The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-09-26

Bible, and II we have our position Is as sad
/ as Mary in the garden when she said
They have taken away my Lord
Fourth, Lost Fellowship. Luke 2: 4245,
| "And when He was twelve years old they
/ went up to Jerusalem, after the custom
/ Of tho feast, and when they had fulfilled
/ the days, as they returned, the child Jesus
/ tarried behind in Jerusalem; and joseph
| and His mother knew not of IL. But they,
| 5upposing Him 10 have been in the com.
pany, went a days journey; and they
sought Him among their hnsfolk and &C
/ luaintanees. And when they found Him
/ not they turned back again 10 Jerusalem,
/ seeking Him." Mary and Joseph have
made q journey 10 the feast and they are
| homeward bound As they move out from
| Jerusalem mp toward Galilee they are busy
with the scenes about them, doubtless con-
/ versing with those who are travelling with
/ them, when suddenly they begin to look
/ about for the child Jesus. Where can He
/ be? Every search fails 10 locate Him.
/ Yearly they trudge back 10 Jerusalem,
and there they find Him with the wise
/ menl Many of us have lost fellowship
/ with our Saviour. Time was when we
| were close to Him, when we walked in
/ sweetest communion with Him, but now
we have been busy about other things and
/ we have lost the old JOY. Let us learn
! from the lesson OF this morning that il we
| have missed step with Him we must 60
/ back to Jerusalem, or that is, the place
where we lost Him and begin over again
| the old life OF peace and JOY. God pity the
man who is CRYING out in his heart to-day
/ away my Lord"
Fifth, a Lost Saviour. Matthew q: 3-5.
''Then judas which had betrayed Him,
/ when he saw that He was condemned, re-
pented himself, and brought again the
1 thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests
and elders, saying, 81 have sinned in that
| have BETRAYED the innocent blood. And
| they said What is that to us? See thou
! to that. And he cast down the pieces Of
| silver in the temple, and departed, and
went and hanged himself" You have
seen a storm held back by the force of the
wind, when suddenly the wind ceased and
the storm would break with all its fury.
/ This was like Judas. / doubt not in all
! his following after Jesus that again and
again he was filed with the desire to be
| true to Christ, but the time passes and he
/ is false to the appeal of his conscience and
| suddenly the Master withdraws from him
| and all the storm of his awful spirit OF be-
! trayal breaks upon him. and Judas hangs
! himself. There are some Of us who have
been resisting Christ, for this spirit has in
! fluenced US. We are persuaded of His di-
vine character Some day His divine hold
| upon us may be broken. 1t would be an
/ awful thing for us to have to say, "They
have taken away my Lord"
The text again. Let us now think to-
| gether especially Of Christ's care. There
| are some texts very like it in the Bible, as
for example, "Take not Thy holy spirit
! from me- "Restore unto me the Joy OF
| Thy salvation" without God, without
/ hope in the world" for only those can APP
! preciate Mary's position who have been in
/ the same place with her, and the most of
us have been there, and there have been
| times without number when we felt that
! all was lost, that our position was hope
! less. Notice first Of all the weakness of
! Mary's faith. If she had but stopped to
consider she would have remembered His
| word that He must rise again. If in the
dark hour Of trial we would pause for mo-
ment to think of His messages we shall be
| delivered from this awful fear. Oh, that
! God would strengthen our faith in the
! hour of trial. Notice also the strength of
! her love. Nothing could keep her away
! from Christ; the Jewish soldiers had no
! terror for her; she would see His body, for
she loved that. There are certain things
that cause as to lose conscious fellowship
! with Christ.
First, physical weakness. Whenever the
! body is weak be sure to watch and pray
! for the devil will easily overthrow us at
| this time.
Second, weakness of faith, but since faith
! is the gift Of God it becomes weak only
! because of lack Of exercise, and it is not
necessary that any Of us should fail be-
! cause of this.
Third, sin. blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God" 1t is not
! given to great minds alone to see Him, nor
great hearts to feel His presence, but to
pure hearts, and this blessing is within the
! reach of us all.
Oh, to have no hope What if we should
lose Christ, what dreary world this would
be. Let us imagine Him as taken out of
art, and with this would go Hoffman's
Christ in the Garden" Christ before Pr
late" and every other painting that has
! gone to enrich the galleries of the world.
| Suppose we have Him taken out of music,
| the music of the Old Testament would go,
! for they sang Of the Saviour to come; the
music Of the New Testament would be ban
ished, for He is the theme Of the Psalms.
! All the music that is worth singing in the
| worlds history would depart from us, for
! He is the subject Of our praising. Sup
pose He were taken out of literature; the
! best books in the world are either written
directly concerning Him, or have been in
spired indirectly by His matchless love. If
He were taken out Of preaching there is no
man in all the world that could hold a con-
gregation for any length of time, for men
delighted to hear concerning Christ. and
without Christ the message would be as
sounding brass and a tinllling symbol.
What if He were taken out of our living.
Men who do not call themselves religious
yet believe in Christ and flee to Him again
and again in the hour of temptation and
ike a boat upon the sea- ruddeT es50 and
helpless. What if He were taken out Of
our homes; how could we live when the
baby goes away and the mothers heart is
| breaking.