The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-05-31
Christian Lie Column.
SEEKING AND SAVING THR LOST.


years old, was stolen by some wicked
men and held for q ransom. The par
ents Of the child were distracted with
anxiety aud consumed with anguish:
the entire community was excited.
and gave evidence Of it's interest in the
case by assisting the police in the search
for the child. After q few days the
child was wrested from his abductors
and carried home to his parents, whose
paFoxysms of joy over his return was
quite as great as that of their grief
over his disappearance.
That lost boy represents a large num-
Der of people: men and Ome who
for some reason or other have streyed
far from the Father's house, and have
become lost. Some are lost in sin, and
their evil lives make it difficult to find
them; some have yielded to the en-
Elements OF base desires; some have
been ensnared by low ambitions; some
have been overwhelmed by the waves
of { Fiction; some have surrendered
in the face Of disappointment; some
have learned too late of the deceitful-
ness Of richess; some have neglected
their religious duties; some have been
engulfed in worldliness; and some have
grieved the Holy Spirit. In many
ways men and women have been lost;
sometimes they have been the sole
means Of their way Wardness, and
L 0ArOaASw0aa thu naVTno - hhnSn 100000
ton from God is found in the influence
cast about them by other persons. In
either case the condition is one of dis.
tress, and calls for the employment Of
some agency for their restoration. In
the province and wisdom Of God such
an agency is at work for that purpose;
and men are being brought up ''out Of
an horrible pit" and are having their
feet set upon the Rock.
There is One who came ito seek and
to save that which was lost" He
seems to have had q peculiar affinity
for the lost, and in many a nan and
women who, according to the social and
religious standards Of the day, were
irredeemably lost, He recognized ason
lor daughter Of Abraham. This star.
tied the PhRrisees and some others,
and melted q reaction against His
claims, but He made it plain in many
ways that He was mot sent but unto
the lost sheep Of the house Of Israel"
How His sympathy went out to 1.-THE
lost sheepI" To the man who twas
the chief among the publicans, and q
social outcast, He said: ITO day I
must abide at thy house," to the blind
man, lost in darkness, He gave sight;
to the leper, lost in the ostracism Of
polluting disease, He gave restoration
Of health; to ''the man sick Of the
palsy" lost through sin, He granted
forgiveness Of sins as we'll as we'll as
renewal of physical powers. Probably
if we had a complete record Of His
beneficent life we would find that there
was no day in which He did not seek
out and fnd at least one ''lost Sheep"
and so fulfill the glorious mission in
dictated by Him when he said, The
Son of man is come to seek and to save
that which was lost"
The work he did In this direction
when He was among men, He is doing
to day. Then He spoke to men face to
face; now he speaks to men through
men. Then He vas practically alone
in the prosecution Of His holy work !;
now He has thousands of coiRborers
-men and women who hold them.
selves in readiness to do whatsoever
He seems to command. It is through
them that He is seeking and saving
the lost to day. Before He left His
disciples He spoke Il them this mar
velous word Of inspiration: HE that
believeth on Ne, the works that I do
shall he do also; and greater works
than these shall he do; because I go
unto My Father"
Whoever is allied 20 the Christ, then,
is q colaborer with Him In the divine
work of seeking and saving the lost.
Whata privileged A worker together
with the Son Of God in the salvation Of
menl Angels would rejoice to parti-
cIpate in such labor, but it is reserved
for those mortals to perform who
have touched Him who declared Him
self to be 1.-The way. the truth, and the
life" and through whom alone is &C.
cess had to the Father. These, having
become spiritualizsd by that personal
contact with the Christ, r the chosen
ambassadors Of His truth and His love
to shining and lost mankind.
What a responsibility The saliva
ton Of a soul depending upon the hdel-
ity Of one of ChEist's coworkers.