The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1902-09-04


inquiry said. "The child would be stone
blind in three months" She drew her lit
tie one up against her heart and then fell
upon the floor with a shrek. "My God,
nv baby blind" and this would be an aw-
full calamity. but then the Saviour ha.
said, "It is better to be manned and halt
and b lnd rather than to be lost" and
every ,ne is lost without Christ: for all
such the Son of Man has come seeking.
Zaccheus. When orr Saviour stood he
meath the tree He looked ND full in the
face Of Zaecheus and said, "Come down"
and he came down from the sycamore tree
and from his curiosity, down from his
pride and his doubt. down to the feet OF
Jesus, and he found salvation The best
thing that Iaccheus 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
walton with fear and trembling" two
things must be remembered. First. this is
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 I can do,
Honest thoughts and feelings, too.
Cannot form my soul anew,
Working will not save me-"
We must first of all come down il we
would be saved 1t is only by childlilIe
trust In Him and absolute confidence in
His word that we pass from death to life.
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 a former congregation
promised me that he would give up gamb-
ling and accept Christ He assured
me that his difficulty was his
evil companions, and he would never
be able to live a Christian life until
he could leave them. He was afraid of
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 che words were not spoken.
Finally by great effort he made his way
into the store, called his friend back and
said Il have made up my mind to be
Christian, and unless you will 60 with me
| shall have to part company with YOU"
Tears came into his friends eyes and he
said, at 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. if any
one whose eve lights upon this page should
accept Christ and confess Him the same is
coming down from morality, for what the
world calls morality does 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 of the church is against the
preaching Of the minister and may be a
DANGEROUS friend for the man who is
weake" than himself, for we are our broth
er's keeper whether we will or not With
the most of us it is coming down from
sin. and we must give that up, for IL we
regard iniquity in our hearts God Will not
hear lis, neither can He save us, but the
very moment we are ready and willing to
forsake all known sin He gives us the
strength to do it. Just as the man with
the withered hand had no power to stretch
forth his hand, that is in himself. but the
moment he had the will to do it Christ
gave him the power and Immediately be
was healed.
The result. When Jesus went to the
home of Zaecheus as He entered He said.
This day is salvation come to this house"
The greatest heritage Christian child
ever had left to him is Christian home.
There must have been great change in
Iaccheus before he met the Saviour I
doubt not he was selfish | know he was
sinful. After his meeting with Christ his
whole family came to know Cod There
could DC no better position for any father
to take than that taken by Zaccheus. II
will wait until my boys grow up" said
gentleman to me recently, "and then we
will 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 family divided, and
divided by the most sacred things in the
world. In George MacDonald's great book
on Robert Faulkener there is a story said
Robert Faulkener, whose life was irrelig-
ious. His wife had done everything she
could to lead him to the knowledge of the
Saviour. Finally just before she died she
had dream. She left the dream for her
husband, which resulted in his conversion.
She said. Il dreamed that I had died and
entered into the other world, and I
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
on the other side saw you. I gave cry
that all the universe must have heard,
when suddenly turning about I saw one
coming toward me. He had a wonderful
face. He had on a garment which came
down to His feet and as He came nearer
| saw in His hands and feet the print of
the nails Then I 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 were to-
gether." In the story which she left for
her husband she cautioned him to meet
her, and to give her no such disappoint-
ment, and it is said that he came, but if
we are not united in this world we shall
not be in the next. Between the saved
and the lost there is great gulf fixed, and
no man can pass over it. To-day, however,
is the day of salvation, and we may know
Christ If we will
"Papa, Why Don't 90 Pray?"
There is heautiful little incident re-