
day he could keep the garden and dress it
the best thing that could happen to him
was cOmpulsion to work and fight. The
ground that bloomed with spontaneous
flowers and rnstled with harvests that
owed nothing to pillow or hoe became hos
tile, and bramble was substituted for rose,
and tho pan+bap rrnwla1 tuhara hafara ha
tawned, and horn and fang and hoof be-
anne belligerent. That Edenie ejectment
shows us as nothing else ever could that
ldieness or only a few minutes of employ
ment a day are doom and overthrow. Put
1t down among your blessings that you
have to work hard with brain or hand or
foot or all three of them.
How many men do you know worth
$3.50, 900 who are devout and consecrated
and humble and generous and employing
their means for the worlds redemption?
You could count them up on the fingers
Of your two hands even if by accident or
war you had lost one or two of the fingers.
as to the realm of personal attractiveness,
how many women radiant of countenanee
md graceful of form do you know who are
unaffected and natural of manner and
deeply pious before God, using their
beauty for the betterment Of the world
and not for selfish purposes? l only take
the risk of asking the question and leave
to You the risk of answering it. These
have the promise Of the text fulfilled in
your case it is not necessary you have phe-
nomenal worldly success.
Notice, also that God gives the righteous
the power to extract good out of evil. and
BY a divine chemistry to change the bitter
into the sweet and the harmful into the
beneficial. The promise that it shall be
,vall with ROY, lna, NOT iranl- that yn1 arc
to be free from trouble. There is no es-
cape from that, We all have family rela-
tons, and some of them will be making
exit from this world, so that bereavement
Is the universal inheritance. The differ
ence between the %prospered and those not
prospered is the difference in the amount
they can afford to lose. The more wealth
a man has the more he can lose, but. one
man can afford to lose a million dollars
where another man cannot afford TO lose
one dollar. On larger or smaller scale all
suffer financial loss. Amid the rapidity OF
the revolutions of the wheel of national
and International finance monetary per
plexlty is as common as day or night.
SO also misinterpretation and SANDER
come to all who live active lives. Our
actions, thoroughly honest and above
board, may CONF under suspicion. Every
court room at every term OF court hears
Illustrations OF the decisions OF what is
called circumstantial evidence. Innocent
men are fined or imprisoned or electro
euted because of an unfortunate conJunc-
ton of events. What is true in court
rooms is true in all circles of domestic or
social or official life. You have been ms
understood and misrepresented, or Will be
misunderstood or misrepresented. Then
now can my text be true? My explana-
ton Is this: The man without any divine
grace in his heart finds in these troubles
irritation and pphaltaf and mplannnOll
and despair. A Christian man finds IN
them submission and enlarged views and
divine support and reconsecration. be,
reavement to the wording brings hard
thoughts OF God and a resistance SO VIC
lent 1t dares not fully express itself.
Bereavement brings to the Christian the
thought OF heavenly reunion and a more
complete laying hold of God, and a more
tender appreciation Of the divine presence,
and deeper gratitude that we were per
mILted to have the departed one so long,
and a more lively sympathy for the sor,
rows OF others and another evidence OF
Gods love, for whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth."
Financial loss, which l just now said is
sure to come, never breaks up a man who
has strong faith in God. In most cases 1t
Is a loss OF surplus or it is the Punishment
OF luxurles. Most of the wants of the
prosperous classes are artificial wants.
NN '0tC III. Armour OF the pOVJV"NiSN'
estate, pointed to one of his clerks on or
binary salary and said: THAT man has
better appetite than l, sleeps better nights
and enjoys life more than | do" Oh, the
gigantic miseries of those who have too
much! a man in Solomon's time ex-
pressed as philosophic and reasonable a
wish as any man Of those times or of our
times. His name was Agur, and he OF
Tered a prayer that he might never have a
s1perabundance or a deficit, crying, out,
GIVE me neither poverty nor riches!
On the other side he had seen the awful
struggle of the poor to get food and
clothes and shelter and to educate their
children, and on the other side he had
seen the equity foot, and the indigestion,
and the insomnia, and the anxiety about
large investments, and the threatened
paresls often Characteristic Of those who
are loaded up and loaded down with too
many successes. Those people who are
generally called the masses-that is, the
most of folks-have the things absolutely
necessary for their well being. They have