The Penn's Grove record., 1906-06-22
IHh PULPIT,
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON E.
TIE REV. WILLIAM T. BEST.
Subject Christian Prosperity.

A'A W AOoS L Id an
open s~epulchre," his mouth full of
~cursing." his feet swift to shed inno-
cent blood, his heart "deceitful and
desperately wicked" spreading him
self like a green bay tree" "a tree that
is good for nothing, but to keep the
sunlight out of the marsh, the very
place where it ought to shine). and
then think of the Holy Spirit taking
hold of that man, bringing him "from
darkness to light" from the power Of
sin and Satan TO God, putting a new
song in his mouth, placing his feet in
the way of peace" taking away the
"stony heart" and giving him an "heart
OF flesh" changing him from q hard,
fruitless, good-for-nothing bay tree into
an upright, useful, victorious palm
tree. 1t is wonderful! wonderful! but
that is not all,
For God will give him all things"
Christ will never leave nor forsake
him; the Holy Ghost will lead and
guide him into "all TRUTH" the angels
of Heaven will have charge concerning
him to keep him in all his ways. Gle
shall be like a tree planted by the riv-
ers of water, that .bringeth forth his
fruit in his season; his leaf also shall
not wither and whatsoever he doeth
shall prosper" Gle shall flourish in
the courts of God" lie shall flourish
"like the palm tree she shall still
bring forth fruit in old age, he shall be
fat and lourishing."
The palm tree is the prince Of the
vegetable kingdom, so named from its
noble aspect; it sometimes rises one
hundred feet, unbroken by branches,
bearing at its summit a magnificent
and graceful crow of large, fam
shaped and feathery leaves, in the
shadow of which are suspended great
clusters of fruit. No tree can look
more lordly or beautiful. 1t is not,
however, only beautiful, for. from the
bottom of its lowest root to the top
of its highest leaf, it is useful; from it's
leaves, baskets, bags, mats and brushes
are made; from IFS trunk, fences, canes,
poultry cages, building material and
fuel are obtained, while from its
fibrous webs thread is procured, which
may be twisted into ropes and rigging.
1t furnishes food, shelter, clothing.
fibre, starch, paper, wood, sugar, oil.
wax, tannin, dyeing materials, resin
and a host of other things,i all. max
ing three hundred and sixty. In Egypt,
Arabia and Persia many Of the inhab-
1tants subsist almost entirely on its
fruit. For more than one hundred
years it maintains its vigor and beauty,
and there is no more charming nor
majestic sight than this king among
the trees of the plain" "as it looks far
away in the distance and gaZes into the
face of the sun, a symbol of life i'll the
midst of a world of death"
The Christian may be compared to
The palm tree III the following respects:
l.. The palm tree is of humble
growth, its stem being thick i'll proper
ton to its height, and is not more COM
plicated in structure than that of the
common butcher-broom. Sometimes it
produces a series of adventitious roots,
Which thrust themselves into the soil
and serve to steady it. On account
of its weakness Pliny says, they will
sometimes plant three or four of them
together, forming Il strong, lofty and
beautiful tree. They were planted in
the courts of the temple.
The little things of to-day are the
great things of tomorrow. The King
dom of Heaven 'is like a grain of mus
tard seed, which a man took and cast
into his garden; and it grew and waxed
q great tree" When Il man is born
into the Kingdom of God. he is but a
babe i'll Christ. and looks to those
around him for help; but how often he
is disappointed, and finds that they,
who should be his best friends, are
often his greatest foes. This teaches
him the great lesson of taking his eyes
off men and placing them on Christ,
and by prayer and faith to reach out
and take hold of the solid rock, SO that
when the winds of temptation and
floods of doubt come, he is enabled to
stand. The great privilege, however, is
open to him of uniting with the Chris
tan Church, and thus with people like
himself, planted i'll the house of the
Lord, grow up into q beautiful Chris
tian character.
II. The palm tree grows in the
purest soil; it will not grow and flour
ish in filthy places like some trees"
Its heart is soft and tender, and is fed
by hidden springs, that flow beneath
the surface of the ground. Its roots
drink deep, and are sustained, while
they send up the moisture into the
leaves and branches, and they are re-
freshed and invigorated. "Its pres
ence, travellers assure us, indicates that
water is near, and may be obtained
from springs, or by digging; according
ly, Israel found twelve springs and
seventy palm trees at Elm"
The palm tree Christian grows in the
purest soil, where the Gospel is
preached in its purity. David said,
who shall ascend into the hill Of the
Lord? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart" The Saviour said,
Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God" The blessing of
Il pure heart and the blessing of
holiness are one and the same thing;
pure means unmixed, holiness means
Wilderness, both mean perfectness. God
said to Abraham, Il an the Almighty
God; walk thou before Me, and be thou
perfect" David said, MARK the per-
feet man and behold The upright, for
the end of that man is peace" Jesus
said to the young ruler. "If thou wilt
be perfect. so and sell that thou hast,
and give TO the poor" BE We there
for perfect, even rs your father, which
j. i'll Heaven, is perfect" Some men
say they do not believe in perfection,
but what a man believes he believes
is very different from what he does
believe" No nan will cut the sleeve
out of his coat. or the toe out of his
shoe, or in buying 4 horse search for
II that has Il SPAWN, i'll order to up
hold his doctrine of im~perfectiou. lie
may say that a Christian cannot be per-
feet, and vet if he is not perfect lie will
talk about him all through the COM
munity. Men do believe in perfection.
What Kind of perfection, then, does the
Bible teach? Not Adamic, nor Angelic.
s%inless, but Christian perfection.
The palm tree Christian then, is a per.
feet Christian, an all-round man.
Water is a type of the Holy Spirit:
is cleansing, refreshing and power
full. The woman of Samaria went ont
TO get Il pitcher of water, but She got
n whole well instead. Often we Chris
tianS come with our little pitchers to
draw water out of the wells of saliva
lion. What we need is the palm tree
it is rooted and grounded in Tho
well, aud therefore has the well in it.