Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-08-09

s.asll is, as the Bible
98s says, deceitful
y above all things,
hopelessly wicked.
Now the Bible does not set out to
prtve that God is. It assumes that
every intelligent man will believe this,
and so it's pages open with the sublime
and stupendous statement: I'm the be-
ginning Cod" The Bible, however,
does tell us that "the heavens declare
the glory of Cod" and that ''the invisi-
BILE things of him from the creation of
the world are clearly seen." So while
the Bible does not try to prove that
God is, it does tell us that God, whose
existence it assumes, may be known.
It tells us that nature is one of
the books which God has given us,
in which he tells US about himself. It |
tells us that another book in which |
God is revealed is the Bible itself, the
written word Of God, and that third |
one is the living or incarnate Word,
the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom it is
time; the only begotten Son, which is
in the bosom of thu Father, he hath
declared him." that is. lied him
FORTH" as Doctor Scof1eld says, Unto
full revelation"
No man, then, need be in ignorance
of God with three books making him
known, and with such a threefold rev.
elation of God, how can anyone deny
that God is, or be ignorant of hint
II. The One Who Plays the Fool.
He is the person who fails to take
God into account that is, he acts as If
there were no God. Saul did this when
he sought David's life. He left God
out of his reckoning in his determine
ton to slay David, and one night when
he was encamped, surrounded by his
soldiers and bodyguard, David stealth
lily made his way through the guard
with one of his trusty followers, and
removed the bolster from under Saul's
head, and the cruise of water and the
spear that were by his side, without
awakening him or any of the soldiers.
Withdrawing in safety to the hillside,
David shouted back to the captain Of
Saul's army, "Abner! Abner!" and
when this sleepy captain, with Saul
and the encamped soldiers awakened,
they saw David on the hillside,
stretching forth his trophies that they
might see that he could have taken
Saul's life if he had chosen. Then it
was that Saul, realizing that he had
left God out Of his reckoning in his at
tempt to slay David, exclaimed: 81
have played the fool"
And so dies every one who does not
take God into account. The man OF
the woman who schemes or plans and
world is as big a fool as the person
who says in his heart: ''There is nc
Cod" Both are fools because they
deny the existence of God one by his
| words processes his atheism, while
the other lives his.
Ill. The Rich Fool.
He is the man whose ambition IL
life is to accumulate wealth.
Christ portrays him in the parable
/ Of the man who, having a great har
vest pulled down his barns and bull
J greater and when they were filled sai(
to himself, "Soul, thou hast much good:
l laid up for many years; take thine
: ease; eat, drink and be merry" Blu
, God said unto him, '"Thou fool, thi
. night thy soul shall be required O
, thee; then whose shall these things b.
which thou hast provided?"
How many folks there are in tn
world with whom the supreme thinI
In life is the getting Of material things
4 their one ambition to accumulat
Q wealth? They strain and scheme an,
e work and worry to get gain, forgetting
U that day is coming when their soul
!. shall be required Of them, and the1
o If they have succeeded, like the ricl
> man in the parable, it will be pert
q nent to ask them, "Whose shall thes
IL things be?" And If they die, havin
e laid up treasures for themselves, an
o are not rich toward God, they hav
( gone into the other world as pauper.
q One night in New York city
q wealthy man lay dying. He had ever
y material thing the heart could desir,
but one thing he felt his need of, an
that was prayer. Sending for hi
gardener, godly soul, he asked hill
. to pray for him, and when the garden
:; er had finished his simple, ferver
n prayer. the dying millionaire said
"John, now sing for me-" what sha
y I sing" asked the gardener. And til
e man who was rich in houses and land
and bonds and mortgages replied
70 "Sing, John, the song, Come ye sill
Il ners, poor and needy, weak and wa
lf | word Sick and soro 3" a nd tho oor6one
4 sang this blessed song Of invitation
10 the millionaire who knew that wit
y God his money did not count and tn,
T. If he was to be saved it must be as
1oor and needy sinner.