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THE ATLANTA GEORGIAN AND NEWS. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1907.
A Cure For Cold Hearts: 5HS*"’ ,oin
mind be in you
it alioin Chris*
Philippian* II.
By REV. JOHN E. WHITE,
Pastor Second Baptist Church
•MUMMUOtMIHMIHIMHINMMUMMIHUUHII
T HERE Is a story that once In a
village in Scotland winter broke
upon the people linexpeeliHlly
and It was found that by a strange co
incidence the tires on every hearth
through carelessness hod been allowed
to go oat It was.before the day of
matches and the only way the people
could recover their tires was to And
some hearth that was yet aglow.
From one house to another they hur.
rled until the crowd had become, a
multitude and their anxiety hail be
come almost a panic, for not a spark
could they find.
But at last they came to n house way
up on the hill. There the Are was
burning and there was a great shout.
The canny Scotchman of that house
gave them fire, but rebuked the people
for neglecting their hearth-stones, and
said: "Why so foolish to come so far?
Why did ye not take your flints In the
old way and get the Are from the
rocks?"
The Christian's Touch-stone.
There Is a great running about among
Christians In n kind of panic os If
all the fires of enthusiasm for humanity
were about to perish forever. No! No!
my friends, there Is an altar of qunch-
less Ore and It Is availably near for
every man.
. It Is the altar whose flame never
ceoseth—the altar of Calvary, the fires
of the grace of God that blaze In the
cross of Christ. Touch the cross and
your lamp will flame.
•T know a bush that Are does not de
stroy:
I know a flower that heat can but
. expand:
I know a sacrifice whose root Is joy:
I know, an altar that unbinds the
hand.
“Love Is that altar; In its cleansing
Ares
The tree of zeal grows green with
youth again.
And In the fervor that Its flame In
spires
The captive heart forgets Its former
pain.
“Put on Its fetters and thou shall be
free,
Embrace this attar and thy cords
shall fall;
Become love's captive and thy soul
shall be
Lord of Itself and master over, all."
It Is the great altar of the great love
of God!
But what do we know of Ood's love
for the souls of men? The answer is
simply this, and npthlng is to be added
to It: We know Jesus Christ.
if that question hod been asked thou
sands of years ago, how feeble must thd
answer have been. Ask that question
of the scientists, who tell us of the pre-
Adamites. "What do you know about
God's love for the souls of men?” And
you will get only the snarling of halrv
denizens of caves for an answer. Ask
It even of the age before Noah, or of
the ages before Abraham or of the ages
before Moses and David and the proph
ets. There Is light from God. but men
call It the light of law, not the light of
love.
A few great souls comprehend God's
mercy: a few broken hearts know
God's gentle mending. But for the
world, for the hosts that rise up In the
morning and lie down In the evening,
religion Is charged with shadow. 8ucn
love of God as they know Is chiefly
concerned with what we call Provi
dence Types and symbols, the round of
temple offerings absorb religion In the
thought that God Is estranged from
man and that He Is to be placated In
some way. That Ood was behind thnt
dimness loving and yearning, that He
could be willing to take the fallen wom
an to His heart or clasp one of their
little babes to His bosom, was not a
thought that men could think then. Let
me tell you what I regard as the most
Irrational and unsclentlflc proposition
ever put out for men to believe. It Is
that Jesus Christ was just a natural
man, coming on In the natural way—
the product of a world and an age, that
could not even think of Ood as In any
sort of passionate seeking for human
souls. But what do we know of the love
of God for men now? I say we know
Jesus Christ. We know that He came,
that there was a day when the clouds
were swept from Ood's face and that In
Him an almighty power of love began
to hunt high nnd low through this
world to find souls that were lost.
Hunting Is the mark of the religion wc
call Christ's religion and so marked It
Is that the average man of our dav
knows very well that every one of those
modern institutions of religion that has
no passion for souls In It Is a pseudo-
Christianity. , ,
The Passion of Jesus.
Bring your minds right down to
'realize what was the heart of the
mission of Jesus Christ. We can speak
of the slgnlflcance of Christ and never
tonch the heart of It. There are .a
hundred flno and truthful things wc can
say about Christ without hinting at
His true glory. His slgnlflcance Is
translatable Into almost unlimited prac
tical applications to morals. But strip
all that off, lay asldo His garments
of glory, make base the soul of Je*us
Christ, come down to the simplicity of
the facts that were the main and per
fectly patent meaning of His life. There
you will find the Are to rekindle your
zeal. What is It?
Jesus Christ was Just God hunting
for man’s sotil.
It Is possible that we may make mis
takes In our interpretations of Christ's
career, especially when we go far ofleld
in merely theological expositions. But
there can be no mistake here. Jesus
came to seek and save the lost. Jesus
hod a passion for men. and especially
for bad men. That is the blazing altar
of Christianity, for the church to re
kindle by.
1-et us not get too quickly away from
It. As the blacksmith holds the red
dened Iron In the seething blaze till It
whitens, hold your zeal to this altar.
Refresh your memories, my friends,
with the real object of Christ's mission
In this world; recall the unalterable
principle that whatever was the main
thing of His mission Is the main thing
of the mission of any church bearing
His name. Draw the principle to Its
finest point at our own hearts—that
whatever was the passion of His life
must be Ideally at least and really to
some true extent the passion of every
one of us who bear Hid name. If you
would make no mistake open the New
Testament and say I am going to find
out exactly what was Christ's own en
thusiasm. Did He come to found an
Institution, to build up a religious de
nomination, to introduce piety Into so
ciety or to formulate a system of mor
als? These results were accomplished.
It Is true. But they were brought about
absolutely. through a primordial pur
pose, an antecedent zeal for something
that was nearer to His heart than these
things.
Christ Himself did not lay hand to a
single one of them. He was absorbed
with one thought, devoted to one sub
lime, unselfish mission. It was to go
after lost men. It was high time aomc-
!' sic >||,.|||,| Cl ill'll'!- I lllMIl.
Before Christ came, who cared for
the lost man?* The righteous had
friends, but where was the sinner's
friend In all the world? Men were
esteemed, but who cared for man? Who
cares for the bones In the path? It
may be a dog's or the bone of nn ox or
even the bone of a man servant. It's a
bone and nothing more. It bos no rela
tion with our happiness, no connection
with our success. Who cares' for the
shell on the beach? The ocean has east
It up, the sands have ground It: tram
ple it deeper In Its grave nnd pass on.
V Ask Jesus Christ.
So little man cared for man !>eforc
Christ came. But He came, that Is the
glory of your life and my life. And
we are not nfrald to go to Him any
where and ask Him what He came for.
Ask Him ns He rises from the blood-
wet leaves of the Garden and the
heavy darkness falls over His soul.
"Jesus, here In Atlanta, we want to
know what God means and what Tou
are for?" “I and the Father are one."
He savs. "I am come to seek and to
save that which Is lost In your city."
Ask Him ns He hangs on the cross
Itself, and He will give your heart an
answer that will drive you either fur
ther from His presence or send you
back home today retaught, reconse
crated and resolved that you are much
too hopeful when this little space of
years Is traversed of seeing Him face
to face, not now today, to share His
passion for lost men.
A True Incident.
On the veranda of a hotel at one of
the summer resorts far up In the
mountains of Switzerland one after
noon sat a woman with a mountaineer's
telescope In her hands. It was turned
upon the Jungfrau and she was in
tensely watching something there. She
was looking at four black figures
against the snow, 12 miles and more
away. Suddenly the glass dropped
from ber hands and she fell to ths
floor In a dead faint. One of the men
at her side seized the glass and turned
it upon the distant scene. Those fig
ures were men. They were fastened
together with ropes. A desperate ef
fort had evidently been made to reach
the summit, but one of the men had
slipped and was dragging the others
toward the edge of the precipice. While
he looked the man at the top of the
line seemed to make a final attempt
to get a foothold and then the rope
broke ami three oLthem werq hurled to
their death. The next morning tho
mangled bodies V’ere brought In and
toward evening the man who had
saved himself appeared. As he cams
up to the steps of the hotel several
people whom he numbered among his
friends turned and walked hurriedly
away. He went on Into the hotel, but
everybody shunned him. He came to
a group of men in the oflice and tried
to engage them In conversation. They
had not a word to say. At lost he
drew some of them aside and said: ‘T
insist that you tell me what Is the mat
ter. ‘ Have I merited your III will? Why
do you treat me so?” After a little
hesitation, one of them spoke frankly
and said: ‘if you must know. It is
simply this. When they brought in
the dead bodies of your comrades title
morning It was plain that the rope
hod been cut."
I will not Judge that man. I leave
It for you. But my message today
comes to this at last. The safety now
and the Anal salvation. of some souls
are In the keeping of every Christian
who looks upon me.
it Is no difficult thing In such a
way that men's eyes will never Judge,
to cut the ropes of Influence one of
you has over a soul so far os your
ability to turn It to Christ Is concerned.
They will slip—you with a security
of feeling I am not here questioning—
you with a hope of eternal life which
I pray may not be an awful conceit-
will let them slip.
Oh. Lord! when we turn our feet up
the altar stairs that from the grave
slope and ascend to the many roomed
house, meet us not coldly for that we
have been cowards In thy faith and
passion, but greet us gladly, for that
we have tried to win some to Thee and
when we foiled we had tears like Thine
at Jerusalem oVer our failures. Amen.
Polishing the Pole.
From Harper's Weekly.
In the railway station at Wllkesbarrc,
which has a large Slavic population.
Is a sign over the bootblack stand
bearing the legend:
"Shine, 5 cents. Polish, 10 cents."
An Irishman stood In front of It ths
other day apparently plunged in pro
found thought. At length he pulled
his pipe from his mouth and spat vig
orously.
, i'alth, and they’d be doin’ well to
cha-r-rge double for dagoes, too," was
his emphatic comment.
The Busy Man's DrinK
In Every WaIR of Life
Delicious to the taste—Refreshing to
the mind and body. Containing all
the essentials of the “IDEAL BEVER
AGE.” RELIEVES FATIGUE.