St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1902-07-12

His thought is centered in this lif
and all hope is bound up in the sun
of the years he may live this sid
the grave. But the words of Jesu
awaken within him new sense o
need, and the way is paved for I
double blessing.
This double blessing is that to which
Jesus referred when He said: "Seel
first the Kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things
shall be added unto you" The para
lytic as he is being borne to the pres
ence of Jesus realizes but one need and
has but one supreme desire, that OF
physical and temporary blessing, but
when face to face with Jesus he be-
comes conscious of a greater need, that
of cleansing from sin.
Face to face with Jesus. It is a heart.
searching position to be in. No trying
to make the dark places in the hidden
recesses of the heart look. clean and
presentable. Then is borne in upon
the soul that declaration of Gods Word
that the "Heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked, who
can know it," Yea, who can know it
but God? Who can fathom its depths
| of iniquity but the searching eye of the
omnipotent God? When Peter came
| face to face with Jesus on that morn
ing after the weary night of toll with
his partners and had taken nothing,
and launched out into the deep at the
bidding of Jesus and let down the net,
and the miraculous draught of fishes
almost brake the nets, the first thing
he became conscious of, as he realized
he was in the presence of the Son of
the agony of his lost condition, he cries
out: depart from me, for am sim
full man, 0 Lord" And when soul
gets into that broken condition, then is
when Jesus does not depart, but comes
very near and with the loving touch
of His nail-pierced hands covers the
sin spots and wipes them out forever.
Jacob. the usurper, with the black
stain of the lie still fresh upon his
lips, comes to Bethel, as he fees from
the murderous wrath of his brother.
When he wakes in the morning after
the visit of God to him in that wonder
full vision he exclaims: "How dreadful
is this place!" Yes, it is a dreadful
place to come, into the presence of
God. There is where the hidden sins
of the heart begin to parade them
selves. All, what an array of them
there are. Sins unknown to our best
friends, and which we have hidden
away from mortal eyes; but the pene-
trating eye of the all-seeing God
searches them out. He knows they are
there. You cannot escape Him.
AS John the Baptist prepared the
way for the coming of Jesus what was
the burden of his message? Repent
ye." The Jewish nation was watching
for and expecting king, but it first
needed Saviour from sin. They are go
ing to have King some day, blessed
be the faithfulness of God, and He will
be ''this same Jesus which is taken up
from you into Heaven" But like null
titudes in the world to-day, they were
seeking "al1 these things" instead of
the Kingdom of God and His righteous
ness, and lost every thing. Jesus began
His ministry with the same message:
"Repent ye." And Repent We" is the
message that is needed in the world to- |
day. Face to face with Jesus brings |
agony of soul, but it leaves behind the
blessing which sends one forth. like |
the paralytic, clarifying and. praising
the Lord.
Friend, have you been face to face |
with Jesus?
The man of our text was brought to
Jesus, desiring deliverance from palsy
of the body. Jesus gave him first de-
liverance from palsy of the soul. No
tice the implication in the words Of
the text: whether is easier to say:
Thy sins are forgiven thee or to say:
Rise up and waikiki" Aquestion of the
greater power required in forgiveness
of sin or in the healing of the body.
One held up against the other in con-
trast. 'But that We may know that
the Son of Man hath power upon earth
to forgive sins (He said unto the sick
of the palsy, say unto thee, arise"
How patient the Lord is with us in
our unbelief. He leads us step by
step from the seen to the unseen, from
the material to the spiritual, not will
ing that one should perish, but that
all should come unto the knowledge of
the truth. "And Immediately he
rose up" And as the gathered multi
tude opens up passageway to the
street and sees the man 60 back to his
home clarifying God, it knows
mighty miracle has been wrought, and
yet mightier and more glorious mir
acle had been enacted but moment
before, which was just as immediate
in its accomplishment. The instant
The heart of that sin-scarred man
reached out after Jesus and the Lord
spoke the words: "Man, thy sins are
forgiven thee" that soul had passed
rom death unto life. A TRANSFORMED
lion scene had taken place in the pres
nee of the Father, the God of the uni
verse, and the mans record in the
Judgment book of Heaven was blotted
out for ever, clean page was turned
'or him, and at its head was written
he name of Jesus, and with that
,ame written on the feshy tables of
lis heart, that man had an open
esame to Heaven and its glories. A
captive was delivered from the prison
louse of sin and the power of Satan.
The crowd that day saw and realized
'nly the healing, and since that day
he majority of those who have read
he record of this wonderful incident
ave marveled at the raising to his
eet of the paralytic, and have passed
lightly over the cleansing from sin of /
his man, and thus they have lost the