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2 (506) T H 3
face with the fearful conflict between good and
evil.
"Once to every man and nation comes the
moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth and Falsehood for the
good or evil side;
Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever
on tne tnrone;
Yet that scaffold sways the future, and, behind
the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow, keeping
watch above His own."
Oh, the mysterious providences of life! In
the presence of many of these we are dumb.
How can there be rest of soul or content of
mind unless we hear one like unto the Son of
God saying, "What I do thou knowest not
now, but thou shalt know hereafter." The soul
craves light in the midst of the darkness of
ignorance.
The soul must have some foundation on
which to build its faith, a foundation which is
not itself subject to mutation. Something as
enduring as its own immortality and as satisfying
as its own capacity for happiness. But
it cannot find it either in the material or intellectual
creations of men?no, not in the noblest
and most enduring of them all. It cannot
find it in wealth; it cannot find it in fame;
it cannot find it in power. It cannot find it in
nature, whose well ordered harmonies seem
sweet and unvarying as the song of the morning
stars. Where, then, is that foundation on
which *he deathless soul may erect its immortal
hopes and find its eternal rest and peace? God
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eternal satisfaction. God has made us for Himself
and the soul is restless till it rests in Him.
3. A change of heart is absolutely necessary
to this blessedness. On every hand there is evidence
of a fearful catastrophe somewhere in
the history of the race. Man has been alienated
from his God, and, like the prodigal son,
has left the Father's house. Sin has alienated
the soul from God. Sin has caused this restlessness
of soul .Remove the cause of restlessness
and you have the desired result. A patient
is sick with fever. . The fever caused restlessness
and delirium. The skilled nhvsieian
administers a remedy for the cause of the fever
and soon the seat of the disease is reached and
the patient becomes quiet and the delirium
passes away. There is balm in Gilead for the
race, there is a great Physician there. And so
the Great Physician stands in the midst of a
restless and delirious race, suffering from the
fearful effect of sin, and cries, "As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have
eternal life." In that night conference with
Nicodeinus, Christ affirmed the absolute necessity
of the new birth and thus put into the
hands of the race the key to the greatest riches
of God's vast domain. The Atoning Christ
is the central figure not only of this world, but
of the entire universe. His cross was lifted up
in the midst of a suffering people in order that
they might look upon Him and find rest of soul.
Why seek an inferior remedy? Why direct
the poor, lost, struggling race to those things
which can never save a soul or comfort a poor,
weary pilgrim along the way. Heaven's an
nouncement that "the blood of Jbsus Christ
His Son cleanseth from all sin" is the good
news to the race. Why go forth with all the
humanitarian remedies which fail to touch the
seat of the fearful disease of sin, when we have
an absolute remedy at hand. Why all this sensationalism
in the pulpit when men are burdened
with sin? Years ago I looked upon a
picture. It remains with me until this day.
5 PRESBYTERIAN OF THE SOI
It is a Sunday evening scene. It is an up-touate
church as indicated by the many bulletin
boards displayed. It has something to appeal
to ull the tastes of men of the world. The
minister, handsome and wearing the clerical
uniform, is seated on the steps. The seruiou
in his hands is "The Lights of Literature."
No one is coming his way. lie says, "1 wonder
why they do not come."
Near by can be seen au old dingy mission.
It is almost covered with the most precious
promise of the Old Bible. The people are literally
crowding into this old mission, because
they find there the bread which the soul craves.
There is nothing in all the universe so attractive
to a poor, lost sinner as the Cross of Christ.
The cross speaks of God's infinite mercy and
peculiar love for the prodigals of earth. Millions
of worlds float today in space. Many of
thein are larger than our planet. These worlds
may be strewn with diamonds and robed with
flowers which never fade and whose beauty and
fragrance exceed our most gorgeous dreams.
But if they have no Calvary to diadem tneir
beauty, of all the worlds which God has made
and which crowd the universe, our world is
King. And the highway which leads from
earth to heaven is more frequently trodden by
angels. We have our Calvary?Heaven's sacrificial
altar. As a poor sinner saved by grace
near that cross:
"1 would forever stay,
Weep avd gaze my soul away;
Thou art heaven on earth to me,
Lovely, mournful Calvary."
As a soldier in the great conflict with sin and
darkness I would lift high the royal standard
and while marching to the drum beat of the
militant army of Christ I would sing:
"In the Cross of Christ 1 glory,
Towering o'er the wrecks of time.
All the light of sacred story
Gathers round its hear sublime."
4. Even the soul which has experienced the
wonderful change of regeneration is not satisfied.
While infinitely happier than any unregeuerated
soul of earth and while possessing a
peace that passeth all understanding there is
still a war between the members as a result
of sin. For there is no sinless perfection this
side the grave. So intense is this war between
the members in the life of God's saint that we
hear him exclaim in agony of soul. "O,
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver
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all these struggles with sin, he has the assurance
of adoption into the family of God and
that he is an heir of God and a joint heir with
Christ "to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled
and that fadeth not away," and that he
will come off "more than conqueror through
Him that loved us."
5. The new horn soul, united to Christ, partakes
of the same desires and aspirations as
those which moved Christ to yield His life upon
the cross, and cannot be satisfied until the kingdoms
of this world become the Kingdom of
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Christ came to lift the world out of sin and
to bring it back to God. He put His very lifeblood
into the great undertaking, and "He
shall see of the travail of His soul and shall be
satisfied." In that wonderful prayer on the
i night of the betrayal, when standing within
- the shadows of the cross, and while talking
face to face with the Father concerning His
, disciples, He said, "As Thou hast sent me into
the world, even so have I also sent them into
'TH [ june 4, 1913
the world." And so the first call which the re
ucemea soul bears is "tonow me." As he obeys
that command he learns that Christ is engaged
in a world conquest. This redeemed soul is
seized with the same passion and willingly
gives his life to win the world for his King. He
hears the command of his risen Lord concerning
the duty to teach all nations. And as he
stands with the Christ on the Mount of Olives
on that day of the Ascension he.receives the
program of service and the last words which
he hears falling from the sacred lips of his
Lord are: "Unto the uttermost part of the
earth." And the last glimpse which he catches
of the ascending Christ, pointing no doubt with
index finger to the uttermost part of the earth,
sends him forth with an unquenchable desire to
tell the last, man the story of redeeming love.
For we cannot conceive how a man who stands
beneath the cross and is warmed by the blood
which flows there, and is joined to the heart
which bleeds there and enters into the prayer
which is breathed there can ever be indifferent
to the last command of the ascended Christ or
unmoved by the distressing cry of the man lost
out younder in the night of sin. The call of
the Saviour and the cry of the lost makes us
forget that we are weary and hungry. What
ecstacy fills the soul when we behold the wonderful
magnetic power of the love of Christ on
the world. Looking backward, how wonderful
is the story of the march of this Gospel
across the centuries. Beginning in Judea, it
goes from city to city, from empire to empire,
and in its matchless power leaps from conti- *
nent to continent, lights up the islands of the
sea and transforms them into beacon lights.
Looking into the future the very soul within
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It is not a losing fight. It is the cause of
Christ and must ultimately prevail. No power
can stand against it. The days are rolling rapidly
on and the time is near at hand when "the
shout of the isles shall swell the thunder of the
continent, when the Thames and the Danube,
when the Tiber and the Rhine shall call upon
the Euphrates, the Ganges and the Nile; and
the loud concert shall be joined by the Hudson,
the Mississippi and the Amazon, singing with
one heart and one voice, Alleluia! Salvation!
The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." For the
whole earth shall be full of His glory.
When we thus stand by faith upon our Pat
ruos and lift the veil of futurity, what a sight
meets our gaze, and what music greets our ears.
The soul which receives such a vision of the
conquest of the Gospel cannot be satisfied until
he hears the last shout of victory from the
last battlefield of earth.
6. The soul in which such a change is
wrought by the new birth restlessly pursues
greater blessedness. The foretastes of heaven
already received have awakened new desires.
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reaches his journey's end until he gets to heaven.
He has many a sweet foretaste in the ordinances
of the house of God, yet he has not
enough. It is said that the Gauls, when they
first tasted of the wines of Italy, were so taken
with their sweetness that they resolved to conquer
and take the land where they grew.
Joshua and Caleb tasted the luscious grapes
of the-land of Canaan and they were not satisfied
until they had conquered every foe and
possessed the land itself. And thus the sincere
soul thinks it not enough to taste of the
fruits of that heavenly country, but plans a
conquest of the country itself. There is an intense
longing for the time when faith shall be
lost in sight and hope shall be swallowed up in
fruition.
(Cont'nrrd on page 5.)