Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1908-04-30
THE CASTLE
Of MANSOUL

The members of Montour Castle, No.
1856, K. G. E, in body attended div
inc services at the Grove Presbyterian
church Sunday morning. The SER
mon delivered by the pastor. the Rev.
DR.. Mccormack, was an able and ap-
propriate one, the theme being The
Castle of Mansoul
The text was taken from Proverbs
4th chapter and 23rd verse: above
all that thou guardest, keep thy heart "
DR.. Mccormack introduced his ser
mon by few words Of welcome ad
dressed to the visiting knights. Their
presence at the house of prayer, he
sal attested to the fact that they rec
ognized religion as an essential part
of life and that no society can exist
without its influence. Continuing the
speaker said: There is little old
book on my study shelf entitled The
Holy War and therein we read
There was reared in the midst of this
town famous and stately palace for
strength it might be calle castle for
pleasantness a paradise; for largeness
palace so copious as to contain the
whole world Bunyan, the Bedford
shire timer, has in this pictorial way
given us portrait of the Castle of
Mansoul, employing the things he has
read in the Bible and the things he
discovered in his own heart. BY this
castle Buryan means the heart and his
description is just page out of the
Bible and one of his inimitable pict-
ures as an illustration. The text needs
no further illustration or explanation
and will make use of my time in
seeking to enforce it. Above all that
thou guardest. keep thy heart
THE HEART.
"The heart is the key to the situa-
tion in it are the issues of life. There
is no remedy for bad heart and no
substitute for a good one. We are Of
ten concerned about what we do, but
we are not half concerned enough
about what we are. We need TO get
further back. Conduct Is the stream,
the flowing stream of our life II we
to it that the fountain head is pure.
Let the words OF my mouth and the
meditation OF my heart be acceptable
to thy sight. o Lord. We are to bring
into captivity every thought.
THE GATES OF MANSOUL.
This famous castle has five gates,
which are the five senses. At the five
gates place sentinels so that the castle
be duly guarded The first sentinel is
watchfulness. 1t is the prerogative Of
man to control himself When we lose
self-control we lose the power of man
hood. There can be no self control
without effort. The second sentinel is
diligence Eternal vigilence is the
price Of liberty without vigilance
you are lost; look diligently TO your
selves.
THE EYE GATE.
This is one of the easiest to at
tack; evil assails us most readily
through this gate and the castle yields
the heart is corrupted and the life
spoiled Well may we pray with the
psalmist: Turn away mine eyes from
beholding vanity
THE EAR GATE.
"Give heed how ye hear is an ap-
ostolic injunction worthy of our most
earnest attention and consideration.
Knowing the danger let us guard we'll
the entrance of the castle and keep a
watch on our ears.
GOOD.
1.-THE castle of mansoul must be gov
erned with good An empty heart is
the DEVILS workshop. The weeds OF
the world grow rapidly in the court of
the empty castle.
OBEDIENCE.
1.-The true knight is an obedient SOL
dier. He listens, he follows the COM
mand of his captain. The captain in
charge of the castle OF mansoul is our
Lord Jesus Christ The Castle is His !;
he built it for himself alone. Yet he
will never force his way in. The King
has committed the keeping of the cas-
tie to the men Of the town, but he
comes to us, knocking at the door Of
each heart saying - Let me in. >
A COUPLE OF