The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-06-20
DR. CHAPMANS SERMON
A SUNDAY DISCOURSE BY THE NOTED
PhsToR.EVANcELlsT.


Your Betlel:-Pray ~ You Used To.
NFw York CITY The Rev. DIR. j. VIII
bur Chapman. the ponular pastOr-evancel.
ist. who is now preaching 90 overiowine
congregations in this city has furnished
the following eloquent sermon TO the
press. Il was preached from the text
Let us arise and go up TO Bethel" Gene
sis 49, 3.
I doubt not YOU have frequently seen the
| sky when throughout a long day 1t has
| been overcast with clouds, only now and
/ then the sun would hreal, forth but for a
moment and then the curtain would be
| drawn together once more and only the
/ clouds were to be seen. To me this is an
| illustration of the life of Jacob. The sun
| breaks through at Bethel. and while this
/ seems to be a mixing of figures. for the
| hour of the vision was in the night yet the
| glory of heaven was upon him brighter
| than the shining Of the sum- 1t pushes
| its way through at Pencil, once more
/ appears in his nathetic love for Joseph
and later in his dignifed appearance in the
| presence Of Pharaoh but for the most
| part his was a life with a cloudy sky and
yet there are few stories more interesting
| What Peter is to the New Testament
Jacob is to the Old. The Bible would
| hardly be complete without the accounts
Of these two remarkable men. When we
read Of the Saviour of Peter" we are
| comforted, for we find ourselves saving
eff Jesus can save such a man as Peter,
Transforming him from the fisherman to
the preacher. from the profane man to the
writer Of Epistes, there is hope for every
one of US" We read about the God Of
Jacob" and are inspired, for there are few
| of us to-day whose lives are so deceitful,
whose characters are so questionable as
| jacobs and yet be became Israel the
Prince. Is anything too hard for the
Lord?
From Bethel to Bethel is a good subject
growing out of such a text Thirty years
of time stretch out between the two ex-
periences, and vet in these thirty years
Jacob passes through much that is beyond
ordinary interest. as, for example, his ex-
periences with Lahan, when he toiled four
teen years for his beloved Rachel. the pros
perity which came to him both bv fair
means and foul. his struggling with the
angel at Jabbok's Ford, and his tarrying
at Shechem contrary to the command of
God for in it all he was never satisfied,
for hold it true thai If one has once been
60 Bethel nothing else can satisfy, and II
we have ever had a vision of heaven the
earth ever afterward seems dull and unin-
teresting
After all this varied experience Jacob is
at Bethel once again. 1t Is not much in
itself, just a long range of hills running
north and south. the eastern slope de.
scending to the Jordan and the western
slope stretching away toward the more
thicidy populated part of the country
Through the valley before us illustrous
travellers in all the history of the Holy
Land have made their journey, and up the
rough mountain road people have climbed
with great delight There is no house In
} sight and no animals are to be seen eX
cepting now and then an eagle or a wild
mountain goat but to Jacob it was sa
cred place. There the first night of his
flight from Esau he saw the ladder which
linked earth to heaven, the ladder which
was thronged with angels performing then
heavenly ministry and he heard the voice
of God. There are some words we cannot
speak without arousing the tenderest emo
tions and the hottest memories. Mother
is such an one. / we'll remember preach
ing to a crowd of rough miners in the
mountains, holding their interest passably
well until / spoke this matchless name
when all faces were softened and tear
, were seen in many eyes. Home is another
such word. You doubtless remember tn,
Z, soldiers at Sebastopol, brave men whit
were ready to die, many of whom did die
/
hand Of musicians playing "Home, Swee
Home" and Bethel was such a word Il
Jacob. 1t stirred the best that was in him
and was the summons of God bidding hi
better nature to arouse itself.
We have all of us had our Bethels. Som
Of us are Separated from them by tn
dreary lapse of time, and between thos
happy days and our present unsatisfactory
> experience days, weeks, months and evel
years stretch out, we say it to our shame
b. For some of lis an active business life ha
! separated us from Bethel, and vet this
positively unnecessary. Not slothful i
business, fervent in spirit, serving tn
} Lord" and if there is anything in you
I business that dampens your spiritual al
dor, or blinds your vision of Christ, eithe
your business is wrong or you are wron
I yourself.
: With some foreign residence lies b.
tween us and Bethel Back in the oil
country we were most faithful and devote
to Christ and constantly serving tn
q church, but in this free land we have fol
gotten our vows, we have made the fatf
mistake of leaving God out Of our calcult
] tions, and somehow seem to forget th
I words of the Psalmist, "If l take the wing
parts of the earth and the sea Thou al
{ there" We might have been in FELLOWSHIP
I with God all these days if we would
Q With some Of us it is worldliness tina
has dimmed our vision and robbed lis {
i power, and that is the sad part of til
l story. Obligations once taken upon L
have been overiad and buried with tn
lapse of years, and would like if Nigh
p to touch the harp of memory and brin
t back those happy days once more whe
!. our vision of Christ was unclouded, OF
appropriation Of the spirit Of God con
plete and our JOY inexpressible, so Their
fore say. LET us arise and go to Bethel.
I would like to carry you back perhaps
quarter of a century when You left yoy
home like Jacob and you said. IF Go
n will | will" All these years He has bee
Z near to you pouring out upon you His be