THE ORQAN OF THE NORTH CAROLINA BAPTISTS DEVOTED TO BIBLE RELIGION, EDUCATION, LITERATURE? AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. nRALEIGPEKNiESDAX JULY 13; 1892; Number r c -: The . Biblical Recorder. PUBLISHED ; fiVERY i WEDNESDAY. ' OFFICE! 1S (up stairs) Fayetteville Street, Raleigh, It. 0. Terms of BcBscBn-noif : , ; i 0 j eopy, one year... ...,.,,.4,,v.y.,; , ..,.$ 8.00 Oas copy, six months ; ;'.,; ... .... 1.00 0 abt often (copy extra to sender) . . . ..... . . 90.00 . Anonymous communications will always - find their way u wane oasKei. no exceptions. In lending letters of business, it is absolutely nec essary mat you pre your postomoe aaaress in run. 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Text "Therefore let no man glory in jnen : for all things are yours; whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come : all are yours : and ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's 1 Cor. 8: 8123. ; How great is this word aft It is as high as heaven, as deep as hell, as broad as the universe of God. - - . - . When. God said to Abraham, " Lift up thine eyes and look northward, and south ward, and eastward, and westward ; for all the land which tbou seest to thee will I give it, and-to thy seed forever," that was a great grant ' When he said to him further, " I will make thy descendants to multiply as the stars as heaven foe multitude," tho promise was gatly magnified. en Zaccheus stood; before the blessed Saviour, and said, " Behold, Lord, I give half of my goods to feed the poor, and if I have wronged any man, I restore nnto him fourfold,' that was a noble resolution.' .When Herod promised the dancing damsel that he would give her anything she might ask of him, even to the 1 half of -his kingdom, it was a great promise, because he was rich; Bat all these promises sink into the utmost insignificance when we compare them with the inheritance con tained in the text "All, things are yours, whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, of the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is GodV ' 1st. It becomes ns to consider for awhile some of the things which belong to the christian: ' Abraham, with his great faith; Moses, with his meekness; Job, with his patience; David, with bis sweet songs of Zion: Solomon, with his proverbs of wisdom; Paul, with his deep learnings indefatigable labors, toils and suf ferings; Apollos, with his burning eloquence; Peter, with his sternness, inflexibility and fixedness of purpose; and John, the beloved disciple, leaning upon the breast of Jesus, whose character, life, influence, death and resurrection, all, are written for oar instruc tion, encouragement and guidance in holy and divine things and to make ua better, wiser and happier here ' and hereafter . - Let ns study these I characters, improve our minds and hearts by profiting where they excelled in excellence and virtue, and thus Eowto higher attainments and perfection christian life. ! '; 2d. The world belongs to the christian. This world upon which we live : which Sa tan claimed as his. when the old deceiver did not own a single foot of if "The earth is the Lord's and. the fullness thereof,? This world then, humble follower of the Lord Jesus, belongs to you. It is yours to enjoy, to improve, to beautifyy to adorn. ' Your ' father has given it to you with all its ma estio forests, its boundless plains, its fertile ielda, its silvery lakes, its babbling brooks, ts meandering streams, its beautiful rivers, ta grand old oceans,, its rugged thills, its owering mountains, grand and sublime as hey are, lift up their hoary heads and bathe 'hem in. the azure sky, ;!; -yrti cv?f;:v,'ti 1 Use this world, but do not abuse it. Cut down these forests if you will, and with the timbers you take therefrom, build your ships with which to sail the briny deep and trans port the goods from one country to another, and thus- carry on the commerce of the world. Plow the land and till the soil, until its surface, tickled by implements of hus bandry, shall laugh into a harvest that fihall feed all flesh; pig down the hills, throw up high places in the valleys, throw bridges across the rivers, bore holes through the mountains, and thread the country like net work from town to town, and city to city, till iron bands of steel aad ropes of wire shall unite the world and bring distant lands to gether. Sink shafts into the bowels of the earth, extract her ores of iron, silver, gold and valuable , metals. ; Go down into the deep, and there fill your commissaries with the flesh and oil of the inhabitants which dwell beneath the white-capped waves of 'old ocean, and get all the good out of earth you can, and if you use this world as not abusing it, God don't care, for the world is yours. 1 ,' ' , 8d. The Bible is yours. What would we do without this blessed book! It is td us poor mortal souls as a book of directions. m udu n uittuuittumivr ixmsiruuis a jnacaineji he also constructs; and publishes a Dookt which tells how to run and manaffehVf We are as machines Wound up by God the great Manufacturer, i which are self -propelling ; n uoq puts into our nanus the blessed Bi ble, which tells us to preserve self govern ment and bow to do it. ' As a chart to the navigator,' as a compass to the sailor who travels unknown seas, as a lamp to the feet oi mm who travels in the dare, so the Bible is to ns. Says one : " Some are always look ing for 'the bard and mysterious things in the Bible, but I am not like they. I read the precious word like I eat fish. I eat the flesh and : lay the bones aside. , Some are, always trying to eat the bones and never seem to relish the meat. I have the powers of diges tion only to enjoy the meat. I shall in the future have the ability to digest the bones, till then III , ho content.", I love the Bi ble," said an old lady, .V because it is God's holy word. It is the book that condemned me, and the book that acquitted me, the book that showed me I was a sinner, and the book that led me to the Saviour."; I love the Bible as a book of biofirraohv. It deals with the ideas and the conduct, of menAhd it is true biography. It does not snow the true and leave oat the false. It shows the good and the bad side of men, It shows them all around from every phase and every standpoint. All biographies, more or less, flatter not so this. 1 take up this Bible and I read of Abraham, the man of great faith, the father of the faithful. Well, I say, "What wonderful faith this man badP I think of it, I admire it I ,then think of how little faith I possess, and then I say. 44 Can I ever attain to such wonderful faith r My heart sinks as I remember how weak I am, how many times I am brought to doubt and to fear lest I be deceived. I read on, and I find where even Abraham dis sembled, where even he hesitated and falter ed, and tried to deceive and then I am en couraged not because lam glad that Abra ham sinned, but that human nature is the same to-day it was in the days of Abraham, y I read of the patience of Job. Well I say, "I never can attain to such a degree of pa tience." u I read on, and I remember my im patience, and how easily I sometimes lose my self-control. Well, I say, "I never can govern my temper, and control my feelings as he." Ah 1 as I discover that this patient man grew impatient, lost his temper and his patience, cursed the day that he was born, the mother who brought him into the world, the sun which gave light upon that occasion, I am encouraged. Not, that I am glad that Job sinned, but that human na ture has always been the same, and he who was forgiven gives me encouragement that if I go to God as he did, I may be forgiven too. , ' . -'l -;-?5 ; " "As I read of David, the man after God's own heart I say, "I never can attain to such goodness." But as I read of the wick; edness he committed in taking Uriah's wife! and having her husband put to death, I say, "Well, God will forgive me if I only put my trust in him." And so I read of imperfec tion in Paul, Apollos and Cephas, and though the people were divided in their es timation of them-some saying, "I am for Paul," Others " I am for Apollos, and oth ers I am for Cephas" Paul ask9 the ques tion," Christ divided f" ( and then I seem to hear the Apostle say to them, "No, no, but all things are yours," &o. 4th. Life is yours. You see I have put the Bible before life, because life without the Bible would be a complete failure. Go back to the days of ancient Greece or Rome, and as you behold the gross ignorance, the oeasuy , sensuauiy, tne licentiousness auu murders that existed everywhere, aa victims reeking in their own blood stained the al tars of their bloody gods ; as I behold the purity and virtue of vigorous men and beau tiful women trodden under the heel of pub lic opinion as an unholv thing, when f see lewdness and debauchery sold at a premium, i ieei mat numan me witnout tne xiiDie were a ten thousand fold greater curse than blessing. ' It is a great resDonsibilitv to live. To be in this world and required to keep the moral law. To possess life with all its possibilities and all its responsibilities. To be the chil dren and wards of God, and yet the custo dians of our own bodies. To be the the ar chitects of our own success or failure. The creators of, iour own happiness or misery, Life does not consist in mere existence, the accumulation of wealth, the gratifi cation of inordinate desires, or the ac quisition of publio esteem ; but In the es tablishing of character, the exercise of faith, the performance of good works, and devel opment in spiritual growth expansion in divine life, My brother, see that you live right f. Make Christ -your model. A good name is better than precious ointment, more fragrant and more diffusive, better than Sreat riches, more decirable and more en uring. :;f yti, ;tfcArt,fin.,'!?iH;.ai -V' 5th. The church la vours with all her deeds of glory, her sufferings, her trials, her triumphs or defeat. Whatever of good she has done in the past, or may do in the fu ture,1 her toils, her sacrifices,-her prayers, her tears, her blood, her consecrated talents of head, heart and wealth, all belong to the christian as a part of nis mneritance. What are you doine for your church? Are you helping it or are you hindering HI Are rou neiping it to be better, oi are you uviy ntt it to be worse than its average sister ! Are you helping to purge it of drones, hyp ocrites and wrong doers? Are you cultivat ing and fostering in it a spirit of charity, gentleness and love ? Are , you stirring its heart with the spirit of mission!!, the wail of the orphan, and the ! cry of the needy ? Do you recognize the church as the body of Christ, and do you see that none of the mem bers suffer t Do you remember he' died for his church, the bride, the Lamb's wife? God grant ' you may love 4 the church as Christ loved it Let every christian learn the song and sing it out of a full heart stl J I y F"lkjvetny tin ' " : The house of thine abode;'-' ' S'va t:. i The church our blest Redeemer saved, 1 i:i ; ,; With his own precious blood." .; fi;' And let him remember her at a throne of grace. ;' . For her my tears shall fall,' For her my prayers ascend; ' ' To her my toils and cares be given,' Till toils and cares sbaU eaa.n f Glorious old church, fight on, struggle on, till the last son of Adam shall be redeemed; till Zion snal resound with the loud hosan nas of those Who shall sing the praises of their Lord, as they shall come up from the east and the west, the north and the south, having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. , 6th, Afflictions are? yours. Shall the chris tian pass through the world and have no sympathy with its sufferers? 'No. God in tends they, too; who love him may be made perfect through suffering. ' Abraham, Job, Moses, David,. Daniel, Paul, Peter, , and Christ tasted, yea, drank of the cup, and we are no better than they. Affliction is God's refining pot and it is meet that we should . pass through It, that the dross may be con sumed and the pure gold may be all the more precious and brighter by the fierce contact ; : '' , '''X'.1. XI', ' ' ' Two painters were frescoing a wall. One stepped back from the wall to the edge of the scaffold to view his work.. He was so intent with what he h id succeeded in accom plishing that he was , just ready to step off backward.. His fellow-workman, seeing his immediate danger, seized hie brush and daubed the paint upon his work, while thus he was engaged in. admiring it f; Filled with anger, he rushed forward and cried out with flashed cheek and blood in his eye, " Why did you spoil my work?" "To save yeur life,'? was the reply, and then the man was satisfied. Ofttimes. as we are viewing the work of our own bands does our Heavenly Father see we are so much engaged in it that we" neglect- theproper observance' of those laws which are necessary for the pres ervation of oar own spiritual lives, and as we thus idolize self, he comes and with the brush of affliction dashes, destruction over bur premeditated follies,! and we may cry oat with bitter disappointment until we re-' alize that he did so to save our lives, and then we rejoice that our lives have,- been most mercifully preserved even if our work has been lost " :. ":'""T- '"' ' As the shepherd In Switzerland when his flocks have eaten the grass in the valleys so low that there is no longer good grazing, tries by various means to get. them np the mountain side ; when he can not toll them by calling or feeding,' sets his dogs ' upon them to frighten them up, but to no avail ; then, as a last resort, takes a little lamb in his arms and climbing over the rough and rugged places to a, certain distance desired, holds out the lamb while It bleats, and thus attracts the attention of the mother sheep, which begins ; the ascent, followed by an other and another, until the whole flock has left the closely-nipped grass, and now wades, among that which naa heretofore been un cropped, and which is sweet and luxuriant, and, now the whole flock is in greener pas tures, and are all again united and together; so God sometimes by affliction takes, the little lamb, the infant babe, from its moth er's breast and transplants it into the green, pastures of heaven, where the mother looks by faith, and then, the , father is drawn, and another and another, until all the family are saved, one by one, never, more to return to these low grounds of sorrow, but to enjoy the green pastures and to lie down by the still waters of, heaven forever,' , . ;. v. ."Afflictions, though they seem severe,' ' ,t Are oft in mercy sent" . -,. 7th. Death is yours with all its destruc tive tendencies. It tears down this house which God has built and lays its different members low in the dust. It makes the body, once so young and spry and beautiful, lie in the dark and narrow tomb. It stops the plow in its unfinished furrow. It stops the workman and leaves the house to decay ere it is completed. It scatters household joys and frustrates our hopes and plans and purposes. : It regards not our bitter sighs, needs not our groans, and cares not for our crying. And yet death is given us of the Lord. : He has changed death so that it, is not now what it used to be. , Once it was our enemy, but now it is our friend. Once he was to be greatly dreaded, but now he is to the christian a welcome messenger, c He is a ferryman who comes to take us across the river. He is a servant sent to tell us the Master hath invited us to dine with ' the King, fit is the voice of God saying to us, ; H'"M Servant ti God,'' well' done, ' ' ".V1-,y'' V S i Rest from thy fond employ; ;!;;;; ' ; The battle's fought, the Victory's won, !. , ; 4 ; Mr Enter the Master's joy." v,:; :v .' ' vJesus ran his arm down Death's throat and jerked out his sting. : So it does not have the same power over the body now that It used to have. Jesus laid down in the grave, and when he left it he left it sup plied as a dormitory so that- the christian may lie there and remain. . , ,i , , i ? , "' "A sleep in Jesus, blessed sleep; "'' '-' j , From which none ever wakes to weep ; . ; t A calm and undisturbed repose, r, "' " Unbroken by the last of foes," ' ' ). ' . . - ' .V . ' 8tb. The resurrection is yours. The chris tian need' not fear the grave, .now- since Jesus : has risen : from it Fotf awhile he may He there, but he need not be afraid, for Jesus hath promised to be with him. . He may take the sheet left there by Christ and lie down in if. We may take the napkin left there by the Saviour and wipe every tear from his eyesj j The resurrection is a part of the christian's inheritance. . "Because I live,"; says Christ, " ye shall live also. The seed may be planted, but new body shall be given it; in the resurrection. The" body may die, but like the grass, it shall spring up again into newness of life and beauty.. As the worm seems to die and then lives in the butterfly, so our bodies shall fade and die apparently, but: in -us: are the elements of life which cannot decay, but which shall take on different forms of; existence in the resurrection state. , . . The body,: sown in weakness, shall he, raised in power ; sown a natural body; it shall be raised a spiritual body; sown: in' corrupticn, it shall he . raised in incorrupt tion ; sown in dishonor,, it shall be raised in glory. .The battle-scarred and dusty soiled veteran shall be newly unifoitned and pro moted by the resurrection. The scattered family shall there, be reunited. We shall know each other.. We shall forever dwell together without the thought of parting,:t i ; k There shall we see and hear and know T'Utf ; u All we desired or wished below; ' k . And every power find sweet employ, -, ' In that eternal world of joy." .;; 9th, Heaven is yours. The land that is fairer than? dayi where, the sun never sets, the moon, never wanes, where, the inhabit tants know nothing of sickness, sorrow nor death. f Where every employment is a bless ing; every word a benediction; every move ment promoting, that; growth which rejuve nates and makes and perpetuates our youth;, a state of felicity : a place of happiness ; a land of plenty and a home of peace and rest" We may speak of its pearly gates, its gqlden 8treetsf its river of, life dear as crystal prot! ceeding from the throne of God and of the.; Lamb.' But no conception can approach it,, for eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to con ceive of the glorious things, which God; has in reservation for his children. Like Sheba's queen when she bad come from the remotest, parts of the earth to see and hear Solomon, we will when we see the beauties and glories of heaven,' exclaim; 'The half has never, been told." This is im.part; the christian's royal possession. .. : , s V ' Now in conclusion gI0th. Upon what conditionr are all things yours? -If ye are Christ's,' Having Christ, we; possess? everything. Without Christ,. we are notUng. ,; With Christ, we are rich ; without Christ, we are poor, very, poor. Are you Christ's? ' If" so, I congratulate you' because you are his; because yon have turned your back upon sin and sinful things ; like Moses, who refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the children of God than to enjoy the pleasures Of sin for! a season, you have like him chosen the Wealth of heaven in preference to those of earth; the service of God rather than the service of the wicked, one ; and upon this condition I congratulate you. " All things are yours; whether Paul; or Apollos, or Cephas, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all, are yours, and.ye are Christ's, and,- Christ's is Godv - . - 1 '- v J b ; ; - The Conversion of Zacchens, ' " It-is useless, to talk about, loving Jesus Christ and . trusting him, and having the sweet assurance of forgiveness,1 and a glori ous hope of heaven, unless these have made you break off your bad habits of whatsoever sort they may be, and cast, them, behind ?'our backs. Strong emotion, sweet deep eeling, assured confidence in the sense of forgiveness and. the hope of heaven, are all very welL Let us see your faith by your; works: and of these works the, chief is be- hold the evil that I did I do it no more: " Behold 1 Lord!. the half of my goods I give to the poor." There was a young ruler who could not make up. his mind to part with wealth to follow Christ Zaccheus has so Completely made up his mind to follow Christ that he does not need to be bidden to give up his, worldly goods. The half given to the poor, and four-fold restoration to those -whonij he had wronged, would not leave much. How astonished Zaccheus would have been if anybody had said to him that morning, "Zaccheus 1 before this night falls, you will be next door to a pauper; and you will be a; happier . man, than, you; are now." :-M::A' . :'MW':.". ".:X , i So, dear friends, like nim, all of us may,' if we will and if we need, make a sudden right about-face that shall .altar the com plexion of our whole future. People tell ua that sudden conversions are suspicious. So, they may be in certain cases. But the mo ment when a man makes up his mind to change the direction in which his face is set will always be a moment, however long may be the hesitation, and the meditation, and, the preparation ,that led up to it Rev. Alexander Maclaren, D. J3. j, v ' ' ' lf! .'! iX: ;;f - ' 'mm .i.'i.V.n.'.?: 5'; '; ' You are needed at church the most when you know there will be the fewest there. ( "Things not in EclL" , . . - We use this mode of argument to dt-sori' the severity of the punisLinent of tLe 3 -t..-The negative side shown will pive us a cl. .-.r notion of the affirmative. All places r;:J things may be known by the qualities they have or those that they do not have. Things not in hell are indeed very numer ous, and so are those that are in that place equally many. Thousands of people' think only of gay and pleasant society, -where tLe splendor of fashion allures and youthful beauty charms, where all the talk is on themes of love, expressed in language of finest fomance style, and their' lives are dreamed to be like the grandest victors in novel fiction. : Some delight in- that com-, pany where only the chaste" are found, and. where all that tends to riotness is excluded. Others strive for those' who are conversant on high lines of knowledge, and nothing amuses them but this sort of things, mixed up glowing colors. But these are things not in bell There will be no gaiety, no pleasure; no moral, and no beauty in that empire i of L misery. Here,; we may find ' sympathizing friends when the band of sick ness comes, or when we are bowed down in common sorrow.; Should we be swept into the vortex of poverty, or the strong arm of' the law, hurry ns away to the gloomy walls. Then, so soon as the; calamity comes, some kind friend lends a helping band or speaks a word of comfort And the angel of hope never forsakes us, no matter how heavy the shower: of. tears, or bow dark the prison walla, Some ray of. grace divine shines away the mist of trouble... These are thirds not in hell, for there will be no friends, no comforters, no hope or mercy there. Truth or veracity, the foundation of confidence as treacherous as the world, is, there can be found in church, state and. tradfva current of truth... There are men in every trade who will comply with their. word and stick to their contracts. Some stutcnuen may safely - be. confided , with; the rights of the people. Some churchmen would: po to the stake rather than- deny the faith- they pro fess. These are things not-to Le found in the world of woe,: for there tLo lather of lies will abide; and penal vengeance be ever more poured out on, the faults. Love, the golden chain , that binds mankind in com- , moh interests, Or the jsilver cord which ties hearts' together at the hjmenial ' altar. Love entwines Its silken threads about all our heaits- and harmonizes a thousand would be discords. v Jt keeps subd ik d un-, told powers of hate and revenge; it makes lanor sweet, ana is a strong opiate against pain. - It has reared hospitals in the land of warehouses for the sick and homeless, and (clothed the poor and fed the hungry. It is a boundless source oi gooa. liut love is a thing that will not be in the land of eternal woe. There will not be one cord of love in all that populous place, . nor one spark of .' kindness .left, in one soul.' s Hope, the time antidote against despair,- a sort of perpetual stimulant to our ' being. No matter how- often our hopes are blighted, we hope on; it rise s t'no?nix like. " lne day may be ever so stormy and the night dark and dreary, . yet we hope for the light of, morning and the calm, cloudless day. Let the long train of adversity come sweeping over us in its most devastating form, taking liberties, mends and relatives; yet hope will mount above its wake and look., for a better day. Some one has said, " Auspicious hope I in thy sweet gardens grow Wreaths for each toil, a charm for every woe." , But there will be no hope in hell. Peace is the good news from heaven whose echo has never ceased and whose harmony was set by the minstrel angeis,; Peace hushed the lon cries of; Panic wars and dried a thousand tearful eyes. It stopped the flow of arterial blood and diminished the dying gToans. In every age it has scattered the red cloud3 of national revenge and quieted the cannon thunders. ; Its balmy wing has stilled eccles iastical rage and quashed the most exciting factions of church. The hearts that have been , made glad; and the souls that have been rejoiced by peace, are past all human computation.; Sad to say, there is no peace in the long home of the lost; no cessation of mourning or mitigation of-paJn. All people are striving for happiness, and the wibo and good Father has provided: it for us if we would but take it on the terms oCered. II a has given us the diversified landscapr s varie gated, by-every, color -pleasing to tLo ey; . Kich vegatation, ranging from the ra??z'.. cent historic oaks to the small polyar.tLr-; flowers from the blooming trees down t the tiny datodill; small roj rks of f mountains on tothe blossoming pi :::." ( ' cactus, all designed for happinc; j. '1 '. i ; ' Is often loaded, with rich fragrance frr- r meadow; the music of the delicnte f " r people pour forth in gladdening t' even the marshes and quagmires at t put forward flora's, nicest colors r thema of charming melody to r here. But these are thirds net ; ' i of the banished, for there tv ill I ) i ) giving pleasure to that ab:i : " tude. -,-':J ,-.. .v-:( 'M ! In hell therll be no L ' ? i . : j -" No splendors of p " : - . " There can no re; 1. 1 i For all the timet:. Some poof ; ! ; nature f r thani L.r f. : Anon. ,