The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-12-09

| himself against the charpcs OF his friends:
| but when the Lord revealed himself To
| him. he said Mine eye seetn thee, There
fore abhor myself and repent in dust
and ashes &c never see the beauty of
Christ without 1T the same time pcrceiv
ing orr own ,ieformity When we neglect
prayer and sc,f.eNamination we Trow
mighty vain fellows, bat when we live
rear to God in private devotion and
Understanding, we put Off our ornaments
from us. in the light of Coi's countc-
nance we perceive our many laws and i'm
perfcctions, and instead OF saying. 81 am
clean we cry out, WOE is me, for am
II man of unclean lips Now if this he
our new eNpcrcnce, we infer from IT,
that those who think we'll of themselves
must know little of that revealing Iipht
which bundles all who dwell in it.
Let me add, once more. that whatever
shape Standardization may assume-and
it bears n great many-it is ut bottom
nothing but shrinking of the hardship
of Christian soldierhood The Christian
soldier has to fight with sins every day.
and if he be II man of God, and Coils
Spirit is i'll him, he will find he wants all
the strength he has, ana Il great deal
more, to maintain his ground and make
progress i'll the divine life Now, self
contcmtment is IL Sinking of the battle, |
do not care how it is come by. Some
people shrk watchfuncss rcDentancc
and holy care by believing that the ONLY
sanotification they need Is already theirs
by imputation. This, which they call
faith, take the liberty TO call Il lazy.
scif'conccited prcsumption;. and though
they persuade themselves that their sins
are dead, it is certain that their carnnl
security is vigorous enough and highly
probable that the rest of their sins are
pilt nf In
pride have room TO develop itself to ruin
GUS proportions
w hat Is it, ut bottom, that makes men
contentcd with themselves? 1t may he.
first nj ali, IL forgctfulncss of the awful
holiness OF the law of God If the law
of the ten commandments is to be read
only as its letter runs, [ could imagine II
mans Judging himself and saying, ~
have apprchcndcd:n but when we know
that the law is spiritual how can we bc
selfcomplaccnt? My dear brother, if tho,,
thinkest thou hast reached it's perfect
height ask thee To hear these words:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, with all thy soul, with ali
thy mind, and with I'LL thy strength, and
thy neighbor rs myself Canst thou
say i'll the sight of IL heart searching God
II have fulfilled all that:' If you can,
am staggered ut you, ana think you the
victim OF ii strong deluson, which leads
you 10 believe lie
II is to be feared that there is spring
ing up in some parts of the Christian
church Il deceitful form OF sclf-rightcouS.
ness, which leads even good people to
think too highly OF themselves 1t i
a.fashiomnblc form OF fanaticism, very
pleasing to the flesh, very fnscnatin1
and very deadly Many. fear, are not
really living so near to God as they think
they are, neither are they holy as they
dream. II is very easy To frequent Bible
readings, and conferences. and excited
public meetings, ana to fill ones self
with the gas Of self.csteem. 4 little
pions talk with the sort of Christians who
always walk on high stills will soon tempt
| YOU - use the stills yourself: but
indeed dear brother, you are IL poor, un-
worthy worm and II nobody, and if Won
get one inch above the ground, You get
Just that inch too high. Remember. YOU
may think yourself to he very strong in
Il certain direction, because you do not
happen to be.tried on that point. Many
of us are exceedingly good. tempered
when nobody provokes us. Some are
wonderfully patient, because they have IL
sound constitution, ana have no racking
pains to endure; and others are exceed
| ingly generous, because they have more
money than they want. a ships sea
worthncss is never quite certain till she
has been ont at sea. The grand thing
will be to sound before the living God in
the day Of trial | pray every believer
here to get off the high horse and to re
mcmbe" that he is 'naked and poor and
miserable apart from Christ and only
in Jesus Christ is he anything, and that
! if he thinketh himself to be something
when he is nothing, he deceivcth himself,
| hut does not deceive God
Ill And now the third point Paul
having put the present and past into their
right places, goes on To the future, aspir.
ing eagerly to make it glorious: for he
says, reaching forth unto things which
are before Does he not give us the
picture of Il runner; He reaches forth
The man, ts he speeds, throws himself
forward, almost out Of the perpendicular.
His eye is ut the goal already His hand
is far in advance of his feet; the whole
body is leaning forward: he runs as
though he would project himself to the
end OF the journey before his legs can
carry him there. That is how the Chris.
tianS should he: always throwing himself
forward after something more than he
has yet reached, not satisfied with the
rate at which he advances, his soul always
going ut twenty times the pace of flesh.
The aim of the Christian is to he perfect;
il he seeks to he anything less than per.
feet, he aims ut an object lower than that
which God has placed before him. To
master every sin, and to lave and possess
and exhibit every virtuc-this is the
CHRISTIANS ambition. Perfection, breth-
rem, absolute perfection, may God help us
to strive after il That Is the model ''Bc
We perfect, even rs your Father which is
in heaven is perfect 'Shall we ever
reach it?' says one. Thousands and mill
ions have reached it; there they are before