The Tupelo journal., 1903-10-02

We are not going to try to show you how
you can improve the foundation you have
been trying to lay on which to establish
your soul, but we come to you in the
| name of the eternal God of Heaven, and
point you to the only foundation, the
| Rock Christ Jesus. The God who has
| created you and placed within your
bosom that precious, undying soul, has
not left you to perish upon the shifting
| sands of time but has established sure
| Foundation, an enduring Foundation,
| and that Foundation is Christ Upon
Him and Him alone the soul may rest in
peace and safety. AS we sing in the old
Gospel hymn: "All other ground is Sink
| ing sand" And so the man whose life is
| not founded on the Rock Christ Jesus is
the man without foundation; he is the
foolish man.
WITHOUT a foundation building
w is unsafe, and certain of de-
struction when the storm descends up
on it, and man without a foundation
is unsafe. Unsafe! The fact that he
does not realize his peril does not
prove that his position is not unsafe
The man who few years ago was
| swept over the falls of Niagara. with
the careless laugh scarcely cold upon
his lips, while his friends or the bank
sought to warn him of his peril. was not
kept from going down to death in the
roaring, plunging waters, because he
did not realize his peril. And the man
without foundation is in a position
of peril, of awful peril, and in danger
of plunging his soul into eternal ruin,
| even though he does not realize it.
| And the fact that the man without a
foundation continues to prosper and
| flourish in this life does not prove
that his position is not one of peril
This is one of the mysteries of life
which troubles the Christian sometimes
The man without a foundation seems
to have so much and to be so securely
established. and the Christian who has
foundation has SO little This was
what troubled the Psalmist He says:
II was envious at the foolish, when
saw the prosperity of the wicked"
Without foundation they seemed to
have so much and to endure But when
he went into the presence of the Lord,
then" says he, 81 understood their
end. Surely Thou didst set them in
slippery places; Thou easiest them
down to destruction" During the
time of fair skies and gentle winds the
house on the sand stood, but when the
storm came it fell. During the few
years of this life the man without a
foundation may seem to get along
pretty well, but when the storms of life
settle down, and death cuts the soul
off, then the awful lack Of foundation
is realized. The man without founda-
ton is in terrible peril.
. VI for this life, the man without
u foundation is unstable in all his
ways. The Psalmist in the first
Psalm sharply draws the contrast be-
tween the man with a foundation and
the man without. The former is like
tree planted deeply and firmly by
rivers of water, that bringeth forth his
fruit in his season; his leaf also shall
not wither; and whatsoever he doeth
shall prosper" But the man without
foundation is like the chaff which the
wind driveth away" He is tossed
hither and thither. inclination draws
this way to-day, and circumstances
and temptations drive that way to-
morrow. There is no fixedness of pur-
pose, because God is left out of the
reckoning. Human reason, human
judgments, human tendencies de-
termine the life and conduct, and to-
day the man stands in this position,
or holds this view. or adopts this pol
icy, engages in this enterprise, seeks
this avenue of pleasure or diversion,
and tomorrow has shifted to another
position, he holds other views, he has
adopted another policy, engaged in
other enterprise, or is rushing after
the latest pleasure and diversion which
the world in its Internal ingenuity has
devised The man without foundation
is unstable.
Not many weeks ago there came
moving through the streets of the sec
ton of the city where reside house
A house without a foundation. And
it was on the move. AS I passed it
one evening with my little girl, she
suddenly exclaimed: "Why, papc.
there is someone living in it," And
sure enough there was. A house with
out foundation sheltering it's precious
human lives. And many human life
without foundation is sheltering an
eternal soul And it moves on. Here
to-day, there tomorrow, a perpetual
menace to the precious soul it shelters.
PUT the house which was moving
II through the streets was being taken
as direct as possible to foundation
which would support it and give it
permanency. Would that everyone
who hears or reads this message who
is without foundation, might be led to
move upon the only Foundation,
Christ Jesus. God is not going to push
His Foundation under you and force
you to stand upon it. You must leave
your present position, and get over to
where Christ is. Repent! is Gods mes
sage to you. The hard, unrepentant
heart does not realize the peril of the
sinking sand, but repentance opens
the eyes of the soul to it's desperate
and lost condition in sin. God be
merciful to me, a sinner" must be the
cry. Repentance-since and genuine
repentance-is the condition of heart
which will break the letters which
bind you to the present position on the