Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 September 1898 — THE GOSPEL OF GRACE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE GOSPEL OF GRACE

EXPOUNDED BY OUR RELIGIOUS EDITOR. Words of Wisdom, and Thoughts Wdrth Pondering Upon Spiritual and Moral Bufejects-Gathered from tha Religious and Secular Press. The Law Written in the Heart.

THIS writing of the law in the heart makes obedience a . haturdl motive; I mean, by a new naI f ture. It springs I not from outward / constraints and precepts, btit from k an inward prineipie, and, therefore, not only is it ufii versal and Coitstant, but cheerful and easy. The law

written in tables of stone only is hard and grievous; but make once the heart the table of it and there is ndthlng more pleasing. This law of God makes service delightful, even the painfulest bf it. “I delight to -do thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law IS within my heart” The sun, which moves with such wonderful swiftness that to the ignorant it wbuld seem incredible to hear how many thousands of mile® it goes each hour, yet because it is naturally fitted tothatcourse.it comes, as the psalmist speaks, “Like a bridegroom forth from his chamber, and rejoices as a strong man to run a race.” If the natural man be convinced of the goodness and equity of the law of God, yet because it is not written within, but only commands without, it is a violent motion to him to obey it, and therefore he finds it a painful joke. But hear David, in whose heart it was, speak of him; how doth he call it his delight and his joy. if any profane person object to a godly man, his exact life that It Is too precise, as if he wrote each action before he did it, he may answer, as Demosthenes did to him that objected he wrote his orations before he spake them, that he was not at all ashamed Of that, although they were nit only written but engraven beforehand. Certainly the godly man lives by this law Which is written and engraven on his heart, and he need not be ashamed of it.—Archbishop Leighton.

WofdS. If the merely idle word is one day to be accounted for and judged, what of the untrue, the impure, the profane, the malignant and cruel words with Which this earthly air is continually charged? Only a movement of the lips, a moment’s stirring of the air, and all is silent, as though the word had fiever been spoken; yet a fellowcreature’s happiness has been blighted; a heavy burden has been made still heavier to bear; a heart has been robbed of its guilelessness and trust; the seed has been sown of a career that ends in ruin and death. Those words are not dead. Though they seem to be buried in everlasting oblivion, yet, when the judgment throne is Set afid earth’s myriads are gathered together to be by their words justified or by their words condemned, they will return with solemn, reverberating echo out of the darkness of the past, and fall with dismay and shame on the ears of those who spoke them. And those other words —faithful, pure, be-nign-passing to and fro among men like white-winged angels, carrying messages of love and hope and healing from heaven; words almost divine in their ennobling influence, helping us ever onward and upward along life’s journey—those, too, will awake from their sacred slumber, and amid the grateful murmur of the multitudes whom they have gladdened, comforted and saved, their blessed sound will be heard on-earth once more.

The Undiscovered Country. Could we but know The land that ends our dark, uncertain travel, Where lie those happier hills and meadows low, Ah, if beyond the spirit’s inmost cavil ’ Aught of that country we could surely know, Who would not go? Might" we but hear The hovering angels’- high imagined chorus, Or catch, betimes, with wakeful eyes and clear One radiant vista of the realm before us, With one rapt moment given to see and hear, Ah, who would fear? Were we quite sure To find the peerless friend who left us lenely, Or there, by some celestial stream as pure, To gaze in eyes that here were love-lit only, This weary, mortal coil, were we quite sure, Who would endure? —Edmund Clarence Stedman. Making the Bust of Thing). He lives richly who makes use of life’s unpromising things. We seek the philosopher’s stone, and find that nothing turns to gold. If we would seek to turn everything, even the things which promise the least, to gold, we would find the philosopher’s stone. Better than untold wealth of opportunity is an eye that discovers an opening where the rest of the world sees only a wall. Care for the Sparrows. I do not find any sparrows with large storehouses, or any swallows with a great quantity of grain laid up for the morrow, and yet I have never taken up a sparrow that has been starved to death, and seldom or ever do you find a swallow that has perished of cold. God “oareth for them, and are ye not much better than they?”—C. 11. Spurgeon. Why the Sermon Was Pull. “The dullest sermon I ever listened to!” exclaimed Sam, petulantly, as he came home from church. “Yes,” replied grandpa, a twinkle in his eye, “I thought so, myself.” “Did you, grandpa?” exclaimed Sam, glad to have some one stand by Irim. “I mean to say I thought you thought so,” replied his grandpa. “I enjoyed it, because my appetite was whetted for it before I went to church. I noticed it was just the other way with you.” “Just the other way, how?” Sam demanded. “Why, before you went.” answered grandpa, “instead of sharpening your appetite for the sermon, you dulled it by reading the trashy paper. Then, instead of sitting straight up and looking at the minister while he preached, as though you wanted to catch every word he said and every expression of his face, you lounged down in your seat and turned half way around. I never knew anybody who could hear a sermon right from the side of his head. “Then you let your eyes rove about the church and out of the window. That dulled the sense, You dulled your

' ears by listening to a dog that WM barking, and the milkman’s bell, and the train puffing into the station. You dirtied your mind and soul by thinking you were a terribly abused boy for having to go to church and stay through the sermon, and you made yourself a dull listener. And 1 never knew it to fail In my life that a dull listener mado a dull sermon.”—Ram’s Horn. Christian Hope. Christian hope is the sunshine of the breast, and can make a Goshen there, when all around is dark. It is the comfort of sorrow, the strength of sickness, and only brightens as death draws near.—Bishop J. Jackson. Christ** Kingdom. Of Christ's kingdom there is no end. We shall reap, if we faint not Our combat is short, our victory sure, our crown is safe, our triumph is eternal. His grace Is all sufficient here to help us, and His glory Is all-sufficient to reward us.—Bishop Reynolds. The Greatest Blessing. Health is a great blessing—competence obtained by honorable Industry a great blessing—and a great blessing it is to have kind, faithful and loving friends and relations; but the greatest of all blessings, as it is the most ennobling of all privileges, is to be indeed a Christian.—Coleridge. Christian Work Everywhere. The Y. M. C. A. of Glasgow, Scotland, has 253 branches, with a membership Of 8,430. It is said that the late Duchess of Teck set aside one-fifth of her income for charity and religion. The total membership of the Christian Endeavor societies of Great Britain and Ireland is 200,000. Twenty-five thousand pounds sterling was the result of self-denial week of the Salvation army in Australia. There is said to be one church or chapel for every 3,000 persons In New York City, and one for every 4,000 in London. - A Methodist Biblical guild for the systematic study of the scriptures in their original tongue has been formed in Ireland. It is stated that Cecil Rhodes has given 100 square miles of land in a healthy valley in South Africa, on which a missionary institute is being established. It is stated that Dr. Vaughn, late Dean of Llandaff, requested in his will that his executors use all their influence to prevent any account of his life being published. The Livinstonia Mission, of which Lord Overtown is chairman, has now In South Africa twenty-five Scottish missionaries, 112 native evangelists and 354 native teachers. Rev. C. S. Spaulding, who was recently suspended for six months by the Free Methodist conference for having an organ in his church, has withdrawn from the denomination. Bishop Galloway of the Methodist Episcopal Church South says: "Christianity is a strange commodity. The more you export the more you have for home consumption.” ReV. Dr. Dickie, pastor of the American church in Berlin, is planning to provide a more capacious and suitable building than the hall which has so long been used in the Junkerstrasse. A Jewish hospital has been opened at Aden, where there are 2,820 Jews. The ground was donated by the government, and the cost of erection and furnishing was borne by B. Menahem Messa.

The general missionary committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church at its recent annual session decided to make the division of the missionary funds for the coming year on the basis of 45 per cent, to home missions and 55 per cent, to foreign missions. The Wesleyan missionaries in Australasia and South Africa report great success in their work. The total membership in this church in the Australasian conference is reported at 47,407. In South Africa the membership is 47,872, of whim 42,287 are of the native races. . Miss Matilda Cohen, a graduate of the Calcutta University, is said to be the only Jewish graduate in the Bengal provinces. Miss Cohen petitioned the Calcutta high court authorities to be enrolled as an attorney of that- court, but was refused, because in India women aite not allowed to practice in courts. The Band of Hope temperance movement was organized fifty years ago at Leeds, England, under the Presidency of Joseph Parkin and numbered 200. Now every country parish has its Band of Hope, and there is a flourishing branch connected with every non-con-formist chapel throughout the United Kingdom. The Church of England Band of Hope Union is one of the largest societies of young people in the world. It is purely undenominational and has been taken up by all sects alike and numbers 4,000,000. Rev. T. E. Brown, author of “Betsy Lee,” “Fo’c’s’le Yarns,” “The Docter’" and other stories of Manx life, died recently at the age of 66. He was the son of a Manx parson, the Vicar of Braddau, and brother of the late Hugh Stowell Brown, minister of Myrtle Street Chapel, Liverpool. Mr. Brbwn was educated at King William’s College, Isle of Man, obtained a junior studentship at Christ Church, and won a fellowship at Oriel, which was then the highest distinction in Oxford. In his later years he was in close touch with Manx sailors and shared their life and sympathies.