Milford chronicle., 1906-08-10

amid an endless sea Of sand? Where
shall we build the other housef Shall
we place it upon the highest pinnacle
of a Matterhorn or upon Mount CHM
borazo? Shall we build it upon some
dizzy crag where the eagle builds her
evrie to rear her young? 'Nay, nay'
YOU answer; mot in either one OF those
places must you build one of the two
/ houses of the text. When Christ illus
trated a truth he never used absurd
comparisOns. The house which was
built upon rock was not built upon an
inaccessible mountain height. The
bouse which was built upon the sands
Uas not situated in the center or an
lmpassable desert. In all probability
the wise man and the foolish man Of
this parable of the text built their
houses very close together. In all prob
ability these two men were neighbors,
and as neighbOrs their families asso-
ciated with each other" My friend'
believe you are right l believe these
two men of the parable were not only
neighbors, but that they had ad1oin-
ing farms. and when they built their
houses they built them at the same
time That is just such dramatic
contrast as Christ nearly always draws
in his parallels.
l go still further than that. be
lieve the two farms of these men lay
about in the same parallel position at
the foot of the mountain range one
half in the valley and the other haiI
upon the hillsides. Methinks l can see
these two men going out to select their
sites to build The wise man, like the
ant. selects a site for his house upon
a mound or hill which forms natural
watershed. Then he digs down ana
down until he strikes the rock. Ihen
he starts off to cut his lumber and
drag it up with the OK teams. WhHe
on his way he passes his neighbor ana
finds his house nearly finished. How
is il" he asks. that you are ready 10
nut on your roof. while / have only
lust dug the foundation of my house!'
The other answers: "I spared myseH
that trouble. l have simply leyeled the
soil without digging a foundation. II
IS easier and quicker that way Inc
wise man says: "NeighbOr' nelgiiOor'
YOU must not build your house there
Why, you are at the foot of that can
Won. Then this soil is all porous 1t
is full of water now. 1t is nothing but
a mess of quicksand. When the rainy
season comes and the freshets leap
and tear and rush out of those mouh-
tains you will be swamped in night
"Bosh." SAYS the foolish man. You
are q Dessimist. You are miserable
hunter of trouble. You are always an
ticipating tOrnadOes. The simple fact
is we have had sunshine and dry sea-
son so lOug that do not believe we
are ever going to have another rainy
season. Here / have selected my SITE
here l am building my house, and here
intend to stay" Do you wonder that
when the deluge came that foolish
mans house was destroyed because he
would not take tie advice of the wise
man, but built his house upon the
sands?
Left Out the Foundation.
The parable of my text divides the
whole human race into two groups
the wise mans group and the foolish
mans group. To which group do you
belong? Are you the foolish man
building your house upon the SAND
and refusing TO take the advice OF the
wise men who have come to us for
years begging us to stop building IN
folly? Did l say for years. Yes,
for in all this great audience there is
not one of us who is building his house
upon the sands through Ignorance. NO
sooner did we in youth select our
building sites upon the sand than our
loved ones gathered about us and
warned us of our errors. Our fathers
did thus Our mothers did thus. Our
Sunday school teachers and pastors
did thus. Our wives did thus. Our
Christian friends did thus. And still
we have gone on building our houses
on the sands. Shall we not take the
gospel advice of our dear ones, who are
pleading with US to do right nowF On'
how pleading and loving our would be
advisers have been! Today they seem
to come to us as we pictured the wise
man coming to the foolish man. They
seem to say: "Do not do that. DO not
commit that sin. Be true, be noble
be upright, be a Christian, be like
Christ" Would that we all might De
willing to heed the pleadings OF our
dear ones and put on the armOr OF
God and don the helmet of salvatlon
and lift the shield of faith.
But there is still another fact to
which / would call your attention.
This foolish man Of the parable was
not building a barn. He was not lift
ing a sheepfold. He was not erecting
memorial temple or beautiful tomb.
Ha wa, .ia.4ng bcuse Fe was
building a home. He was erecting a
domieiie where his wife and children
and his loved ones might gather. He
was saying to himself as he was build
ing it: "Now, here is the dining room'
wheEe can eat with my dear ones
and here is the nursery, where my ba-