The Penn's Grove record., 1903-01-23

IneSe Things mad been Denied to him.. But
it is not the end of his sin. It really seems
as II jealousy must nave been born in
he'll; if one has the seed of it in his ma
ture he is somehow compelled by a force
he can hardly resist to go deeper into the
evil.
In the second place we find Saul destroy
ing the Lords truest friend. How true il
and failed to make that one right, the rest
becomes easy, not i~nfrequently almost a
delight.
In the third place we find him sparing
Agag and the part of his flock. He the
king with lying upon his lipsi This sin
becomes very easy. If we allow the corrup-
ton of two or three days to lie in our
souls without being cleansed how sad the
results! No one ought to close his eyes at
night until he has absolutely made certain
that all of the sins of the day have been
washed away in the precious blood OF
Christ.
The last we see of Saul is when he falls
upon his sword and takes his own life-s
murderer in the sight of God and In the
sight of man.
Sin is awful. In the very beginning of it
you seem to get the hiss of the serpent as
he trails through the Garden Of Eden. 1t
breaks up home, drags multitudes away
from God and down to hell. But the
warning cry is given here that we must
OA06A0 La& olLAo44 6Llo IL W. U0aAA @0k IN
overpowered by the greater ones. We
must be cleansed from little transgres-
sions if we would not finally be lost. Ii
| any one should ask the secret of failure,
| the reason why at last the crown should
be lost, it could all be summed up in three
letters-SIN.
THEN COMETH THE END.
The day of awards is a great day. 1t is
really the judgment seat of Christ, when
we are to receive the reward of the deeds
| done through the body. 1t is not a time
| when we are judged for sin, for the sin
| question was all settled at the cross for
those who accept Jesus Christ. It is not to
be confused with the day Of Judgment spo-
ken of in the twenty-ffth chapter of Mat
thew; and certainly it is not identical with
the great white throne judgment presented
in the twentieth chapter of Revelation. 1t
Is simply the day when the Master, before
whom the records of our lives are laid
bare, shall give to us the reward for our
f~aithfulness, or express His estimate of
our faithlessness.
I can see the Master, with His people
gathered before Him. A name is called
that is familiar, and / see that one stand
Then the Master speaks-with that voice
that John tells US sounds ike the flow of
many waters, that voice that stilled the
tempest tossed sea, and caused Lazarus to
break the bonds Of death. !. hear Him
speak. The crowns are being lifted up,
and the first one is the crown If life. /
hear Him say:
This is given to the one who has done
little things well for My glory, or to the
one who has suffered for My sake. You
might lave had it, but you failed in your
own home. You had no testimony for your
own circle of friends. A kind word you
might have spoken, but you left it unsaid-
The cup of cold water was never given.
You might nave had the crown of life, but
it has been taken by another"
| see Him hold aloft the second crown.
This" He says, lis given to the one
who has done hard work for Me. / suf-
fered the pains Of Gethsemane and the
mockings of the crowd. and the stripes of
the Roman hagellator, and the pains of
hell UPON the cross. This crown is for the
one who has endured all things if only My
cause might have been advanced. But
alasl when there came a time when the
church seemed about to move forward you
opposed it. When thousands of souls
might have been converted your prejudice
against the work of the Holy Ghost
BLOCKED THE BLESSING.
You might have had the crown, but an
other has taken it"
l see Him hold aloft the third crown,
Respondent with jewels. All the angels
shout aloud:
"This is the soul-winner's crown"
There has always been JOY In the pres
ence of the angels of God over those re-
deemed from sin.
"You might have had this crown, but
alas! your culture, your intellectual
strength and your social position never
won a soul for Me. The members of your
own household were led into My kingdom
by others. The people in your own store
did not know you were Mine"
/ remember once holding a series of
meetings in Paris, Illinois. In walking
down the street with one of my assistants
I heard him talking with a young man,
no impression upon him. l heard him say,
Your mother wants you to become a
Christian, does she not?" And the young
man began to cry. Then I heard him ask,
Your father wants you to become a
Christian, does he not% And there was
no answer. But soon | heard hin make
this statement: MY father is an officer in
the church and my mother Is a leader in
the work of the women's society In the
church, but neither of them has ever spo-
ken to me about my soul"
l believe many a father and mother viii
stand before the Judge on the great day of
awards and hear the words:
you are crownless. Your children were
not saved, or if they were, in their saliva
ItUu YOU nave udQ uO pdIL. 1OQ IllSut
have had this crown, but another has
taken it."
/ can see Him holding aloft the fourth
crown, the crown of glory. / can hear Him
picture how one came into the church
from great depths of sin; how his constitu-
ton had been undermined by the power Of
an evil life; how he had been saved by
the power of God and cheered by the
warm hand clasp and the s~ympathizing
word, and a brothers sympathy to hold
out to the end. And / can almost hear
Him say:
sSuch an one sat beside you in church
and walked with you in the streets, or
in the store, or possibly lived with you in
your home, and you said never a word
with Christ and when he wandered you
exclaimed in surprise: I expected no
1 can catch the tones of His voice, as
He says:
"You might have had this crown, but
another has taken it."
I see Him hold aloft the fifth and last
crown-the crown of righteousness. 1
hear Him say:
Did I not promise that I would come
again? Had not ] written it over and over
again in the book? Was not line added to
line. statement added to statement, that
in like name as / went way / should
come back! Were not all the pr0phecleS
of My coming fulfilled, even to the last de-
tails of My life, My suffering and My
death? Did you not have faith that if one
prophecy was fulfilled the others might
have been fulfilled also?"
And then that crown which is to me
the most beautiful, the brightest and the
best, is held aloft for a moment, dazzling
in its glory, and I hear Him say:
"You might have had this crown, but
has taken it."
We may miss the five crowns by our un-
yet we may be saved, $50 as
by fire." But one thing must be: we must
see Him face to face.
In the city of indianapolis a celebrated
Quaker minister told me of a friend whose
child had been born blind. He was
brought to Indianapolis, and this Quaker
was asked to find a specialist who would
successfully treat him. Such an one was
found. When the operation had been
he announced that the boy would
certainly see, and sure enough he opened
his eyes. His first glance rested upon his
whom he had never known but by
finger touch. The mother bent down to
see if she was to be recognized, crying ont:
ssOh, my SON. my son!n
The boy gazed at his mother, and when
ne knew her, cried out:
snH M0TuE IS THIS 81