The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-08-17

| | E#$##s%$$$;$% n er e ing 10
| note that this
| fool says this
$500 ~ In his heart
| and not in his
head. The rea-
E= son his heart
prompts such q
statement is be-
~ cause the heart
.ssS is, as the Bible
| la al says, deceitful
| "A M&I above all things,
- , hopelessly wicked.
Now the Bible does not set out to
prove that God Is. 1t assumes that
every intelligent man will believe this,
and so it's pages open with the sublime
and stupendous statement: "In the be-
ginning God" The Bible, however,
does tell us that "the heavens declare
the glory of God" and that "the invisi-
BILE things of him from the creation Of
the world are clearly seen.p 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. 1t
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 1t is
said: mo man hath seen God at any
time; the only begotten Son, which Is
in the bosom Of thu Father, he hath
declared him." that is, "led him
FORTH" as Doctor Scofleld 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.
elati0n Of God, how can anyone deny
that God is, or be ignorant of him?
u. 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 Stay David, and one night when
he was encamped, surrounded by his
soldiers and bodyguard, David stealth
uy made his way through the guard
..sssn 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
Sauls 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 STAY David, exclaimed: 81
have played the fool"
And so does every one who does not
take God into account. The man or
the woman who schemes or plans and
lives as If there were no God in the
world Is as big fool as the person
who says In his heart: "There is no
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 In
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. built
greater and when they were filled said
to himself, "Soul, thou hast much goods
laid up for many years; take thine
ease; eat, drink and be merry" But
God said unto him, "Thou fool, this
night thy soul shall be required of
thee; then whose shall these things be
which thou hast provided?'
How many folks there are in the
| world with whom the supreme thing
| in life is the getting of material things,
| their one ambition to accumulate
wealth? They strain and scheme and
work and worry to get gain, forgetting
that day is coming when their souls
shall be required Of them, and then,
If they have succeeded, like the rich
man in the parable, 1t will be peril
nent to ask them, "Whose shall these
| things be?" And if they die, having
laid up treasures for themselves, and
are not rich toward God, they have
gone into the other world as paupers.
One night in New York city a
wealthy man lay dying. He had every
material thing the heart could desire,
but one thing he felt his need of, and
that was prayer. Sending for his
gardener, godly soul, he asked him
to pray for him, and when the garden
er had finished his simple, fervent
| prayer. the dying millionaire said !:
"John, now sing for me-" what shall
sing?" asked the gardener. And the
! man who was rich in houses and lands
/ and bonds and mortgages replied /:
"Sing, John, the song, Come We sim
ners, poor and needy, weak and way
1 ward, sick and sore,'" and the gardener
| sang this blessed song of invitation to