Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1894-11-22


for larger refreshing? He speaks to us,
one by one. and so he fits us for better
doing He is standing at the door to-
day, hands full of blessing for US. Does
not the song sing itself to us?--
"Christ is knocking at my sad heart;
Shall let him in?
Tenderly pleading with my sad heart;
o shall / let him in?
Cold and dead is my heart with sin,
Dark and cheerless Is all within,
Christ is bidding us come unto him;
o shall l let him in?'
Shall not the Spirit answer for us?-
'There's stranger at the door;
Let him in.
He has been there oft before;
Let the Savior in"
Points In the Lesson.
"The scribes which came down from
Jerusalem" There was this difference
betwixt Christ and his adversaries, the
scribes and Pharisees. They were conf
ing down from Jerusalem. He was going
up toward Jerusalem. He steadfastly
set his face along that holy way; they
steadfastly set their obdurate faces in
the other direction.
'He hath Beelzebub." they said. Per-
haps they were the men to speak; pos
sibly they knew more about his satanic
majesty than did any one else-connois-
seurs, experts, as 1t were, in this depart
ment The only trouble was that they
knew so little about the opposite king
dom of light; its very brilliance binding,
so to speak, their unaccustomed eyes.
eff kingdom be divided" Christ real
ly gives three rejoinders here. In the first
Tvs. "a, 25) he pictures house or king
dom, on their superstition, divided against
itself. 1t is contradiction, an anomaly.
In the second ". 26) he grants, as it
were, their notion, and urges that if Sa-
tan be allowed to go on thus, he puts an
end to himself. Why, then, their anx-
ious opposition? In the third ". 20 he
hints at the real situation. A stranger
has entered the strong mans house and
is spelling his goods. They are fighting
against God.
Hints and Illustrations.
This lesson brings Christ very close
home to us. We have been studying of
Christ on the sea, on the mountain, on the
plain. This might be termed, Jesus, in
the heart. He comes to his own to-day,
will his own receive him? He comes tc
the hearts door and knocks. Have you
room for him there?
'In the silent midnight watches
List, thy bosom's door!
How it knocketh, knocketb knocketh,
Knocketh evermore.
Say not it's pulses beating,
IT'S thy heart of sin;
IT'S thy Savior knocks and crieth
Rise, and let me inr T"
Now let the message be very personal.
OF old he looked about on them which
sat about him and said, Behold my
mother and my brethren! For whatsoever
shall do the will of God, the same is my
brother and my sister and mother" Can
he say the same of those who sit about
him in his house to-day? Can he look
level into your eyes and say, SISTER" or
brother The controversy is betwixt
you and your Lord to-day. How the
mothers and fathers used to sing it
"A poor, wayfaring man of grief
Has often passed me on my way,
Who sued Sc humbly for relief
That l could never answer nay.
had no power to ask his name,
Whittier he went or whence he came;
But there was something in his eye
That won my love. i knew not why"
"Have you sgot religion?" And the
poor, forlorn woman answered, Eyes,
spells of it, She looked it. Would it
not be better to get Christ, and to keep
with him all the time?
Live louder than you shout. Let the
life within authenticate the life without.
In word, keep Christ in the heart, and
the life itself will sing and shout his
praises. You see that man there in the
body of the house? He's great shouter,
isn't hep Yes, he's been making good
deal of noise in the meetings" "Well, he
won't say anything tonight when /
speak" Sure enough; he was silent.
''How do you account for it?' said the
speaker. "He owes me five dollars" Get
right.
In the meeting the brother was in
sisting on certain exercises of soul, and it
would almost seem postures of body, in
order to secure peace of mind. How re-
freshing was the word spoken just then
by the good sister who, rising, said, Il
have not been able to be with you i'm these
special meetings. but / do believe l have
been with my Lord! Duties at the coun-
ter have so kept me that this indeed is
the only service / have been able to at
tend, yet Christ has stayed beside me all
the day. and l have had sweet com
munion with him." Do and know.
Bishop Thoburn sat in his study. There
had come to him call of duty. Six
young men were asked for India. The
young pastors heart told him that he
was one of the six. OF late. everything
seemed to be echoing and re-echoing the
call. His presiding elder came in. His
first word is, Bishop James is looking
for missionaries for India; hadn't you
better go?" Says young Thoburn, "It
is just what l sent for you to talk with
you about" But they do not talk much;
the coincidence of impression is enough.
Young Thoburn goes aside to pray and
comes back with the seal of Gods APP
prevail to pledge himself for the work
abroad. The joy of that commission has
never departed, and thirty years of
noble service have proven the divineness
of the impressions. The word obeyed has
let him, as it were into the very heart of
God as one of his intimates.
A house divided in the secret of failure
and unrest. ''IIow can Satan cast out
Satan?" And yet many live as il il could
be done. Be wholly Gods End the strug-
gle by yielding wholly to the Lord and
letting him have control. After months
and years Of wrestling with many n
downfall, John G.. Woollcy woke one