The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1901-04-18
"uer Ways Are wsys of Plensantness"
From the Book of Proverbs, Chapter
III, Verse 1.-THE Sunshine of the
Christian Llte-Self Denial

lsSS.-S
are peace" But what is religion? The
fact is that theological study has had
different effect upon me from the eff
feet sometimes produced Every year
tear out another leaf from my the
ology until l have only three or four
leaves left-in other words, very
brief and plain statement of Christian
belief.
An aged Christian minister said:
When l was young man l knew ev-
erything. When l got to be IS years
of age, in my creed l had only hun
dred doctrines of religion. When got
to be 40 years Of age, l had only SO
doctrines of religion. When l got to
be 60 years of age, had only ten doc
trines of religion, and now l am dying
at rs years Of age, and there is only
one thing know and that is that
Christ Jesus came into the world to
save sinners" And SO l have no
ticed in the study of Gods word and
in my contemplation of the character
Of God and of the eternal world that
it is necessary for me to drop this part
of my belief and that part of my be-
lief as being non essential, while l
cling to the one great doctrine that
man is a sinner and Christ is his AL
mighty and Divine Savior
Now, take these three or four
leaves of my theology, and find that
in the first place and dominant above
all others is the sunshine of religion.
When l go into room, have a pas
sion for throwing open all the shut
ters.. That is what l want to do this
morning. We are apt to throw SO
much of the sepulchral into our relig-
ion and to close the shutters and to
pull down the blinds that it is only
through here and there a crevice that
the light streams. The religion Of the
Lord Jesus Christ is religion of joy
indescribable and unutterable. Wher-
ever can find bell l mean to ring
it.
If there are any in this house this
morning who are disposed to hold on
to their melancholy and gloom, let
them now depart this service before
the fairest and brightest and the most
radiant being of all the universe
comes in. Gods Son has left the world
but Gods daughter is here! Give her
room. Hail princess Of heaven! Hail,
daughter of the Lord God Almighty.
Come in and make this house thy
throneroom.
In setting forth this idea the domi-
nant theory of religion is one of sun
shine. l hardly know where to begin,
for there are so many thoughts that
rush upon my soul. mother saw her
little child seated on the floor in the
sunshine and with a spoon in her
hand. She said, My darling, what are
you doing there?" oh" replied the
child, II am getting a spoonful of this
sunshine" Would God that today
might present you with a cleaning
chalice of this glorious, everlasting
gospel sunshine!
Sunshine OF Chrlstiani.y.
First of all, l find a great deal of
sunshine in Christian society," | do
not know of anything more doleful
than the companionship of the mere
funmakers Of the world-the Thomas
Hoods, the Charles Lambs, the Charles
Mathewses of the world-the men
whose entire business it is to make
sport: They make others laugh, but if
you will examine their autobiography
or biography, you. will find that down
in their soul there was terrific dis
quietude. Laughter is no sign of hap
piness The maniac laughs. The hy-
ena laughs. The loon among the
Adirondacks laughs. The drunkard,
laughs.
There is terrible reaction from all
sinful amusement and sinful merri-
ment. Such men are cross the next
day. They snap at you on exchange or
they pass you, not recognizing you.
Long ago quit mere worldly society
for the reason it was so dull, so inane
and so stupid. My nature is voracious
of Joy. / must have it.
l always walk on the sunny side of
the street, and for that reason | have
crossed over into Christian society. |
like their mode of repartee better l
like their style of amusement better.
They live longer. Christian people,
sometimes notice, live on when by all
natural law they ought to have died.
have known persons who have con-
tinued in their existence when the doc
tor said they ought to have been dead
ten years. Every day of their exist
ence was a defiance of the laws of
anatomy and physiology. but they had
this supernatural vivacity of the gos-
pei in their soul. and that kept them
alive
The Question of Self Dental
know there is great deal of talk
about the self-denials of the Christian.
have to tell you that where the Chris
tian has one self denial the man of the
world has a thousand self denials. The
render anything that is worth keeping.
But what does a man deny himself
who denies himself the religion of
Christ? He denies himself pardon for
sin, he denies himself peace Of con-
science, he denies himself the joy of
the Holy Ghost, he denies himself
comfortable death pillow, he denies
himself the glories of heaven. Do not
talk to me about the self denials of
the Christian life: Where there is one
ip the Christian life there are thou
sand in the life of the world. Her