The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-01-14

Il
usefulness of the man who invokes and
receives the inspiration and the strength
of the omnipotent Spirit l doubt not
that Paul was a man of superior natural
endowments. He was blessed with an
infexible will. He was princely man
every way. His life was one of those
central lives which influence and control
others. He made his mark on every one
who came under his spell. This was true
of him before his conversion He pos
sessed those heroic qualities which fit
their possessor to lead and command
Decision, fortitude, infexibility, intrepid
ity, determination, are characteristics
which always secure a following, for there
is natural element in humanity which
constrains it to honor that which is strong,
and adventurous, and indomitable But
these did not constitute his real force
He tells us what was the secret of his
power. "By the grace of God | am what
| am He knew that the same grace
could make him more than he was when
he uttered that. ascription. Men differ
in natural endowments, but they surpass
others, and they transcend their own orig
inal capacities for usefulness Just as ON
nipotent grace quickens and kindles and
invigorates them. We cannot all be in
tellectual, or learned, or attain to the in
fuence which high position enables men
to exert, but by the help of the divine
Spirit, we are capable of continual growth
in whatsoeveris just, and true, and lovely,
and of good report After all, simple
goodness is the greatest power in the
world. No natural endowments, no ac-
QUESTIONS of learning, make a man so
noble or so truly influential as moral ex-
cellence. And when you see a man as
piring to be better, to lead a higher life,
and gradually attaining the standard he
has fixed for himself, pressing toward the
mark Of likeness to Christ, and thus
emerging from selfshness and the domi-
nation of the passions of his lower nature,
becoming disinterested and charitable and
upright, faithful in the performance Of
his duties, infexible in his adherence to
right standing by his obligations at all
hazards, and who with all this strength of
character is gentle as he is strong, tender
as he is true, unyielding as the oak, yet
beautiful as the oak when the first leaves
of spring freshen it, or when the mantling
ivy crowns it, then you see a man such as
Paul was, when no longer limiting his
progress by past attachments, he forgot
the things which were behind, and reach
ed forth to the things which were before,
until he touched the mark of his high
calling, and then took his place among
the crowned and happy victors who had
nobly fought and nobly triumphed.
We see therefore how greatly we would
err, by living too much in the past. IF
we remember former failures, former
mistakes and wanderings, it must be only
to make them beacons of warning, and
so to avoid them in future If we are
depressed by the memory of old sins,
we must repent of them without brood
ing over them, and without doubling the
power or the willingness of God to forgive
them. We are all writing diaries, not
those sentimental diaries written with
ink, full of Obs and Abs and what will
become Of my poor wicked heart? but
diaries In which purposes, and passions,
and deeds are the amanuenses. These
faithful scribes make the inevitable re
cord. And terrified by the entries we
may cry, What these have written has
been written, and can never be erased
But it Is not so. Christ has nailed the
handwriting that was against us to His
Cross. The curses inscribed on the old
Levitical rolls were blotted out by
blood, and so were no longer legible.
Maclaren of Manchester, England, tells us
about the old paJjnose8ts. These children
IN the front pews, whose attention seems
so strange to me, will think ! am using
and unkindly hard word when I talk Of
Paln18e8tS, but even they can understand
what it is A palimsest is skin of some
animal on which people used to write
before they had paper, and from which the
first writing was scraped off, and some
ting else written in its place. Well, in
the middle ages these old parchments
on which wicked men had written foolish
or sinful verses, were too valuable to be
thrown away, and so good men carefully
erased the first writing and then wrote
something pure and good in the place of
It, Songs to impure Pagan gods and
goddesses, were scratched out, and hymns
to Christ, or meditations of holy men
were written on the pages once so pol
luted. So God deals with the diaries to
which our own sinful deeds have made
the record.-He blots them out. He
writes an assurance of forgiveness on
the top of the PAGE and we beo,in ON,