The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1901-05-25
BALL IN BEAPViII-E.
j. c. REID.

y. C. REID.
breaches his Maiden Sermon at BE the sd .
| Bapt,s. Church Mimi ca prlis. 4$
| The subject of this sketch was born
in Whistler, Ala, ~near Mobine. He
was educated in. the common schools
of Whistler and the military academy
of Mobile. His father being a Bap-
fist minister of reputation attempted
to persuade his son Joe to enter the
ministry, but without avail. Suisse
quently young Reid left home to see
/ the metropolitan cities Of the states. He
located in this state, in the city of
Minneapolis, where he married Miss
Augusta Coleman, one son being the
| result of the union. Mr.. Reid served
on the police force five years; was
head waiter of the Nicollet Hotel three
years.; editor and proprietor of the
! colored journal of this city nearly two
years. He also attended the state uni
versity law department two years, hav-
ing in mind the ministry at that time
! Mr.. Reid has been studying theology
| privately for two years. He says that
he never intends to stop until he
reaches the highest round in the lad
| der. He delivered the following SER
mon as his maiden effort: =
When Jesus spoke the words of my
subject to his disciples he spoke them
not in the abstract but in the con-
to o,,+ 20, b. 81
effect at once. Jesus being thoroughly
familiar with every impulse of the hui
man heart, gave aid and comfort to his
disciples as well as all Christian be-
levers by causing them. to search the
heart. He demonstrated the fact that
troubled heart was not necessary
factor to our existence, but the result
Of some kind of sin. Unbelief seems
to be the door to the divers sins lodged
in the heart of man, and when Jesus
spoke the words He that believeth in
God believeth also in me- He had in
mind the contradistinctiye word tunbe-
belief Let@us note the fruits of UNI
belief as applied to our daily life. God,
who planned the universe and all of
it's subjects made man perfect in spirit,
but through the transgression Of our
first parents the whole human race be-
came imperfect, and when Christ spoke
,, the words LET not your heart be
troubled he paved the way to the
zenith of unearthly happiness, and
should we choose to sacrifice human
instincts for spiritual emoluments and
seek diligently, we should find perpet-
ual balm for the restless and troubled
heart. Man by nature is dissatisfied
always, and at times, but we are to
wholly ignore our human nature and
dwell within the realms of our spirit
ual and eternal nature. No Christian
knows of the great warfare waged in
life by the double existence Of our be-
ing, but he who seeks to remain in
spiritual thought The quotation
Choose We this day whom ye will
serve presents itself to every seeker
after the truth each day we live. If
the choice is not expedient a troubled
heart is the result CT our stupidity
and slothfulness. Many men seek to
calm a. troubled heart by evil applica-
ton, such as drink, fornication, adul-
terry, love of money and various other
alluring devices which only drive the
] heart farther away from the consola-
l CIOu SOuSuC. Ou, CudC We .WOulu ndh0
all human sacrifice of that which
seems to be mOmentary pleasure for
spiritual gain! Can we do it? I an
swer in the affirmative with great en-
phasis. Jesus never spoke any word
! for the elevation of mankind, sbut.what
! it was possible for him (man) to rise
to the height of his saying. If the
| world only knew the: secret of pos
| sessing happy heart it would have
no suicides; we would have no insane
asylums; We would have no people
living secretly in adultery; we would
have no strife in social position; we
would not dagger each other to the
heart while pretending to dwell in
| good fellowship with our brother; we
would not live immoral lives and be-
lieve that we were as good as people
who live pure lives; we would not Sc
cretly attempt to humiliate pure
heart for apparently selfish gain. Oh,
that God would exterminate such
spirits and drive them from among
those who try to live noble and holy
lives, and let them see their hypocriti-
cal errors No man can possess happy
and true heart with such vipers of
] death as the masters of Gods intended
Office in the human heart. Such peo-
pie are known by and through feeling
and not by words. The sins of such
shall find them out. and not word
need be spoken. A troubled heart
shall be their portion, which will drive
them to despair and death. Why will
a we continue in the ways Of deception
and death and allow our hearts to be
troubled? Why not be resolute and
firm, and say my secret thoughts shall
be pure for Christ did not deal with
the open thought of man, but his secret
thought. Do you know that the heart
/ Of man is the workshop Of the Al
! mighty God? It is the sacred place
where the maker of men reveals and
directs every action of those who be-
\ lieve in his power. II we cannot know
God in the deepest recesses of our
hearts we can never know him, for he
4 communes not with the intellectual
5 part of man, but only with the spirit
ual. We cannot know God through
our natural intellect. There is an I'M
1 explored field within the regions OF
every human heart which contains
pearls of great price, and the more
8 diligently they are sought the greater
reverence one acquires for the maker
of hearts and mankind and the greater
contempt enc has for the foolishness