Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1902-08-28

ful calamity, but then the Saviour has
said, at is better to be manned and hals
and b ind rather than to be lost. and
every one is lost without Christ; tor all
such the Son of Man has come seeking.
Zaccheus. When our Saviour. stood Pc
meath the tree He looked up full IN the
face of Zaccheus and said, Come down,
and he came down from the sycamore tree
and from his curiosity, down from hls
pride and his doubt, down to the feet Of
Jesus. and he found salvation. The best
thing that Laccheus ever did was to come
down, and so will it be for every one OF
YOU. What can | do to be saved! Some
one is even now asking, and there IS no
more important question. According to
the Scripture you can merely live because
of your good works. and while in the one
place it is said "Work out your own SAL
vatlon with fear and trembling" two
things must be remembered. First. this -
Gods message to Christians, and second,
we can only work out what has already
been worked IN.
working will not save me,
Purest deeds that | can do,
Honest thoughts and feelings too,
Cannot form my soul anew,
Working will not save me"
We must first of all come down II we
would be saved 1t is only by chlldllke
trust in Him and absolute confidence IN
His word that we pass from death to lie,
With some there must be coming down
from pride We must reach the place,
where we will not fear what the world Will
say,
A young man in former congregation
promised me that he would give up gamb,.
ling and accept Christ: lie assured
me that his difficulty was his
be able to live Christian life until
he could leave them. He was AFRAID or
what they would say, but at last gave me
his promise that he would confess Christ
the next morning With one of his friends
whose influence over him was always BAD
he walked to his place of business the next
morning, trying all the way to make his
confession, until at last the store was
entered and the words were not spoken.
Finally by great effort he made his way
into the store, called his friend back ana
said, Il have made up my mind to be
Christian, and unless you will so with me
| shall have to part company with you
Tears came into his friends eyes and he
said, 1T is the best thing you ever did; is
there any hope for me-" There is no one
really worth having as your friend but
what would say the same thing II any
one whose eye lights upon this page should
accept Christ and confess Him the same Is
a coming down from morality, for what the
world calls morality docs not say we are
not saved because we are good, but be.
cause Christ is and always has been and
our faith is in Him. and every so called
moral man out oil the church Is against the
preaching of the minister and may be
dangerous friend for the man who is
weake, than himself, for we are our broth
Cr's keeper whether we will or not With
the most of us 1t Is a coming down from
sin. and we must give that up, for IT we
regard iniquity in our hearts God will not
hear us. neither can He save us, but the
very moment we are ready and willing to
for,ake all known sin He gives us the
strength to do 1t. just as the man with
the wlthcrcd hand had no power to stretch
forth his hand, that is IN himself, but the
moment he had the will to do 1t Christ
gave him the power and Immediately he
was healed.
The result When Jesus went to the
home of Xaccheus as He entered lie said,
This day is salvation come to this house"
The greatest heritage Christian child
ever had left to him is a Christian home.
There must have been great change in
Xaccheus before he met the Saviour, |
doubt not he was selfish. | know he was
sinful. After his meeting with Christ his
whole family came to know God. There
could be no better position Tor any father
to take than that taken by Iaccheus. Il
will wait until my boys grow up SAID
gentleman to me recently, "and then we
viii all become Christians together" |
told HIM what doubtless he already knew
that Noah took his boys into the ark by
going in first himself The saddest thing
in the world is to see a family divided, and
divided by the most sacred things in the
world. In George MacDonald's great book
on Robert Faukener there is a story said
to be founded upon fact of the father OF
Robert Faulkcner, whose life was lrrehg.
iouS. His wife had done everything she
could to lead him to the knowledge oil the
Saviour Finally Just before she died she
had dream. She left the dream for her
husband, which resulted in his conversion.
She said. II dreamed that | had died and
entered into the other world, and |
searched everywhere for you, Andrew, but
! could not find you. At last | came to an
abyss that was, oh, so very deep, but not
SO very wide, and it was tinted with blue
like the blue Of the sky when suddenly
on the other side | saw you. | gave cry
that all the universe must have heard,
when suddenly turning about | saw one
coming toward me He had wonderful
face. He had on garment which came
down to His feet, and as He came nearer
! saw in His hands and feet the print of
the nails Then | knew who He was, and
| fell at His feet and cried out, Oh Lord,
my husband, my husband and He took
me by the hand and led me out over the
abyss and put our hands together, and
then He led Us back again and we we're to.