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T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S
ency o i such worship to develop J ts e lf ; b u t now a new ligh t was risen upon the world.— J. F. & B. Commandetli all men to repent. Follow ing th e minis tries of John and Jesus, the apostles took up th e game message and preached repentance toward God. There have always been earth ly sub stitu tes for th e heavenly message, which find expres sion -in various formulas. “Reform , for th e customs of th e age are co rrup t.” The general sentim ent of m ankind is in favor of rig h t action, and moral re forms are good as far as they go; bu t refor’mation is external and repentance is in tern al.— F arr. v. 31. He h a th appointed a day. The doctrine of a judgm ent is required by (1 ) the ch aracter of God; (2 ) indicated by th e analogy of the laws of nature. (3) F acts in our own experience fore shadow it— incipient strivings jjtoward retribu tion in th e p resen t state. (4) There is a general expectation of it among men. (5 ) Our history would-be incomplete w ithout it. Let it no t be imagined th a t by rejecting th e claims of revelation we shall escape th e doc trin e of fu tu re judgm ent.— G. Brooks. Subject Illu stratio n .— Bishop Ryle says of Baxter, th a t when he came to K idderm unster th ere was one family in one street, who worshipped God; bu t th a t when he left, LESSON th e re were s o m e ILLUSTRATIONS streets where only W, H. P ik e one fam ily did not. Daniel Webster, th e American statesm an, on being asked w hat was the most im portant question which ever occupied his atten tion , a t once replied, “My individual responsi bility.” P aul a t A thens was making men feel th e ir individual responsibility to God. Bible Illu stration s.— Power is not measured by noise, nor energy by vio lence. God was not in th e storm y wind, th e earthquake, th e roaring fire, b u t in th e still small voice, 1 K ings 19:12. The pendulum swings and flashes and ticks; b u t th e mainspring, which every wheel" and lever obeys, is absolutely noiseless and hidden. The m ightiest
powers of n atu re act, for th e most part, in perfect silence. I stood in a pipe mill, watching them te st large iron w ater pipes. A pipe two feet in diam eter was placed in the rack. The w ater was tu rn ed on. P ound after pound of pressure was added w ithout a sound. Gen. 1:2, 3. God’s Spirit moved, th ere was light, life, a world, a universe peopled, and i^o noise. Gen. 42:21. Thè human soul itself contains w ithin itself all th e necessary elements of retribu tiv e penalty—r “We are verily guilty c o n c e r n i n g our b ro th er.” Memory, conscience, and reason are sufficient keys for the Holy Spirit to play upon to convict a soul. “The m ind is its own place,' and in Itself Can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” This is th e outline of one of Dr. Alexander Dicken’s sermons : 1. Every man' h as his own place, here and hereafter. 2. Every man m akes his own place, here and hereafter. 3. Every man finds his own place, here a n d hereafter. 4. Every man feels th a t it is his own place, when he gets there. Let a soul go into th e fu tu re state w ith a memory to recall, a conscience to accuse, and a reason to ju stify pen alty as deserved, and what more is nec essary? There Is a Sinful “F a ith in God.”__ A TJniversalist once rem arked to me, when we were somewhat sharply con versing over th e tendencies of th e day to denial of the final punishm ent of the ungodly, “Well, I have faith in ' God; and I believe I am w illing to tak e my chances w ith H im .” I prom ptly re plied, “ You can safely ta k e your chances w ith God only on God’s own conditions.”— A. T. Pierson. In God We Have Everything.—A king
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