Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1902-05-23
SOULS MOVING DAY.
Man Goeth to His Long Home, and
the Spirit Returneth to Cod"
Sermon by the "Highway and Byway''
Preacher i'm Which Forcible Les
sons Are Drawn from Conn
mon Experience.
Copyright, 1902, by A N. Kellogg Newspa-
per Coz

Copyright, 1902, by A. n. Kellogg Newspa-
per Coz
Chicago, May Is.
Text: Man goeth to his long home :.
and the spirit shall return unto God Who
gave it," Parts of Ecclesia sizes 1875, T.
The period around the first of May
has come to be recognized as general
moving time, especially so in many of
the larger cities of the country, and
an event which so mediately affects
so many lives ought not to pass with
out its spiritual lessons being pointed
out. Scarcely does the man or woman
or child exist who has not at some pc
Rod in his or her life known what it
was to move from one home to anoth-
er, from one state to another, from one
country to another. The medium
through which we reach and under
stand the unseen and spiritual is that
of the natural world and the everyday
life experiences. Drummond's "Natur-
al Law in the Spiritual World opens
the mind to the thought of the way in
which Gods spiritual forces operate,
and human experiences have their re-
semblances i'm the spiritual realm, and
bring their message to the human
heart in endeavor to point to God.
Moving day has inseparably asso-
ciated with it certain relative facts
which are Immediately connected with
it in our thoughts, such as leaving the
old home, the new home, the furnish
ing of the lew home, new neigh
bors and friends, the new landlord, etc.
Reverently and prayerfully we ap-
proach TIE suggested thought in our
text, and shall seek to point out to the
soul the wonderful truth of God as re-
vealed in His Word. We shall endeavor
to avoid unwarranted speculation as
to unseen things, and draw parallels
between the spiritual life and human
experiences only where Gods Word
gives us authority so to do.
The Souls Moving Day. Our text at
once introduces us to the certainty of
this experience in every human life.
No argument is needed to enforce
this point. Man knoweth that his life
endureth but for a season and like the
grass of the field he soon passeth
away, and yet oftentimes he puts off
the thought of the souls moving day
for more convenient season (Which,
but for the patience and grace of God,
would never come, if it ever does come,
and goes on living during time as
though he had an eternity al his COM
mand.
Two beautiful thoughts flash out of
our text to which we wish to refer at
9nee, that the infinite love and care of
God may overshadow our souls as we
proceed. The words "Home" and ere
ttirneth'' gently lead the soul into the
presence of death and give the bright
er side to dark picture. The dearest
experiences in life are associated with
the thoughts of home. The tenderest
chords of the human heart vibrate at
the sound Of the word "home,'' so that
even the man who never knew a home
could sing ''Home, Sweet Home" To
the soul willing to hear Gods voice He
always speaks of Home" as the
blessed dwelling place of the re-
deemed, and death is robbed of it's sting
as we triumph in Christ Jesus over it.
But to the soul given up to its own de-
vices, that will not hear the voice of
God, He speaks in thunder tones of the
Judgment seat and eternal darkn ess
and death. The soul may deaden its
spiritual ear to the sound and only
lut lIl III VI lhC AhO1
maids of worldly pleasure and ambi-
ton which lead onto the rocks of de-
struction, but when man goeth to his
long-I cannot say home-goeth to his
long eternity, he will not be able to
shut out the sound thereof, and he
, will understand then what God now
in His love and mercy is yearning to
have him realize.
The other beautiful thought in our
text is that of the soul returning to
the God Who gave it. How natural
that it should do so. How unnatural
that man by his own wilful self-seek-
ing should turn it in any other direc-
> ton. The carrier pigeon taken to q
distant point when given its liberty re-
turreth straight as an arrow to the
poirfe from whence it came. How nat
ural. how beautiful. How sadly pa
thetic. when, DETECTED from its course,
the pigeon perishes by the wayside,
and lifting its ruffied body and power
less wingsufrom the ground we realize
that it was not intended thus to be,
but its destiny lay at the point from
which it had been taken. The pigeon
may not have been responsible for per-
ishing by the wayside, but the spirit
given by God which findeth not its way
back to Him perisheth even while God
is pleading with it to turn its will and
purpose towards Him. The soul has a
capacity Sor God and can only find per-
feet satisfaction in Him. In recogni-
ton of the souls right relationship to
God our text speaks of the soul as re-
turning to the God Who gave. The soul
belongs to God. BY priority right of
ownership, then, it is but natural and
reasonable to think of the soul as find
ing its eternal abiding place in the
presence of its Author. The soul, if it