The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-09-21
transaction. namely. the human h.art

transaction. namely. the human heart
was tempted and fell.
All history confirms that reading. Our
own consciousness bears US witness
there: let the rest wait for scrutiny In
other days and places. Far away stands
the one grand, awful fact that the hui
man heart disobeyed God, and has ever
since been doing what was bad for It
How do you read the parable of the
Prodigal Son? There is only one line
In It, one yearning word. Come back!
return! Thy father waits for thee.
Some man will say. On what day OF the
week is 1t probable that the young man
went away? and on what day did he re-
turn? Would they be truly reading the
parable? Rather. they would lose all
the comfort of it.
How readest thou?" Let US go to
Sinai. Shall we consider the thunders
and the lightnings. and how the law was
written If we are in earnest? What is the
real question? The question is, Has there
been any distinction made between right
law Whoever reads it, or when, or
how, there it is. It is written on stones
and stars on flowers and heart. This
truth lies at the basis OF secured So
ciety: without it we could not live.
Shall we discuss the number of the
commandments, or the order in which
they were given? You cannot get rid
of Sinai. It is in your homes. in your
nurseries, your schools; in your house
OF business. 1t is the very life of civili-
cation; the guarantee of property, the
sanction under whose protection human
life Is sacred.
How readest thou?" Many have been
troubled about the wars and the destruc-
ton OF the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
the Hittites, the Amorites and the Jeb-
usites. They wonder why? That is not
the point. God has nd interest inconsistent
with human welfare. That is the key to the
whole position. God is love. God is
thinking about every man, woman and
and child while He walks His mighty
way Yea, when He whets His glitter
ing sword, His hand takes hold of judg-
ment-even then God is love.
We cannot tell all the mystery in the
action of love. 1t has a side that is
marked by Christening discipline, trial,
loss. But God is a consuming fire; but at
the last it will be found that nothing
has been consumed that He could posi-
bly, save.
At the cross How readest thou?'
How many theories of the atonement
we have. There is but one meaning in
all the mystery of Calvary. It is that
the world is redeemed; not with cor
ruptible things, as of silver and gold,
but with the precious blood Of the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world.
God so loved the world that He did
that alone can take in that thought;
hold 1t.
"How readest thou respecting the
resurrection? We have actually had
volumes written on that subject. The
whole doctrine is in one line dixie every
we shall not die.
There Is Power moro mighty than
death; the sting Of death is for mo-
ment. and the grave itself must yield
to the resurrection trumpet But some
man will say, Hove" Your child is in
its clothes; the clothes are not the child.
Within it. and within it still. further and
further. is the real child.
So the depredator comes and takes
away much in the night time that I
once thought essential. But I find it is
not essential, because I can live without
it, pray without it, do good without it,
suffer heroically without it, and finally
grow more like God.
What has the thief taken? He Is well
come to what he has! He cannot take
away from me the doctrine that God
created the heavens and the earth,
though I know not how; the doctrine
that man is tempted and disobedient, /
cannot tell by what mystery of evil; nor
can there be taken from me the distinc
ton between right and wrons-"thou
shalt" and thou shalt not nor can
any take from me--blessed be God-the
conviction that life is not the sport of
chance, but is shaped, directed, inspired
by my Father.
It IS evident that the wireless te!e
graph failed to post Lieutenant Peery
recar5ine- the price of coal. Otherwise