USA > West Virginia > The West Virginia pulpit of the Methodist Episcopal church. Sermons from living ministers. With personal sketches of the authors > Part 10
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PERSONAL SKETCH.
REV. DANIEL H. K. DIX was born in Lewis-now, Upshur- county, Virginia-now West Virginia-January 24, 1828. He was the fourth son of Isaac and Elizabeth Dix, plain, but well-to-do citizens of the "Old Commonwealth," After spending several years at home, in early youth, under district and private teachers, where he obtained a rudimentary mental training, he entered the Northwestern Virginia Academy at Clarksburg, and remained fifteen months. He was now a man, and employed every available moment of these fifteen months to the very best advantage. The result was, a fair understanding of his mother tongue, and a sufficient knowledge of mathematics, and the sci- ences, to enable him to continue his studies when he left the Academy. In this way, he succeeded in procuring, for that peri- od, a liberal education.
Brother Dix's parents, during their entire married life, were religious, and all the while maintained "a family altar." To their uprightness and godly lives, the subject of this sketch ac- knowledges that he owes much, indeed everything, for his own straightforward course, and his devotedness to Christianity through more than forty years of subsequent life. Eternity alone can reveal the full extent and value of the parental exam- ple before the children in the household. We can realize, only in a very feeble manner, how profoundly this alone has affected the civilization of the age in which we live; and yet how silently has been its work in modifying, and in fact, changing the na- tures and characters of the young of every locality coming und er its influence. How important, then, that all parents should al- low no opportunity, either of precept or example, before their children, to pass unimproved.
At the age of sixteen, Brother Dix became religious; and at twenty-one he was licensed to preach. He entered the West Virginia Conference, at Parkersburg, in June, 1850. From that time to the present, he has done effective work, or rather has been on the "effective roll," with the exception of two years,- 1866 and 67, when he was troubled with "clergyman's sore throat,," which compelled him for a time to retire from active work.
Brother Dix has filled a number of important appointments in his Conference; was a member of the General Conference of 1876;
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was four years a member of the General Missionary Committee of the Church, and has been Presiding Elder three terms. He is now traveling the Morgantown District.
While on the "sick list," Bro. Dix was elected to the West Virginia Senate, and served the people of this State four years ably and well. He was, to the personal knowledge of the writer, regarded as one of the clearest headed and most valuable members of the Senate. He refused a re-nomination for a sec- ond term, because it interfered with the ministry of the Word, which was his chosen life work.
Bro. Dix is one of the most earnest and devoted of the one hundred and sixty members of the West Virginia Conference. He is perfectly honorable and trustworthy, and his nature is al- most as transparent as glass. He has been a long time in the work, and has left his impress upon the times in which he lived; and has not only won the hearts of the people in one locality, but is widely known and loved in every portion of the Confer- ence.
" With him life's springtime's over, And its autumn days have come; Happy is the honest workman, - For he's sheaves to carry home:"
SERMON IX.
BY
REV, DANIEL H. K. DIX, P.E.
THEME :- WHY MOSES AND AARON WERE NOT PER- MITTED TO ENTER THE PROMISED LAND.
TEXT :-- And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them .- NUMBERS, xx: 12-13.
The history of Moses is of the most thrilling char- acter. One cannot study the eventful life of the great Law Giver, without feeling that he was under the immediate direction of Divine Providence. A mer- ciless decree to destroy all the male children of the Hebrews, had gone forth, and Moses fell under that decree ; but God provided for his deliverance. He saved him by the daughter of the author of the wick- ed edict, which made so much sorrow in Israel.
By the direction of Divine Providence, Moses was educated by that fostering mother in the very courts of Pharoah, and in all the learning of Egypt. He arose to distinction in the Egyptian army, and com- manded the forces against Ethiopia, returning from conflict with victory added to his already great re- nown. Before he would forsake the religion of his fathers, he stepped down from his lofty position of honor and trust, to the condition of a slave.
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Because he vindicated the rights of one of his injured brethren, he was compelled to be a refugee in a strange land, but God soon called him to a different and more responsible life. He chose him to lead his people out of bondage and direct their footsteps toward the Promised Land-the land of their fathers. Now, proving to his brethren that God had chosen him, and, again, showing that the most wonderful miracles as proof that God was with him, and that God was directing their journeys. He exhibited patience through all the trials and difficulties of that most won- derful journey of the children of Israel from Egypt to Canaan; but after nearly forty years of patience and forbearance, by one single act he debarred him- self from his long cherished hope of entering into the Promised Land.
One feels sad in contemplating this subiect. We may well pause, and ask, in the language of one of the 'disciples, " Lord, are these few that be saved ?" Only Caleb and Joshua enjoyed the high privilege of entering into the land of their fathers, of all of the adult males who left Egypt. Will only a like propor- tion of Christians reach their highest hopes, by en- tering Heaven, is a question of great moment ?
I. WHAT WAS THE OFFENSE OF MOSES AND AARON.
In the investigation of this interrogative it is nec- essary to call up the circumstances which brought about the offense that proved so serious to the offend- ers. The children of Israel had journeyed from the wilderness of sin to Rephidim, and there being no water to be had, they murmered against their leaders. They said, "Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst ?"
Moses went before the Lord and said, " What shall I do unto this people ? They be almost ready to stone me." "The Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee the elders of Israel ; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand and go.
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"Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
"And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not ?"*
"It must be remembered that in Numbers xx, Moses was commanded to speak to the "Rock" before the people, "and speak to the rock before their eyes."
Having given a brief historical statement of the case, we will now inquire into the offense. What was it? In Deuteronomy xxii, God charges Moses and Aaron with not having sanctified him before the children of Israel. He says: " Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; be- cause ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel." This is all that we have which relates directly to the case. They stand charged with tres- passing against God among the children of Israel, in that they did not honor him. One of the defini- tions of sanctify is to acknowledge his authority, and honor his majesty, and reverence his law. It is clear that they did not reverence his law, as they should have done, before his people. This is shown by the following facts :
1. Moses did not speak to the rock, as he was com- manded to do. His first command was to smite the rock, but, when he was the second time spoken to, he was only to speak to the rock.+
2. Moses did not exhibit that spirit which should have honored God. He smote the rock twice, instead of speaking to the rock, or smiting it but once, as first directed. There is evidence of a purturbed spirit-a spirit that no one can indulge without vio- lating God's law. The Psalmist said: "Fret not thyself in any wise to do evil." Solomon said : " Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous." Paul says: "Let all wrath be put away." James says: 1
*Exodus xvii:5, 6,7. ยก Numbers xx:8.
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"Let every man be slow to wrath." Again : For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. We should fear, lest, like Moses and Aaron, we sin against God. How many foolishly commit sin by be- coming angry.
3. Moses spoke unadvisedly : " Hear now, ye rebels." No doubt they were rebellious, but because they were was no reason why Moses should speak to them so harshly. How easily we may dishonor God, by using epithets in a reproachful manner towards our brethren.
4. He did not honor God in the miracle : " Must we fetch water out of the rock ?" God had promised to stand upon the rock, and it would seem that, if Moses had been in the right spirit, he would have recog- nized God as the cause of the flow of water; but he smote the rock twice, as though by smiting the rock it would give forth water. God's ministers may do his bidding, but at the same time they may do it so that the glory will not be given to him. This seems to have been the case with the two servants, Moses and Aaron.
It is no small sin to withhold the glory from God. Herod was smitten because he did not give God the glory.
II .- GOD DOES NOT FORSAKE MEN BECAUSE THEY SIN, UNLESS THEY BECOME INCORRIGIBLE.
1. I am not proposing to enter a plea for sinning, but for the sinner. Many think that if they make a false step God forsakes them; that he casts them off forever. We do not want to discourage the wayward from coming back to their offended friend and Father. If we were without precept or example, such a con- clusion might be reached. But since we have such declarations in the Divine Word as in Jeremiah iii : "Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you; for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever." And again : "Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you,"
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all fear should be removed, all clouds should be driven away. How often God speaks in words of encourage- ment. He says by his servant, Malechi iii: 7: " Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts." Yes, we come back to him. "He invites us to return. During all the years of Israel's way- wardness, God pleaded with them, saying, "I have no pleasure in the death of the sinner."
Take the journey of the children of Israel as proof of his unwillingness to let the sinner die. How he convinced them by the awful demonstration of him- self at Taberah, Numbers xvi: 42: "And it came to pass, when the congregation was gathered against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the taber- nacle of the congregation, and, behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared." Now, had not God been as represented in his Holy Word, Exodus xxxiv:6,7: "And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving in- iquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." Israel would have been destroyed.
2. Take again as proof of God's forbearance the case of Moses. Though he did not honor God before the con- gregation; did not "sanctify him before the people," yet the Lord did not forsake him, nor did he remove him from before his people. He continued his com- munications with him until he took him from Nebo to his heavenly home.
We must not be understood as teaching that God winks at sin. Moses must have repented, for God could not have continued his communications with him. Though it is not so stated that he acknowledg- ed his faults, yet it is clear that God does not hold such relations with sinners.
That Aaron sinned in the case of the Golden Calf, is very clear from Deut. ix: 20: " And the Lord was angry with Aaron to have destroyed him; and I prayed
-
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for Aaron also the same time." Aaron is charged, also, with the same offense which was brought against Moses. He did not "sanctify the Lord before the peo- ple." Though he had offended grievously, yet God did not wholly forsake him. That Aaron humbled himself we readily infer from the fact, that the Lord did not destroy him, but that Moses prayed for him.
3. Take the case of David as another proof of the proposition, that God does not forsake the sinner, if he will hear him and be reproved. David sinned fear- fully against God in the case of Uriah. While God could not hold his former close relations with him, yet he did not forsake him. He sent Nathan to reprove him, that he might be brought back to his offended God. The Prophet's lesson was so complete, that he saw his sin and exclaimed, "I have sinned against the Lord." Here we see clearly that he repented and confessed his sin. God said to him through his ser- vant, "the Lord hath put away thy sins: thou shalt not die." God in his infinite mercy did not cut the offender off, but forgave him and continued with him. Surely we can say with the 2. Peter, iii, 9: " The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."
4. He did not forsake Hezekiah because of his im- prudent conduct, in exposing all the glories of his house, to the Messengers from Babylon. Here, again, have we the proof that a merciful God does bear with offenders, though he is displeased with their conduct. We can see God's love for the offender, by the pointed rebuke by his faithful servant Isaiah. That Heze- kiah repented is clear, from his answer to Isaiah, when he showed him the fearful results that were to befall the Children of Israel, and also his own house. He said in Isaiah xxxix, 8: " Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken."
5. Christ often reproved his erring disciples, but did not cast them off. He said to Peter, " Thou art an offense unto me." Though Peter denied him, and even profanely denied him, he sent word to Peter that
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he was risen : " Tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Gallilee : there ye shall see him as he said unto you." Peter could see him in Gallilee. He would not spurn him from his presence. Nor will God turn away the prodigal, if he repents and goes back to his father's house.
6. The churches, in chapter iii of Revelations, is another proof of his forbearance toward the wayward. How he showed them their follies and exhorted them to turn away from their sins.
Sinners should not despair, though they have sinned. The blessed promise is, " If ye return unto me I will return unto you."
Have we gone astray like the Prodigal, let us adopt his language, " I will arise and go to my father." In the beautiful language of Steele, let us go to our Heavenly Father, saying,
" How oft this wretched heart Has wandered from the Lord ; How oft my roving thoughts depart, Forgetful of his word.
"Yet mercy calls,-Return ; Savior, to thee I come ; My vile ingratitude I mourn ; O take the wanderer home!
"Thy love, so free, so sweet, Blest Savior I adore ; O, keep me at thy secred feet, And let me rove no more.
III. WE CANNOT WIPE OUT ALL THE EFFECTS OF SIN BY REPENTANCE.
If the impression should have found a hold in any heart, that we may, by one single act of repentance, wipe away sin with all its effects, such an one would do well to stop and examine this question carefully. While we admit that sin may be pardoned, we strongly contend that its effects are not all destroyed. A per- son may lead a very profligate life, and repent at the last and be forgiven. God in his infinite mercy, may save him and take him home to heaven, yet he will feel the effects of sin through all the balance of his life in his broken and abused constitution. To par- don sin, is not to restore health. It will not bring
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back the robust constitution once enjoyed, but now enfeebled, and infected by debauchery.
We know that persons have been forgiven, but die of the disease brought about by their gross sins. Years of suffering may follow a pardoned sinner, and yet, at the last he may go down to death by the very disease brought upon him by profligacy. Hence, the proposition is clear, that repentance and pardon do not destroy all the results of sin.
We may go further, and assume that sin largely destroys our success in this life. How many fortunes have been squandered by turning aside from the right ? Many who have started well have gone out into the world with Christian motives, and with a Christian heart, but turned aside, it may be, through powerful alurements, until, like the prodigal, they have wasted their goods with riotous living. At last when in hunger and rags, they turn to God and are for- given, they do not find their goods restored. Though forgiven, it does not bring back their fortunes.
We may go still further and apply it to the subject of religion. We may be pardoned, but it does not leave us before the Christian world as before. Our sins be- come a fact of history, and nothing that we can do will change that history. We may be called good, yes we may be good, and yet the history remains. It will cause others to hold such an one with more or less suspicion. The history is there. He did so once, he will do so again, says the world.
When a man violates the laws of his country, and is brought to justice and imprisoned to meet the demands of the law, until justice is satisfied, he goes out again into the world, but the fact of his having met the demands of his conviction, does not an- swer. The fact still remains that he had been an offender, and can never be wiped out. Paul claimed that he was a sinner, but was saved by grace. Still the fact remained that he had been a sinner.
We may have remorse while we live, because of some act done, that has gone beyond our control. We may take the life of some one and be pardoned like the thief, but that does not bring back the life we have de-
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stroyed. It will not restore the stricken wife her hus- band, and the children their father again, nor will it bring back to the parents their child who has been taken away. It is not possible for us to be so pardon- ed as to forget all the effects of sin. We may in the bitterness of our souls say like one of old, "Thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to pos- sess the sins of my youth."
3 It may defeat our highest possible attainments in our Christian work. Moses did not reach the goal for which he started-the Promised Land. It is ex- pressly said, " Because ye believe me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them." Neither Moses nor Aaron was permitted to enter the Promised Land. " Aaron shall be gathered unto his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Isra- el, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah." Numbers xx: 24. Moses was taken up- on Nebo and permitted to see the land, but could not reach the goal. "Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession. And die in the mount whith- er thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gath- ered unto his people."+
How sad one feels while entertaining this subject. Moses the meek, the patient servant of God, who had endured so much persecution and suffering, should at last fall short of his reward. We have no doubt that many have failed to reach the highest honor, because of disobedience. They like Moses may be saved at last, but how much they have irreparably lost through un- faithfulness. If such were the result in this life, what must be the result in the future? Shall we not fear that much shall be lost in heaven? We are to be re- warded according to our works. Broken links in the chain of our history will not be united again in heav- en. There will be much that will be lost.
+ Deut. xxii: 59, 50.
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God took from Moses and Aaron the glory of lead- ing the people over into the Promised Land. So much of the Christian honor which God gives, may be lost, by some sin that may blur our Christian char- acter. It was the greatest pleasure of St. Paul, in his last hours, that he had fought a good fight; that he had finished his course. He had made no false steps. Let us, like Charles Wesley, who so beautifully ex- presses it, say,
" I the good fight have fought- O when shall I declare! The vict'ry by my Savior got, I long with Paul to share.
" O may I triumph so, When all my warfare's past: And, dying, find my latest foe Under my feet at last.
" This blessed word be mine, Just as the port is gain'd,- Kept by the power of grace divine, I have the faith maintain'd."
We conclude, from the foregoing thoughts, that it is dreadful to sin; that its results are far reaching, therefore sin should be avoided. Adam and Eve had no paradise after their sin. Cain wasa vagabond on the earth. Jacob had a cup full of sorrow. Moses and Aaron lost the privilege of leading the people over the Jordan, into the Promised Land. The sword was never to depart from the house of David. Hezekiah's children were to be carried into Babylon. If these most faithful servants of God realized such awful re- sults for their sins, what must be the consequences of those that sin overy day? May God help us to live without sin.
PERSONAL SKETCH.
Rev. THOMAS B. HUGHES, son of Francis T. and Phoebe Hughes- was born in Fayette county, Virginia, now West Virginia, Janu- uary 20, 1836. At the age of sixteen, after nine months of strug, gling, he experienced a satisfactory conversion, and united with the M. E. Church. At eighteen he was licensed to exhort, and at twenty, he was licensed as a local preacher. In 1857 he was received into the West Virginia Conference on trial, at the Con- ference session held at Moundsville. His first work was Calhoun Circuit. Subsequently he served the Church in Glenville, Spen- cer, West Union, Middlebourne, Mouddsville, Triadelphia, North Street and Zane Street Churches, Wheeling, and Cameron. Also Buckhannon District as Presiding Elder, Chap- line Street Church, Wheeling, and Morgantown station, where hn is now preaching acceptably to a large and intelligent con- gregation.
Brother Hughes is a man of fine presence ; is a good preacher and is fully and entirely consecrated to the work of his minis- try. His pastorates are efficient and successful, and always promote the work of the Church. By his zeal and real worth, he never fails to stimulate and encourage the people to their noblest endeavors in the cause of Truth.
He was chosen as the senior representative from the West Virginia Conference to the General Conference of the Church, which was held in Cincinnati in May, 1880, and was an efficient representative. Brother Hughes commands the confidence and esteem of all who know him, both in and out of the Church.
SERMON X.
BY
REV. THOMAS B. HUGHES.
THEME :- ENTIRE SANCTIFICATION.
TEXT :- "And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly."- 1 Thess. v: 23.
Justification is a work done for us; regeneration is a work accomplished in us. The first changes our re- lation to God, and the latter changes our moral nature. Regeneration is the basis of entire sanctification, and, therefore, occupies the same relation to it that the foundation does to the building-the one is the begin- ning and the other is the completion of salvation from sin.
I .- WHAT IS IT TO BE WHOLLY SANCTIFIED ?
It does not consist in being delivered from afflic- tion. Sin, indeed, is the primary cause of all suffer- ings. God does, however, permit some of the conse- quences of sin to linger about us after we are delivered from sin, properly, so called.
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