Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1903-03-11

In mad despair he SEXES his sword and
would have killed himself, supposing
that the prisoners had fed. Within
that inner prison Paul stands freed
from his letters. The hand of Gods
power has pressed open the doors of
that prison as though they had been
| made of paper and the bolts had been
but pencil marks. His fingers have
cut the iron bands as though they had
been but ropes of sand. And Paul and
Silas realized that they were in the
hollow of that hand which was
moving so nightly in their behalf.
Yea, and knowing this, Paul stands
calmly and dignifiedly in his place and
cries to the jailer to do himself no
harm, for they are all there. And now
we viii let.thc iailer tell who the Man
in Prison is. His cry: What must
10 TO be saved" shows that he has
caught a new glimpse of himself. He
is lost man, shut up in the prison
| house Of sin. He sees his doom written
all over the black walls Of his hard
heart In the anguish Of his despair
he cries out for dcliverancc.
II is the man who realizes he is in
prison who wants TO get out. Every
soul is in prison who has not been set
free by Jesus Christ. But oh. sad sad
fact! thousands upon thousands of
people all over this land. all over the
world. are in prison and do not realize
it, will not believe ii! Like the iailer
at Philippi, they sleep in the comfort
of their own self-coniidence and believe
that they are safe and free. But the
earthquake of Gods Judgment is com
| ing as 1t came there that II" ht al Phil
| ippi. God grant that YOU. my friend.
II YOU are in the prison house Of sin.
may wake up TO realization Of your
lost condition before it is TOO late
for the Dcliverer to reach your side and
make you free. We cannot argue and
show you by human reason that YOU
| are IN prison. Paul did not convince
| me JalIer that he was the Man in PriS-
on. God, 10y the convicting power of
/ Ills Holy Spirit, did that. Paul might
have spent all that night in forcible
argument trying TO convince that iailer
mat he was in prison. but the light OF
the morning sun would have seen him
still laughing the apostle to scorn.
but Paul let some little seed fall int
that Jaller's heart that night as he was
IeaNing. after claiming them in the
inner prison, and the Holy Spirit used
1t to convict the jailer of sin
And as soon as he realized that he
was sinner, that he was a help
! less prisoner in the prison house Of
sun, he Immediately began to cry for
deliverance. Satan blinds the human
heart TO its real condition and pre-
vents the lips from uttering the crv:
what must do to be saved" he uses
every device to keephis prisoners safe:
ne encourages the heart to make all
manner of excuses for not acceDtfrr
| 'hrIst as the only Dclivcrer. What i
ne holding up before your ewes which
IS making YOU blind to the fact that
You are a hopeless, helpless prisoner in
! Satans death cell? Let Gods Word
| convince your heart that "aU have
slhhed and come short Of the glory Of
ZOO mat the soul that sinneth. if
snail dIe; that there is salvation in
none other than in Jesus Christ. and
that IF the Son shall make Won free.
We shall be free indeed"
Lydia, Paul's first convert at Phil
IPPI' was in prison until the Lord
! opened her heart under the preach
| ing OF the apostle down by the river
bank and set her soul free in Christ
Jesus. Before Paul's coming She was -
! devout soul. She believed in God. She
was honorable i'm her dealings She
was benevolent and kind TO those
/ about her She was faithful i'm her
| nome duties. even though the cares
oi a successful business pressed upon
| her But, Notwithstanding all this
| lydia was in prison. Her wccLI,
| prayers by the river bank and ihc
! daily prayers in the home could not
break the prison bars Of souI death
and save her. All her virtues and her
devotions to her home were not
strong enough to open the door 10
the prison house Of her soul and oiyc
| Ut the right TO an eternal DWELLING
| place in Heaven. No! Neither will
/ church membership or religious eery-
/ ice as dcyout and sincere as that 81
| Lydia save You. my friend. from tn"
| prs ON house Of death which sin has
/ built around your soul Neither con
/ YOU breal, It's walls down los batter
ing " with all your virtues. or the
virtues ~ your wife. or sister. or
mother be they ever SO many and
ever so rare. You arc in prison. a.
was Lydia. unlcS. Christ has shaken
down the walls by tho tread Of IT.
wounded feet. and unless His nail
pierced hands have struck the shack
les from your fcttcrcd limbs
IN Prison. Being iu prison implies
wrong doing. They put The tiolator
Of the law iu prison. but the lav-abid-
ing citizen has no fear ~ the lock
up. The soul i- in prison because IL
has tran~grcsscd God. holy law. not
once. but scores 81 times. But even
if only once. and i'm only ono particu-
lar. Gods Word declares that "vhn-
s"cycr shall keep tho whole law. and
yft offend boo ono point. Boz IS guilty