The Penn's Grove record., 1909-04-16
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. CURTIS LEE LAWS.
Theme: Backsliding.

Theme: Backsliding.
Brooklyn, N. YIN tho Greene
Avenue Baptist Church, Sunday, the
pastor, the Rev. DR.. Curtis Lee Laws,
preached a strong sermon on Back
sliding" The text was from Proverbs
14:14: @The backslider in heart
shall be filled with his own ways"
DR.. Laws said:
Do you recall your early expert
ences in the service of the Lord? Do
you remember the day and hour
when the burden of sin rolled off
your heart, and when you could look
up for the first time into the face of
your heavenly Father, rejoicing In
His presence and in His love? Do
you not recall how the whole world
suddenly became more beautiful and
how your heart yearned over your
friends and enemies as never before?
There was on old man converted to
Christ down in Washington some
time ago. He was a rugged old fell
low, his esthetic nature had not been
much cultivated, and he did not have
an artists eye. The morning after
his conversion, when his wife came
down to breakfast, he was standing
at the dining room window looking
out at the desolate winter scenery.
He turned and said: "Wife, come
here and look, come here and look;
the very trees are clapping their
hands in praise to God!" All, In the
days gone by there has been many an
oahn nf fhncn unrdc IN rnanu n hA0rf
here.
To me after 1 found God, the whole
world was 0 beautiful; the sky
was bluer, the grass IA greener, the
breezes were softer, the sun was
warmer and all mankind were dearer
to me.
What is the meaning of all this?
It ear that I had found that which
was the complement of my whole be-
ing. AS Augustine said: 90 Lord,
Thou hast made us for Thyself, and
we are restless till we rest in Thee"
1t mean that in God 1 had found the
satisfaction which this world had
never afforded me, for as the ocean
only can fill the oceans bed, so God
alone can satisfy the mind of man.
Blessed is the man who has been rec
onciled to his heavenly Father, who
has returned like the prodigal to his
Fathers love.
I turn now to the dark side of the
picture. How few of us have kept
this early joy, and have continued in
this blessed peace? OF course you
know the story of the lost chord? A
woman. in the shadows of the twi-
light, when her heart was sad, gently
touched the keys of a glorious organ
She did not know or care what she
was playing; her fingers fingered idly
but caressingly upon the keys. Sud
denly she struck a chord, and its won.
drous melody as it filled the room
was uplifting and Transforming and
heavenly.
1t flooded the crimson twilight,
Like the close of an angels psalm,
And it lay on her fevered spirit
With the touch of infinite calm.
1t quoted pain and sorrow,
Like love overcoming strife;
1t seemed the harmonious echo
From our discordant life.
1t linked all perplexed meanings
Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away In silence,
As if it were 10th to cease.
Something disturbed this woman
and called her from the organ. As
soon as possible she hurried back and
began to play, but this divine chord
was gone, and though she kept or
playing she could not bring it back
again.
How similar to our experience as
the children of God and yet how op-
posite! Many of US have lost oul
peace, u joy, our rapture, but bless
God, we can all have this heavenly
music in our souls again, If we are
willing, for God is willing to heal oul
backsliding. Backsliding is so com
mon among Christians as to be almost
universal. OF course, there are diff
ferent degrees of backsliding. Scmt
have gone only a little way, Will,
others have gone so far that the re
turn will be difficult, but thank God
not impossible.
First of all, let us consider how
men become baeksliders. The wore
itself is significant. To go forward
requires effort, to go backward re
quires no effort at all. In the Chris
Lldll Ill., IL JOQ CSdSS " 81 " dlt
you will inevitably go backward
This backsliding always begins in thu
heart. We may go on for a time il
the outward performance of duty, ii
the ceaseless round of Christian &C
tivities, while in our hearts thes'
things are growing more and NOR
distasteful. The heart may therefore
be in wrong relation to a given thing
while our actions may be perfectly ex
emplary. But God knows that tina
man is a backslider, and he knows !
himself. Whether others know j
matters very little. But after a tim'
all men will know it, for the back
slider in heart generally becomes tn,
backslider in life. 1t is very hard TO
men to continue long in hypocrisy
Ordinarily a mans outward life is tn
expression of his inner life. A man
character may be better than his rep
utation, or a mans reputation may b
better than his character, but ordi
harily reputation and character agree
We call the uncouth and uncivil @dia
monds in the rough"
We constantly say of the man VIII,
sins with his tongue, We'll, yol
know, he is veryhastya and impetuous
and often says things which he doe
not mean" But God says thes
things have their o1igin in the heart
and from the heart flow outward
When our conduct becomes bad, it i
because we have already been back
sliders in our hearts. Then bad lead
to worse. Like Peter, we begin 1T
follow the Lord afar of, and this in
evitably leads to the denial of GU
Master. You remember that whe
the Master was taken captive He wa
Immediately forsaken by His apostles
Then began the procession from Geth
semane to the judgment hall. TIL
Master walked alone His weary way