Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-10-22
Jobs Life Is Example of
Gods ANSWERS to PrQuer

of martyrs to tell how others SUI
fered and to inspire him 10 do like
wise, and yet every day he just
pleased God.
All about him was moral dark
ness. blacker than the awful dark
ness of Egypt, and out of all that
infamy and idolatry and adultery
and corruption, old Job walked
shining like a star; had on the
whole armor of God and he handled
the shield of his faith so skilfBlly
that the devil could not touch him.
Oh. God, how it shames US today
the religious life Of that man
way back yonder. compared to the
NUTS today, with all we have got
to DO with. Come on.
Now, a man may be so conscious
we'll l will put it this way; a
mans consciousness of his rela-
tionship to God may be so vague
and indefinite as to exercise abso-
lutely no influence over his charac-
ter or his conduct Not at all. He
may be a nominal Christian Wis
ually, subscribe to all the articles
in the apostles creed, but the glor-
ious truths they confess with their
lips are invalid and sterile. Their
minds seem to be a sort of dormi-
tory of slumbering admissions, and
a sick ward of impotent beliefs and
paralytic and crippled purposes.
Oh! Wait a minute. I mean this:
An educated Hindu will pass an
examination Of hygiene and yet he
will look on cOmplacently while
every sanitary law is violated be-
meath his own roof. The poor mutt
does not seem TO realize that
science to be of any value must BE
put into practice He is content
with an abtruse knowledge.
Don't Deliver Goods.
That is just exactly what is the
matter with many people out there
in the church, they do not believe
in practicing what they read in the
bible and all they think is neCes-
sary is an intellectual knowledge.
They never get out and deliver the
goods, express charges prepaid.
Well. sir. l bring you the mes
sage this afternoon to show you
that it pays to be a Christian and
to serve God. And l will say that
II L hA4O" llaA AAAAS nv
was all, that death was an eternal
sleep and that when l die that ends
it, that there is no heaven nor re
ward, no hell or punishment for
sinners. l would still continue to
live the kind of a life I am for the
sake of the peace and blessings and
decency that comes to me while
am here.
Now great and manifold were the
blessings which resulted from that
trial, and every trial that God per-
miIs to come. How differently, If
Job only had heard the CONVERSE
ton between the Lord and the
devil He would have said Come
on, devil" But the faith which
sustained Job in the darkness is
the same faith that will sustain you
in every hour of trial. ard was
based upon his experimental
knowledge of God.
He said. Even I can trust God
He will stand by me, sir. 1 know
that my Redeemer liveth and that
He shall stand on the earth in the
latter day"
The man who knows that has
mat III bANc nm PNOSC
and rest and will uphold him when
the mountains are slipping into the
sea
The first result of Jobs trial was
that he had a better experience.
Job understood God better. Thou
canst do everything and nothing is
withheld from them"
AS the knowledge which comes
to you through the eye is superior
to that which comes to you through
the ear, so Jobs religious exper-
fence after his trial surpassed al
that he had ever known before.
So it is with you. Whatever you
may have gotten out Of this world
before you were a Christian it is
not to be compared with what you
will get when you are a Christian.
And the blessings that God gives
you here as a Christian. are moth
ing compared to what He is going
to give you in the end because you
were a Christian. Nothing at all.
No, No, No, No.