The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-09-19

SAUL ~ II beLLcl 10 NC ihdlAhCN anu nav /
md bind rather than TO be lost and |
every )ne is lost without Christ; for all |
such the Son Of Man has come seeking
II.
Zaccheus When our Saviour stood he
meath the tree lie looked no full in the
face Of Zaccheus 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 Zaccheus 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
vation 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 | can do,
Honest thoughts and feelings, too,
Cannot form my soul anew,
Working will not save me-
We must first of all come down if we
would be saved It is only by childliRe
trust in Him and absolute confidence IN
His word that we pass from death to life.
With some there must be a 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. 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 the words were not spoken.
Finally by great effort he made his way
into the store, called his friend back and
said, "1 have made up my mind to be a
Christian, and unless you viii go with me
/ shall have to part company with you"
Tears came into his friends eyes and he
said, cit is the best thing you ever did; Is
there any hope for me-" There Is no one
really worth having SIS your friend but
WudL HOuIQ say bHG SAINT LuluBs Il any
one whose eye 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
weaker than himself, for we are our broth
er's keeper whether we will or not. With
the most of us it is a coming down from
sin, and we must give that up, for if 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
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 he
was healed.
III.
The result. When Jesus went to the
home of Zaccheus as He entered He said
"This day is salvation come to this house
! The greatest heritage a Christian child
ever had left to him is a Christian home.
| There must have been a great change in
Zaccheus 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 for any father
! to take than that taken by Zaccheus. 81
will wait until my boys grow up" said a
/ 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 a 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
to be founded upon fact of the father Of
Robert Faulkener, whose life was irrelig
ous. His wife had done everything she
could to lead him to the knowledge of the
Saviour. Finally just before she died she
had a dream. She left the dream for hel
| husband which resulted in hls conversion
She said. Il dreamed that | had died anC
entered into the o.her world, and
searched everywhere foc YOU. Andrew. hu
| could not find you At last came to al
abyss that was, OH so very deep, hit no
so very wide, and it was tinted with blu,
like the blue of the SKY, when suddenly
on the other side l saw you | gave a CRY
that all the universe must have heard
/ NuCh SuuhGAlf luAllu.@ tbUHb i saw ont
coming toward me. lie had a wonderfu
face. He had on a garment which cam,
down to His feet, and as He came neare
] saw in His hands ard feet the print o
the nails. Then / knew who He was. nm,
| fell at His feet and cried ont, Oh. Lord
my husband my hushludp and He tool
me by the hand and led ne out over To-
abyss and put our hsnds together. an,
then He led us back again and we were ia
gether" In the story which she left 70
her husband she cautioned him TO NEE
her, and to give her no such disappoini
- tI.f IL / :