The Newtown bee., 1894-06-22

faculties, bat the creation of a new use for those which already exist. The con- verted man thinks, reasons, imagines, re- members, and so he did before; the ! heart of converted man feels, desires, I thopes. loves, hates, aud so 1t did before l 1 But the object about which the man now 1 I reasons and thinks and hopes and loves 1 are different; he lives in another world, l ! or, at least, he looks out upon the world l in which he lives with far different feel ings and thoughts; his whole realm of l activity is changed, yes, this explains it, he has another character.
 What is character? It is what you
 are. And what determines what 1 termines what you are. Love springs from the inner or spiritual part i of us ; and it is the emotion which there ! sits upon the throne that decides the es- l innate God puts upon us. I stretch
 forth my hand to give some vietuals to
 one who is well-nigh famished for food,
 that act we call a charity, a deed of love;
 1 stretch forth the same hand to strike 1 some unoffending child cruel blow, that
 act we call dastardly, a deed of hate.
 Wherein lies the difference? It was the
 same hand in both cases. Why at one
 time was it extended in love, and why
 again in hate? The hand was not to blame in either case, it only acted as a
 tool; it was the feeling within that
 prompted the act, and it is such forth outings of our real selves, the sum of
 such feelings, which determines our | characters.
 Every man is controlled by domi-
 pant love. A classmate of mine ill col
 lege, after his graduation, took a position
 in bank. Some of his duties were very
 humble ones, he even swept out the
 room early in the morning before the
 bank officials came. He had been here
 only short while when I net him on the street. "I gave up my position in the
 bank" " he said; Sit might possibly have
 led to something good but then I found out that
 SHOULD NEVER BE CONTENT
 with any position in which study was
 not involved, have decided to go into
 the law" What was the reason for
 that young mans change when seeming
 ly good prospects were held out before
 him? Just exactly as he explained it;
 he was student by disposition, he was a good student all through his college course, to study was his delight, love for books was the controlling impulse of his being, all other loves were wholly subor- dinate to that.
 From this illustration (and their number might be indefinitely multiplied it will be seen that every mans life has
 a "master passion,' a love that dominates all other loves and determines the char 5 acter. But, though the lesser loves be many, there are two great objects upon one of which every heart is consciously | or unconsciOusly fixed namely, self and l God. There is no middle ground; in difference to God is as bad As enmity to God; half way to the right and halting ! there is no help to the right and has de- cided leaning to the wrong. Every one | has started toward the Delectable Moun- tains and bright Beulah Land, or else he still fingers in the City of Destruction. "He that is not with me is against me :; = AND HE THAT GATHERETH NOT g with me scattereth abroad
 2 The love of man by nature is for self. g Self is first in order of mans develop
 ment; it is not natural for man to be Jorn
 a saint. "Howbeit," says Paul, "that
 was not first which Is spiritual, but that r which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual.' In order that God may be the supreme object of love and
 service in mans lite, some change, and , some transforming change, must occur :; Q and that is just what conversion is, and 2 that Is juss what the "new birth'' means. Maa is born with self as his prevailing
 
 f comes his prevailing love. A new im- U pulse masters his beng, new affection = holds the throne of his heart; what he 2 is TOW is not what he was before, be- hold with him 'old things are become ; new behold he has a new character. ? This choice of God as the One in whom V your thoughts will centre and to please , whom the purposes of your life will s bend, that is the thew birth," Chat is l t,S ! 7 mystery has been allowed to gather. II How do we choose God so that that n choice may be the ruling motive of our t lives, you may ask, how is that brought n about? The answer is found in a verse a aa of the passage which I read this morn- 2 ing, Except a man be born of water 2 and of the Spirit" We must never leave r the Spirits part in the new birth out of S account. You drop tiny seed into the 2 ground. In a few weeks there is a change; in the spot Iwhere you dropped ! the seed there is a stalk, and the stalk is rr rr clothed with beauty strength. What v made the change? Atmospheric condi- 2 tions, we say yes, but it was really God. | He poured forth upon the seed and the growing stalk, His sunshine. dew and . shower; He is the source of the beauty and the strength. You seq some young person developing into beautiful Chris
 tan manhood or W0manhOod, and put ing forth the sweet tendrils of loving service and the noble branches of de- , voted sacrificefo for others good. You ask
 me whence these pure affections and
 lovely graces. The surroundings of a z beautiful Christian home may be answer r ed. Yes; but Gods Spirit has, too, been at work there and,
 & LIKE THE WIND WHICH BLOWETH - where it listeth and the sound thereof r you hear, His coming and going you n have not seen.
 D We must not forget the part of the e spirit in the matter of the thew birth, ''
 we must also not pass over the part ot
 man. If man does not do his part, the z new birth" for him can never be an ac- r r complished reality. Christ stands at the door and knocks, the Spirit causes the ' knocking to be heard above life's din I and roar, but, unless the man opens of | himself the door, the Stranger with the :. pierced hand must ever stand without. Him that cometh unto me-" Christ : pleads, II will in no wise cast out j The Holy Spirit in the heart presses that :, invitation and repeats it through all the reverberation and chime of the melo- : dious gospel bells; but it is for man to unStnn hig aarc bnar and hood ba ipui