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About The Henry County weekly. (McDonough, GA.) 18??-1934 | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1909)
THE PULPIT. A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY REV. W. T BEST. Theme: Well Doing. Text: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not he accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.’’ —Gen., 4:7. The farmer and the shephed both brought an offering unto the Lord. We look at Cain’s offering and we say, the Lord will certainly bless Cain. What a costly offering he is presenting and how much hard work It must have taken to get it ready. Early and late has he worked through the long summer days. In the sweat of his face he has plowed, and har rowed, and sown, and cultivated, and 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 a 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 self-righteousness and good works. Abel came in God’s way, not by works, not by self-right eousness, but by the blood. “Without the shedding of blood there is no re mission of sin,” for “it 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 God, and coming in God’s way, he believed God would receive him, so God testi fied to his gifts that he was right eous. When Cain saw that Abel was ac cepted he was wroth, and his coun tenance 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 I am no respector of persons; if you do right I will bless you just as willingly as I did Abel; but if you don’t do right, why, then, sin like a wild beast of prey is crouched at your heart’s door, and is only wait ing for a good opportunity to leap upon you.” Instead of heeding God’s warning, Cain watched for an oppor tunity, and as soon as It presented itself, he rose up against his brother and slew him. “And wherefore slew he him, because his own works were evil and his brother’s righteous.” Here are two young men both en gaged in good occupations and with equal privileges. One made a suc cess of life, the other a failure. Up to the time of our text, if we look at Cain from the standpoint of this world, we would say he had done well; but it was he that did it. God’s word says, “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” “Salva tion is not of works, lest any man should boast.” Cain lived long enough to make a mark in the world; but instead of making a mark in the world, God had to put a mark on him lest the world should kill him. Even to this day he is despised as the first murderer. Abel’s life was short compared with that of Cain, yet it was long enough to be successful; and 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 It is not what a man has, not yet what he does, that obtains for him God’s 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 well-being. I. The first step in well-doing is to give one’s heart to God. If a man does not do well in this respect what is the result? He may have ever so good an opinion of him self, all his ways may be clean in his own eyes, he may think he is better than anybody else; but God says his heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things, his throat is an open sepulchre, the poison of asps is under his lips, his mouth full of cursing, his feet swift to shed inno cent blood, destruction and misery are In his ways, no fear of God be fore 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 simply for the church and Sunday school. The farmer needs it to run his farm. The merchant to run his store. It is needed by every individ ual that expects to make a success of life. < But remember that when a man's heart is right with God he is just in a position to do well; the doing is still before him. Salvation is in three parts, an act, a work, a state. A man repents of his sins, accepts Christ by faith and salvation is to him an act of God’s free grace whereby he is saved. But how many there are that suppose that this is all there is to salvation. The fact that a man was saved five years ago is no proof that he is saved to-day, or that he will be finally savecP. From the day of a man’s 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. 11. The second step in well-doing Is to take the Bible as one’s guide. It is doubtful whether there weuld be such a country in the world as the , United States of America, were it not for the longings of Christopher Col umbus to spread the knowledge of this book. To it we owe the immor talization of the Mayflower and the sublimity of Plymouth Rock. The command rolled from bow to stern on the grand old* Puritan vessel. “Pull down that sail, let not an oar touch the water, this is the Sabbath Day!” When the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Newburyport, they put down the old Bible and said, “We are going to build a nation on this Book.” It supported George Washington, the father of this country, and purchased for us our freedom. It made Daniel Webster the Biblical Concordance or the United States Senate and Patrick Henry and James Otis, like unto the Hebrew prophets, and now if you wish to understand one of the great est events in our history, look at this picture. It is that of a Kentucky youth, his arms are tired after chop ping all day, yet he sits up till the midnight hour, and as the snow-wet logs crackle on the hearth and blaze up the chimney, he reads from this grand old Book, the Book, that in after years made him a leader, whose administration subdued a rebellion of eight million people, and the emanci pator w’hose pen struck the shackles from the limbs of four million slaves, neither in this country nor elsewnere in the world shall ever dies the mem ory of Abraham Lincoln. I heard Rev. John Mavity say one time that in his younger years he used to preach that if a man had a right heart every thing else he did would be right; but, said he, “of late years, I have concluded that a man needs not only a right heart but a right head.” There is some truth in this statement. Isaiah tells us, we must “learn to do well.” Paul says, “Study to show thyself approved of God.” While I would say to every young man and woman, you ought to have the very best education possible, l would also say, let the Bible be to you the Book of Books. Nearly all the great men of the past owe their greatness to this Book. It is almost impossible to name any rule by which men have succeeded in life that has not its foundation in the Bible. The Book of Proverbs is especially full of such rules. John Quincy Adams made the Bible his constant companion. Amos Law rence, the millionaire merchant of Boston, had inscribed on his pocket book, the text, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own 60ul?” No wonder he gave thousands of dollars to the cause of Christ. But what about the men who reject the Bible? W r hy, sin lieth at their door. The superstitious life of Byron, or the dying words of Voltaire will prove this statement. 111. The third step in well-doing Is to be honest. Your Book, the Bible, says, “Thou shalt not steal,” or in other words be honest. 1. Be honest with God. You have accepted Christ as your Saviour, and taken His Book as your guide; the Book tells you what is ex pected of each one of His followers, and He tells you just the work what He wants you personally to do. Have you met both these requirements? 2. Be honest with yourself. Youi have a soul to save and a body to care for. You will be rewarded ac cording to yotir works. 3. Be honest with your fellow man. A man would steal a dollar on the same principle that he would steal a pin. Watch the little things; a gnat choked Pope Adrian; a nail turned a ship out of its course; a fly by walking from tree to tree revealed tc the onlooker that the supposed dis tant landscape was only a picture. Said a wholesale merchant to a customer, as he pointed to one of his clerks: “That young man, sir, is my banker, he handles every cent of money that passes th-ough the store. He could cheat me out of thousands of dollars every year if he wanted to, but I am not afraid to trust him, he has proven himself to be strictly hon est.” Said a merchant to one of his clerks: “Why didn’t that lady buy those goods?” “Because, sir, she wanted Middlesex cloth. “Why did you not show her the next pile, and call them Middlesex?” “Because, sir, they were not Middlesex.” “Well, said the merchant, if you are as par ticular as all that you will never do for me.” “Very well,” said the young man, “if I have to lie to keep my po sition I will lose it.” "When Abraham Lincoln had charge of Orfuts’ country store, he walked two miles to give a lady six cents that he had overcharged her by mistake. Another time he made a mistake and sold a quarter of a pound of tea for a half pound. As soon as he discov ered his error he could not rest till it was made right. After he was ad mitted to the bar it was said of him that he would never defend a person whom he believed to be in the wrong, even if they offered him a large amount of money to do so. He undertook the Paterson trial, believing the man accused of murder to be innocent; but when the trial was half through he changed his mind and dropped the case, refusing pav for his services. When the time came In our history as a nation that the people began to distrust the eorrupt politicians who were governing in the interests of slavery, the only hope of saving the ship of state was to place an honest man in the Presidential chair. Hon est Abe Lincoln was the man selected. From a spiritual point of view we are debtors to all men, let us try and pay this debt, not only by our lives but by giving our substance to the cause of Christ throughout the world. IV. The next step in well-doing is to be men and women of Tact, Push and Principle. Upon these three qualities depend the success of every man or woman from a business point of view. Sam uel Budgett, the great English mer chant, attributed his success to them. 1. Tact.—Tact is nothing more nor less than the use of common sense, and it is so common that very few people possess as much of it as they ought to. Many so called cultured people often speak of the farmer as the “hayseed from the country.” But some of them when they visit the farmer show themselves to be de ficient in this quality of tact. Said one young man to his farmer friend: “What kind of a bird do you call that?” “A goose,” was the reply. “O, I see; you keep that to get gooseber ries with.” A young lady from the city of Ottawa asked a friend of mine which of his cows gave the butter milk. Every one who has heard or read Dr. Price’s address to young peo ple will remember his apt illustration, “Tabby, why don’t you get up?” 2. Push.—Many people have tact enough to succeed, if they only had push enough to go with it. They can sell a book, or a bill of goods, but it takes them so long to do so, that there is no profit in it. Many of the •'••eatest victories in the world’s his tory have been won by men while yet young in years. David, Luther, Alex ander and the world’s Redeemer Himself are illustrations of this truth. 3. —Principle.—Tact and push would be a detriment to a man if he were without principle. An employer promised a clerk higher wages if he would treat the customers now and then to a glass, in order the he might sell them a bill of goods. The young man replied: “I thank God there is a poorhouse in my native town, and I will go there and die before I shall do such dirty work.” That was Principle. Nicholas Biddle, the first president of the United States Bank, requested his employes at one time to work on Sunday. One young man lost his position rather than do so. That was Principle. When President Lincoln was re nominated for the Presidency it be came necessary to call for 5 00,000 re cruits to reinforce the men at the front. His friends everywhere ad vised him not to issue the order as it would endanger his re-election. He went personally before the congres sional military committee where a similar attempt was made. With the fire cf indignation flashing in his eyes he replied: “It is not necessary for me to be re-elected, but it is neces sary for the soldiers at the front to be reinforced by 500,000 men, and I shall call for them; and if I go down under the act, I will go down like the Cumberland, with my colors flying.” O, for more men and women of tact, push and principle. V. The fifth step in well doing is to be a man or woman of faith. W T hen Thomas A. Edison first con ceived the idea of the phonograph, he said: “I can make it.” During nine long years he never lost faith, though at times it seemed utterly impossible for him to succeed. And so it has been with nearly all of his great in ventions; through faith he has plodded on night and day, sometimes forgetting to eat or sleep, yet ever confident that he was going to suc ceed. The whole history of our country has been largely one of faith. From the day that Columbus crossed the Atlantic to the present day, near ly every great move has appeared un reasonable from a worldly standpoint, but has been undertaken through faith. And what shall I now say, for the time would fail me to tell of Gid eon, and of Barak, and of Jepbthae, and of the wonderful things they have accomplished through faith. The man or woman who lacks this quality of faith is of all persons most miserable, yea, sin lies at their door and wreaks vengeance upon them. They don’t enjoy their meals because they cannot trust the cook. The rail way Conductor is liable to run the train off the track, so what is the good of traveling? The very earth itself is liable to open up at any mo ment and swallow them, and as for the Bible, it says, "He that doubteth is damned.” VI. Be men and women of cour age. Perhaps there was never a time w'hen we had so many examples of courage as we have to-day. When the ports of Europe closed against the Asiatic Squadron there was nothing left but to go to Manila. Many of our people feared the re sults. But Ensign Dewey was a man of courage. By the forts, over the mines and into the harbor he sailed. The Spanish fleet was destroyed, many of the forts captured and finally Manila taken. Hobson was no less courageous when he sunk the Merrimac in the very centre of the enemies’ fire. The Plattsburgh boys while storm ing the hills of Santiago 6ung in the very hottest of the battle: “ ’Tis the star spangled banner, Oh! long may it wave, O’er the land of the free And the home of the brave! * We need more young people to-day who are not afarid of the fiery fur nace, or the den of lions; young peo ple who shall go out and meet Go liath in the name of the God of Is rael. VII. The last quality I shall name is Perseverance. Perseverance is the “long pull, strong pull, and pull altogether” on “the home stretch.” President Lincoln said of General Grant, “He is not easily excited, and he has the grip of a bull dog. When he once gets his teeth in, nothing can shake him off.” Jacob said to the angel, “I will not let thee go unless thou dost bless me.” The pnjust judge said, “Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet be cause this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” The King dom of God suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Robert Bruce made several unsuc cessful attempts to possess his king dom and crown. While seeking con cealment from his foes in a shattered barn: “He flung himself down in low despair, As grieved as man could be; And after a while aa he pondered there, ‘l’ll give-it all up,’ said he. “Now just at that moment a spider dropped With its silken cobweb clew,. And the king in the midst of his thinking Stopped to see what the spider would do. “ ’Twas a long way up to the ceiling dome, And it hung by a rope so fine, That how it would get to its cobweb home, King Bruce could not divine. “It soon began to cling and crawl Straight up with strong endeavor, But down it came, with a slipping sprawl, As near to the ground as ever. ’ Nine times the spider tried to reach its cobweb home, but every time It seemed to fall still lower. “ ‘Sure,’ cried the king, ‘that, foolish thing Will strive no more to climb, Whgn it toils so hard to reach and cling, And tumbles every time.” “But up the insect went once more, Ah me, 'tis an anxious minute, He’s only a foot from his cobweb door, Oh, say, will he lose or win it? “Steadily, steadily, inch by inch, Higher and higher he got, And a bold little run at the very last pinch, Put him into his native spot. “ ‘Bravo, bravo!’ the king cried out, ‘All honor to those who try; The spider up there defied despair. He conquered, and why shouldn’t I?' /*.nd Bruce of Scotland braced his mind, And gossips tell the tale, l’hat he tried once more as he lr,ed belorc, And that time he did not fail. “Fay goodly heed, all you who read, And beware of saying. ‘1 can’t:’ ’Tis a cowardlv word and apt to lead To idlness. folly and want.” I am now going to make a state ment that I do not want anyone to misunderstand. 1 would not have you think for a moment that I don’t believe that Christ is our example in all things, but Paul said follow me even as I follow Christ. 1 am now going to hold up before the young people two persons who accepted Christ as their Saviour, His Word as their guide, and on the qualities named made a success of life. Let me first speak to the young men. England has given to the world some of the greatest men in all branches of learning. To-day we place in the front ranks William Ewart Gladstone. He was born of w r ealthy parents and with royal blood in his veins. Instead of becoming dissipated as many a young man in such circumstances would have done, or instead of depending upon his so cial standing, he took the course that I have already laid out in this sermon and by so doing “he being dead yet speaketh.” As a Christian he said, “Christ is the hope of my poor wayward life.” He never missed service on Sunday when well enough to attend. As a student he was graduated with high honors from Oxford, at the age of twenty. His library contained twenty-four thousand volumes. He is the author of a number of very im portant works, several of them are on the Bible. He was one of the greatest orators and statesmen of his time. To be familiar with his life is to know Eng land’s history for a period of sixty years. Before the young women I wouia hold up as the embodiment of the principles I have referred to in this address, one of the greatest reform ers that has ever blessed our coun try. When her funeral car drew slowly into the city of Chicago, as many as 30,000 people turned out midst falling snow and sleet to take the last look at one of their greatest benefactors, Frances Elizabeth Wil lard. They came from the North, South, East and West to pay their last tribute of respect. A wreath of flowers was sent by a young lady who had met Miss Willard but once. She was then on the correspondence staff of a city paper, and had been sent to interview Miss Willard, who was sick at the hotel and unable to fill her appointments. Miss Willard was seated in an easy chair, but when she saw the young lady’s pale and ema ciated face she said, “Dearie, you have this chair, you look so tired.” The young lady said, “I never forgot those words. She was the only per son that had spoken a kind word to me since I said farewell to mother and the dear ones at home.” Miss Willard was true to Christ, denying herself every pleasure or comfort that she might fill the posi tion to which He had called her. Her influence is giving to the youth of this land a portion of knowledge that cannot fail to prove beneficial to them. Her honesty as well as her patriot ism may be seen in the fact that dur ing her visit to England, when strained political relations existed be tween England and this country, she said: “I am first a Christian, then I am a Saxon, then I am an American, and when I get home to heaven, I ex pect to register from Evanston.” Her tact, push, principle, faith, courage and perseverance may be seen in the great organization known to-day throughout the world as “The Wom an’s Christian Temperance Union.” An army of heroic women who are battling for God and home and na tive land. In conclusion, let me say, life is to each one of us a great battle, and we must either win or lose it. Which shall it be? Let us take unto our lelves the whole armor of God, fight the good fight of faith, and endure hardness as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. The Captain of our salva tion has never lost a battle. It’s an ill wind that blows the doc tor good. : i i i i.t,i i J LATE NEWS NOTES. General. With seven hundred men aboard, the transport Thomas has sailed from San Francisco for the Philippines. The men are from the twelfth calvary and came from Fort Oglethorpe, Geor gia. They were commanded by Col onel Dodd. Massachusetts has one hundred thousand spinsters and widows, and this is alarming somt* people, even in the state where spinsters are quite common. The Woman’s Homestead association of Boston is concerning itself with their future. “Being tired is foolish.” This is the latest enunciation of Dr. Sheldon Leavitt, in charge of the Immanuel Baptist Psycotherapy class of Chicago. “When I am tired I tell myself that 1 am rested,” the instructor says, “and then I am. The universal energy reservoir we live in is always full. We have a feed pipe where we pay it out, but there s a bigger supply pipe where it will enter taster. If we only think it along. You will find some patients who don’t seem to be able to walk alone. The only way to do with them is to get them up on the edge of the nest and then pusn 'em over, just as the old bird does. Force them to try it alone.” Mr. and .Mrs, Edward Pack, who live in Polk county, North Carolina, are rejoicing over the birth of trip lets —three bouncing boys—the arri val of whom has created a deal of ‘in terest in the surrounding country. The day after the arrival of the boys there were no less than sixty-five vis itors at the home of the Packs, many of whom were ladies. The mother requested them to select names- for her sons. One was named William, the second Jennings and the third Bryan. In the will of Dr. Daniel Young of Toronto, Ontario, who died February 22, there has been found this peculiar clause: "I will that, upon my death, and before my burial, my heart and arteries shall be filled with a compo sition made ,of rosin and olive oil, heated together, or some combination that becomes solid on cooling, and used warm enough to remain liquid sufficiently long to fill the heart and arteries, as well as possible, and then pass from the liquid to the solid stage, and a regular physician shall perform the said task, or undertaking.” Phy sicians are of the opinion that Young feared burial alive and, knowing that such an operation as he requested would necessitate opening the heart, believed that this would ensure death. Washington. A new “Old Glory” is proposed in a bill recently Introduced by Represen tative Ansberry of Ohio to amend the section of the revised statutes, which, relates to the design of the American flag. A new formation of the stars is suggested. They would be ar ranged in five arc 3 to be the apices of a regular pentagon, the radius of the arcs to be equal to one side of the pentagon. As to the size of the stars the bill prescribes that their radius shall be equal to “one-fourth the distance of the stars from center to center.” Provision for adding new stars for new states might be made by extending the arcs. News received from the Springfield arsenal is that President Roosevelt was furnished with two rifles which carry electric lights on either side of the sight, the electricity being pro vided by a battery under the stock Army officers do not profess to know much about the guns, but it is stated the best place for a test of night shooting would be darkest Africa, where the president is going, and where he may have to protect him self from night raids by lions. If the rifles can do what they are expect ed to do, and it is admitted they will be effective only against big objects, many more of them will be manufac tured for the army. A toy horse, worth perhaps sl, im ported to the country, will be taxed S3O, just the same as a living thor oughbred racer, if the Payne tariff bill becomes a law. Doll’s clothing and ornaments will be taxed at the same rate as those of women. Ex perts in the foreign buying depart men of a local store say that toy an imals, retailing at present for a few cents, will become as expensive to import into this country as the living animals which they represent in min iature. Accusing the large department stores of having instigated the oppo sition of many women and “hysteri cal men” against the increased duties provided by the Payne tariff bill on women's gloves and hosiery, Repre sentative Sereno Payne, chairman of the house ways and means commit tee, in a statement which wilL be printed in the Congressional Record, asserted that the importers who op pose the duties were interested in firms abroad which make gloves and hosiery. President Diaz of Mexico although he stated a year ago that he would never again be a candidate, has de cided to make the race for president. He says he is willing to sacrifice per sonal desires to serve his country. At the urgent request of the state department at Washington, communi cated to the London foreign office, the British government has decided not to permit Cipriano Castro, form er president of Venezuela, to land at Trinidad. The navy is completing at the tor pedo station a turbine torpedo, which will be ready for tests in Narragan sett bay some time during the sum mer. It is believed the torpedo will prove a valuable acquisition to the torpedo branch of the navy.
