The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-03
DR.. DEEMS, HORNELLsvILLE,
ANOTHER EMINENT NEW YORKER,
OCCUPIES THE CENTRAL PRES
BYTERIAN PULPIT.
DIR. STOUT ON GODS KINGDOM
Eloquent Picture of Heavens GIOr-
les by the Pastor of the First
Methodist.

JOyeQ TWO treats yesterday, the Occu-
pant of the pulpit being Rev. DR.. David
James Burrell, now pastor of one of
the Collegiate reformed churches in
New York city, but previous to that
pastor of Westminster Presbyterian
church in Minneapolis, and one of the
most active advocates of the Christian
Endeavor and other auxiliary depart
ments of church work, in whose advo-
cacy he overstepped the limits of his
own parish and became a leader in
Minnesota PreSbyterianiSm. DR.. Bur-
relPs morning text was John XIV, T.
If We abide in me and my words
abide in you, We shall ask what we will
and it shall be done unto you"
AT one of the military posts on our
frontier an old Indian was accustomed
to present himself for aims, asking of
the soldiers at the post. from time to
time, just enough to keep body and
soul together. At length, it occurred to
one of the soldiers to ask him what it
was that he had suspended from a
ribbon about his neck. 1t was locket,
and as 1T was opened a bit of parch-
ment fell out. The soldier took it and
read it-a pension signed by George
Washington by virtue of services
which the old Indian had rendered
through the Revolutionary war and by
which he was entitled, if he had only
known it, to competency for all the
remainder of his life. He never knew
it.
Here is an illimitable promise, eff
We abide in me and my words abide in
you, We shall ask what We will and it
shall be done unto you" Why do we,
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, go
mourning 20, my leanness, my lean
ness?' Why do we lament our impov-
erishment in spiritual or in temporal
things if this promise holds true?
I'VE shall ask what We will, and it shall
be done unto you
But observe the word was spoken to
the followers Of Christ only 1t was a
part of that sacramentaI sermon
which he spoke in the upper chamber
on that night before he was crucified.
Not that man who is not a Chris
tan cannot pray. He cannot say
MY Father" for "he that hath not the
Son hath not the Father" He cannot
say with all his heart tfor Jesus sake"
for he has never by faith accepted
Him who ever Iiveth to make
intercession for US. But there is one
prayer that he can offer and for his
life must offer-the prayer Of the man
who went up to the temple, and while
yet good ways off, dropped his face
upon his breast and smote himself
there because he knew there was
where the trouble lay-a heart diseas-
ed-and cried, God be merciful to me,
a sinnerp'
Observe this promise-this illimitable
promise-was made in connection with
the parable of the vine and the
branches, in which our Lord set forth
His mystical union with those who love
Him and believe in Him. 81 am the
vine and We are the branches Abide
in me. My life flowing through as the
life flows out Of the vine through the
branches into the purple cluster" The
same parable which is set forth on
this sacramento table, as it is written,
Except we eat the flesh and drink the
blood of the Son of Man. We have no
life in you"
The secret of just apprehension of
the privilege Of prayer is in the filia1
relation with God. "If We abide in me
and my words abide in you, We shall
ask what We will and it shall be done
unto you"
o, beloved in Christ, we minimize
our prayer. We have no adequate APP
prehension of the tremendous power
and possibility there is in prayer If we
abide in Him.
There is an eye that never shuts when
beneath the wing Of night;
There is an that never shuts when sink
the beams of light;
There is an arm that never tires when human
strength gives way:
There is a love that never fails when human
loves decay.
''That eve is fixed on seraph throngs;
That ear is filled with angel songs.
That arm upholds the worlds on high;
That love is thron'd beyond the sky"
But
There's a power which man can WELD
when human aid is vain
That eye, that arm, that love to reach that
listening to gain;
That power is prayer, which scars on high
through Jesus to the throne,
And moves the hand that moves the world
to bring salvation down.
A boundless prayer founded on three
illimitable facts.
The first of these is the boundless
power of God. He can answer our
prayer if He will All things are posi-
bic with Him. When Scipio was in At
RIGA, he said to the people there, "Now
draw upon me as we would upon your
generous Nile" That was magnificent
hyperbole. But If we could sit beside
the Nile and watch its torrent flowing
by, and if that mighty volume were all
of molten gold flowing out of the ex-
chequer of God, yet through all the
generations would it not drain His re-
sources as much as one drop of water
exhaling from the boundless ocean
drains that fathomless supply. He can
answer us if He will. What is it you
mortal malady feeling for your heart
strings? 1 believe in faith cure Not
as faith cure, but / believe that the
in the charlatanry that parades itself
prayer for health falls within the cir
transcription Of the great promise
which includes all prayer. ASK and it
shall be given upon you" IF l. may
but touch the hem of His garment I
shall be made whole"
IF tho
Is by our beds of pain;
We touch him in lifes throng and press,
And we are whole again.
"He is the same yesterday, to-
day and forever" What is it
you want relief from? Temporal
aff1iction or distress? The cattle on a
thousand hills are His, and all the gold
everlasting mountains is His. He
knows, if He will, how to direct you
where to tap the golden vein. He can
do it. What is it you want? Spiritual
growth? Oh, God loves to hear the as
piration of a son or a daughter of His
who longs to grow into the full stature
of character in imitation of the ideal
man. Or are you longing for the con-
version of some friend? Are you plead
ing for the deliverance of some prodical
son? If one of my dear ones were
drowning over yonder and you stood
by within arms reach, and 1 cried, 80.
save him. would you not? Does not
God love us better than I love my dear
one, and is not His power infinite to
help US? Aye.
But what about the laws of the uni
verse? The fixed laws of the universe
are in His way and in the wayof PRAYER?
Are they? If my watch goes too fast
l can turn it back. 1t is going in pur-
of To- x-1, 4oI,