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2 (1416) T H E P
you and its shadow abide sweet and refreshing
upon your home. Muy the now year bring you
peace, prosperity and every temporal and spiritual
blessing. "The Lord bless thee and keep
thee: the Lord make his face to shine upon thee
and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his
countenance upon thee, and give thee peace."
"The peace of Gou. which passeth all understanding.
keep (garrison) your hesirts and minds
through Jesus Christ."
How may we enjoy these blessings, enter into
awect ami comfortable relations with God. live
in profound and unbroken peace?
The text reveals: the instrumentality by
which tins precious emblem was brougnt, is suggestive.
The olive leal did not come accidentally
to Noah. it did not tloat down aimlessly upon
the idle winds, but it was piuckt oh and borne
by a dove. Now, by a most expressive and remarkable
coincidence, the dove in ail languages
rep resents a type of character, it is the universal
symbol of innocence, gentleness, simplicity
and fidelity. JSo we are taught the peace of God
wh ir?li cni'inuric fnnm rn/inn/nhufmn until liim or?rl
1. ?** JJV XI Will A <<VV*IViAiUll(VXi II X X XX AAiXXX iXXiVX
tills the heart, does not enter the life accidentally
or aimlessly; it must be sought intelligently
and persistently, and when the Tree of Lite is
found, the olive leaf must be pluckt off by the
baud of faith, it must bo cherished by innocence
and fidelity. The olive leaf to which the text
refers was not found by the ravee, a bird of
earthly mould and lowly liight that feeds upon
carrion, whose eye is ever bent downward to find
the perishing things of the world, fit emblem of
selfishness, worldliness and carnality, but it was
discerned by the eye of purity, the upward, unselfish
gaze of gentleness. Would we enjoy the
peace of God? Let us seek it by living holy, unselfish,
consecrated lives, feeding not upon the
dead, decaying tilings of earth, but upon Christ,
walking with God, growing in grace, deepening
in spirituality. Real, abiding peace is the result
only of holiness. "Great peace have they
that keep thy statutes." "Thou wilt keep him in
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because
he liveth in thee." "Come unto me,
and I will give you rest." "Bleared are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God." Why
was Noah selected to be the recipient of such
honor and blessing? God himself gives the
reason: "Thee have I seen righteous before me
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JIJ tllld 1 1 lllty Lilia L1LLIC UliVC IU11
pluckt off by tbe dove reveals a wonderful ami
practical truth, if we would read it aright; it
teachers that the path of holiness is the path
to happiness; that God's ways are ways of
pleasantness and all his paths peace; that the
highest, best blessings are not attained by self
centered lives, that life's noblest gifts are not
pluckt off by the grasp of selfishness and held
in the hand of avariciousness, not reached by
soaring ambition and towering pride, that true,
inward peace is not anything the world can give,
but in religion, that God tenders the olive leaf
to lowly piety and fidelity to duty. May we
learn that beautiful but hard lesson, seek to find
satisfaction not in outward but inward things,
for life consists pot in the abundance of what
we possess but in the state of the heart at peace
with God.
Brethren, how is it with us? During the
years that have flown, have we enjoyed this
deep, unbroken peace? Have we walked by day
and slept by night beneath the shadow of the
olive? Have we caught its tranquil spirit and
laid down our burden# a.t its roots? Has it outstretched
itn richly laden "boughs above our
homes, dropping down the joys and blessings of
heaven itself? Have not our lives rather been
RESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
hut and restless, filled with feverish anxieties 1
As the years come and go, do we not continue to
walk the Bridge of Life with the long procession
of care-encumbered men ? Instead of growing
lighter and falling away, do not our burdens
seem to increase in number and weight? Why
is it T ferhaps, because wo have been ,;viug
worldly, selfish lives, like the raven seeking our
own gratification, feeding upon things that perish.
Have we not by our sins excluded the gentle
dove from our bosoms, so that it has wandered
over the face of the earth without a place to rest
its foot upon? This last year did we devote as
much time to Glod as to self? Absorbed in our
business, did we not often forget him? Under
the stress of modern life, have we not neglected
duty to the home and to the church? Have we
remembered the Sabbath day, to keep it holy?
Is not this the secret why our lives are shorn of
peace, why our hearts are so often shadowed,
and filled with anxiety! why the dove has not
Muttered into our window with an olive leaf
pluckt off? Oh, let us resolve to lead holier,
more spiritual lives. On this first day of the
new year, let us form solemn purposes of
amendment, fix the great, inviolate determination
to walk more closely with God, to take up
the cross, to set our affection upon things above,
and ever to live as seeing him who is invisible?
You may say you have often formed thew
good resolutions, only to fail miserably. But
again I claim this wonderful little text contains
hidden and inexhaustible comfort. The dove
not only typifies that holiness without which
no man shall see the Lord; it is also the divinely
chosen emblem of the Iloly Spirit, who is the
source of true holiuesu in the soul of man. When
.Tesus was baptized, lo, the heavens were opened
and the Spirit of God, descending like a dove,
rested upon him.
And so we glean a deeper lesson. The Spirit
is the Author of that personal holiness which is
os-ential to the enjoyment of the peace of God.
It is he who works within us the dove-like spirit
in imniy juki gentleness ana iaitn. is not tnis
ir.deod an inexpressible comfort? In this hard,
sinful world, with our weak and imperfect natures.
with the manifold trials and temptations
that beset us, we are not left alone and unaided
to struggle with evil, to overcome habits and to
make ourselves holy. .Many of us perhaps have
realized by bitter experience the utter hopelessness
and impossibility of the task. If the peace
of God be conditioned upon our attainment of
spotless purity, then the olive leaf pluckt off
will never fling its blessed prophecy into our
dark and downward path. But the divine, omnipotent
Spirit helpeth our infinities. He male
?m jmurctssion ror us wun groanmgs whien
cannot be uttered or as the words may be read
with pantings inexpressible. The weakest and
most sinful can lean upon his almighty aid, find
grace to help in every time of need. In the
sublime description of Creation's dawn we are
told in the simple, majestic words of Inspire
tion, that the Spirit of Cod moved upon the
void, formless earth, out of its chaos and darkness
brought symmetry, order. Ugwt and the
beauty of life, fixed the stars iD tjeir orbits, revolving
around the sun, catching its rays and reflecting
its glory. So that same omnipotent
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rf mv VMV Aivavuuo aiill tr^lrt Ul I?I1ed
the moving mechanism of the skies, can by
his divine energy ro-create our lives, out of their
ehaoes and darkness, organize order and symmetry
and light, make our natures spiritually
beautiful and radiant and fruitful, set us in
heavenly places, revolving in fixed, unswerving
orbits around the throne of God. reflecting his
glory. How may we secure this wonderful
U T H (.January 1, 1913
#\ j
and indispensable help If The context reveals ^
we learn here that even over the darkness and
desperate wickedness of the antediluvian world,
the gracious spirit was brooding and striving
with men. Why then were they not rescued
from their impending doom? They resisted his
'K.,l.??.rt... : * i.:_
uiuurmx, uaiicu iuvir ncai ia a^uiuai ilia cuIrance.
Why was Noah saved V He yielded to
ihe Spirit a guidance, followed his prompting,
and was saved with all his house. Do we desire
to be made holy, to ne gathered with our households
into the ark, as unbroken families enter
heaven? Then let us seek prayerfully the Spirit
of God, put ourselves entirely under his inliuence,
follow implicitly his guidance. Oh!
that on this first day of the new year, we may
receive the baptism of the Iloly Ghost, that like
a dove he may rest upon us and our home, anointing
us for service. So not ope but many an
olive leaf pluckt off will tiutter down into our
path, laden with the blessing of God and fragrant
with his peace.
But in this remote transaction I find another
lesson which may he of inestimable value to us. T
flunk we detect the clearest evidence of a reverent
observance of the Sabbath, and the duty of
family and public worship. "And he stayed yet
oih?r seven days, and again he sent forth the
dove out of the ark." What is meant by this
' epetitious observance of the Seventh day? To
my mind there is an unmistakable reference to
the Sabbath. Notwithstanding the discomfort of
his strange and narrow surroundings, Noah remembered
the Sabbath to keep it holy. "When it
dawned over the wild, desolate waste of waters,
he gathered his little family, which was the
church in the home. Then having worshipped
Clod, he opened the window and looked up to
heaven, lie seemed to expect a token for good,
and the pious anticipation was not disappointed.
What a beautiful and important lesson. When
we have established the church in the home,
gathered our household around the family altar,
then through the open window we, too, may expect
to see an olive loaf pluckt off and fluttering
in. Yea, if we worship truly, we may expect
the Spirit of Peace to brood like a dove over
4 V, ~ U , I. V. .11 iU - J i>- 11 1
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ever we go. help us in all our trials. That home
may be narrow anil poor; it may be rocked upon
rough waves and many a dark cloud gather
above, but within will be love and happiness, the
light of heaven gilding its walls, the olive branch
overarching its threshold. Have yon a family
altar in your home? If not. establish it today.
You cannot form a better resolution for the new
year. Then you may surely expect the tokens
of the divine favor. When as families and as a
church, wc reverently observe the Sabbath, honor
God in the ordinances of his house, we may
confidently look up. see not merely a window,
1 A. it- -1 - 1- - V
out rne wiae uounaiesw neavens open, .icsus
standing at the right hand of God, holding out
the olive branch, the Spirit descending in
Pentecostal power. Let this be a year of prayer,
of consecration, of unceasing und unwearied service.
Let it be a memorable year in religious
experience. Let us resolve to be always in our
places, in the cfhurch, in the Sabbath school, and
in tVin nnovnr* mon'inff trilli nnliPfn^ Poooa lrv/\lr_
' " w??*. I'lHJVl " ttll UpllLlVU xuuro IV/rv
ing ami waiting for the coining of the Spirit of
God. How know we but thia may be our last
year to live and to toil in this world? Let us
strive to make it the most earnest and fruitful
year we have ever lived. Let us seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness. A pupil
of Michael Angelo submitted to him the sketch
of a building he had planned: the great master
glanced at it, then upon the margin wrote one
little word?"amplius"?make it larger. "We