Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1899-04-07
BE READY.
Have Faith in God aud Be Always on
the Alert.

Have Faith in God and BE Always on
the Alert.
I tell you that night there shall be
two men in one bed, the one shall be
taken and the other shall be left; two
men shall be in the field. the one shall
be taken and the other left. Luke 18th,
q. Two women shall be grinding to-
gether; the one shall be taken and the
other left
The disciples did rot ask why? but
when? but we deliberately ask the
question why?
Not because God is q respect9r Of
persons because His word says Re Is
not. 1t might be interesting to pick
out a few instances where enc has been
taken and the ether left. Tate fer in
stance Cain and Abel I think It may
be said Abel was taken ard Cain was
left. We read in Ge1esis that in pro
cess Of time Cain brought Of the fruit,
Of the ground an Offering unto the
Lord.
And Abel he also brought Of the
lrstlings of his flock and of the fat
thereof and the Lord had respect unto
Abel and to his Offering. But unto
Cain and to his Offering he had not re-
speet. Ard IN Haa 11ta and 4th, It is
written: By faith Abel offered unto
God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain by which lie obtained witness that
ne was righteous. God testifying to his
gifts and by it being dead yet speak
eth Cain evidently believed in God or
he would not have offered the first
fruits OF his ground.
As far as faith in God is concerned
his was equal to AbeIs. It cannot
possibly be said that he did not have
faith or he would not have presented
an Offering which distinctly said
every good and perfect gift comes
from God. And I do earnestly wish
that every thoughtful reader would
think of these two young men as hay-
ing perfect faith in God and in Ills
goodness, and the one was accepted
and the other rejected and ponder over
the question why? and how it is that
Abel being dead yet speaketh and what
it is that he says to US in this day of
gospel light.
Does he not say by Offering a lamb
for sacrifice and shedding its blood
which is the life thereof, that his life
was forfeited by his fathers sin and
he thereby sought mercy and pardon,
and thus it was that Abel was taken
and Cain who only offered a thank Of
fering was left, and so Jacob was taken
and Esau left, and Joseph was taken
and his brethren left, and a Pharisee
and sinner went M to the temple to
pray and the sinner who cried for
mercy was taken and the Pharisee was
left. This is the old Methodist doc
trine of being convicted for sin Of being
brought to realize not only that the
wages of sin is death and that death
has passed upon all men in that all
have sinned but that in their case in
diyidEally the verdict is guilty and
the ser tence is passed unless mercy
can be obtained through the shedding
Of the more precious blood of Christ
CT which the first lamb was a type
there is no escape from the execution
of the sentence and the second or eter-
nal death must be the consequence
But God having provided for US this
better sacrifice viii do for the persis-
tent sinner what He did for Abel He
will have respect unto His Offering and
being justified by faith he Will have
peace with God, through our Lord
Jesus Christ-John L. Fisher.