The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1909-04-23
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
REV. w Y BEST
Theme: NaS Doing.

IA
doest not well, siL Meth at the door.
Gen, Al.
The farmer and the shephed bot
brought an offering unto the Lord
We look at Gains offering and W.
say, the Lord will certainly bles
Cain. What a costly Offering he Il
presenting and how much hard worl
1t must have taken to get 1t ready
Early and late has he worked through
the long summer days. In the swea
OF his face he has plowed, and har
rowed, and sown, and cultivated, ant
now Providence has blessed him with
a bountiful harvest. Look at the
choice vegetables and the delicious
fruits that go to make up his offer.
ing Surely the blessing Is his.
Abel selected lamb from his flock
without spot or blemish; he cuts its
throat; see the blood gush out! How
cruel! God will certainly reject Abel
| But God had respect unto Abel and
his offering, but unto Cain and his
| offering he had not respect; Why?
| Had he not worked hard and faith
| fully? Hadn't he acknowledged di-
vine Providence? Yes, all this is
true, but his heart was not right. His
| offering was one Of elf-righteousness
and good works. Abel came in God s
way, pot by works, not by self-right-
| eousbess, but by the blood Without
the shedding of blood there is no re-
mission of sin," for ut Is the blood
that maketh an atonement for the
soul" God taught our first parents
this great lesson when He slew the
animals to get coats OF skin to clothe
them. Abel had faith in Cod, and
coming in Gods way, he believed
God would receive him, so God testi-
fed to his gifts that he was right
eous.
When Cain saw that Abel was ac-
cepted he was wroth, and his coun-
teDance fell. "And the Lord said
unto Cain, Why art thou wroth; and
why Is thy countenance fallen? If
thou doest well, shalt thou not be
accepted? and if thou doest not well,
sin lieth at the door" What a warn
ing this! AS If the Lord had said.
Cain ] am no respector of persons;
If YOU do right / will bless you just as
willingly as | did Abel; but If you
don't do right, why, then, sin like a
wild beast OF prey is crouched at
YOUR hearts door and is only wait
ing for a good opportunity to leap
upon you" Instead of needing Gods
warning, Cain watched for an oppor-
tunity, and as soon as ii presented
itself, he rose up against his brother
and slew him. And wherefore slew
ne him, because his own works were
evil and his brothers righteous"
Here are two young men both en-
Gagged in good occupations and with
equal privileges. One made a sue
ress Of life, the other a failure. Up
20 the time of our text If we look at
Cain from the standpoint of this
world. we would say he bad done
well; but it was he that did it. Gods
word says, "by the works Of the law
shall no flesh be justified" "Salva-
ion is not of works, lest any man
should boast" Cain lived long
enough to make a mark in the world
but Instead of making q mark in the
world, God had to put mark on
rim lest the world should XIII him.
Even to this day he is despised as the
first murderer. Abel's life was short
compared with that of Cain, yet 1t
vas long enough to be successful;
?nd he is honored more to-day than
ever before. Jesus Christ said,
Blessed are the meek; blessed are
the pure in heart; blessed are. blessed
are" Here we are distinctly told that
Il is not what a man has, not yet
what he does, that obtains for him
Gods blessings; but what he is. Sol
omon said, Keep thy heart with all
diligence for out Of it are the issues
OF life" Well-doing is dependent on
vell-being.
]. The first step in well-doing is
10 give ones heart to God.
If a man does not do we'll in this
aspect what is the result? He may
oave ever so good an opinion of him
self, all his ways may be clean in his
avn eyes, he may think he is better
han anybody else; but God says his
'eart is deceitful and desperately
wicked above all things, his throat is
m open sepulchre, the poison OF asps
under his lips, his mouth full Of
'ursing, his feet swift to shed inno-
'ent blood, destruction and misery
re in his ways, no fear of God be-
ore his eyes. How can he escape the
damnation Of hell?
What worse error Is there than to
suppose a man can do well with a
wrong heart? We make an awful
mistake If we suppose that religion is
sin plv for the church and Sunday
school. The farmer needs IL to run
us farm. The merchant to run his
store. It is needed by every individ-
al that expects to make a success Of
life.
But remember that when a mans
1eart is right with God he is just in
q nosition TO do WELL the doing is
still before him. Salvation is in three
parts, an act, work, n state. A man
epents of his sins. accepts Christ by
,aith and salvation is to him an act
Of Gods free grace whereby he is
saved. But how many there are that
suppose that this is all there is to
salvation. The fact that q man was
saved five years ago is no proof that
ne is saved to-day, or that he will be
finally saved. From the day of
mans conversion until the day of his
death salvation is a work and he
must work it out" or be forever
lost. After death salvation is a state.
Il To-, Ill