Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1903-01-07

Chicago. Jan. 4. 1900.
Text:-"Not by might. nor by power. but
by My Spirit. saSh the Lord o. Hosts.
Zech. 4:e.
God works in mysterious way
His wonders 10 .erform."
The magic wanc or the good fairy
OF my boyhood story book always held
peculiar fascination for me. That
the simple waving OF the rod in the
hands of the little creature could ac-
complish such wonderful things so
easily and so quickly impressed me
very deeply. and / sighed for he fairy's
talisman that would make Of life such
an easy problem. 1t seemed such
desirable thing TO be able TO Go things
as the fairy did, and my imaginative
mind pictured all tho good deeds
would perform If the fairy's wand were
placS in my hand. Little then did
think, as | pored over the fascinat-
ing stories and spent hours in idle
dreaming, that the wonderful things
in the fairy story had their realization
in the spiritual realm, and that the
potency of the fairy's wand was as
nothing in comparison with the mar
velous operations of the Spirit of God
7: was the Spirit of God moving
through the rod in Moses hand
which wrought such mighty wonders
in the presence of Pharaoh, which
opened a way through the Red sea
which made the hard rocks of the will
derness yield their gushing waters
which gave the Israelites the victory
over the Amalekites. 1t was the Spirit
of God that circled the city Of Jericho
in answer to the obedient tread of
Gods people and that rang out in the
shout and the trumpet blast and laid
the massive walls of the heather
stronghold low upon the ground. II
was the Spirit of God that moved in the
times of the judges and wrought
mighty deliverances for Gods op-
pressed people. 1t was the Spirit of
God which on the day of Pentecost
transformed handful of simple
hearted, ignorant disciples into fluent
lingnists preaching the Gospel of Jesus
Christ in every known tongue. Ii was
the Spirit of God which wrought such
mighty wonders through the instru-
mentality of the disciples in the early
days of the church. 1t is the Spirit OF
God Whose tracings can be discovered
running through the sacred pages of
Gods Word from Genesis to REVEAL
ton. More marvellous and fascinating
is II all than the most extravagant
fairy tale. The latter is naught but a
tale, but the former is the truth and
majesty and power of God.
There are two reasons why man
fails to understand and appreciate the
operations of the Spirit of God: First.
because he does not know G. DDS will.
and, second, because he is an alien
from the righteousness of God; for the
Spirit of God always operates along
TIE line of Gods will and moves within
the sphere of His perfect righteous
ness. In this materialist tic age mans
Will shuts out the vision of the will of
God and mans self-righteousness and
self-esteem render him insensible to
the righteousness of God. and hence
the might and power Of man is I'M
duly magnified and emphasized and
the workings of Gods Spirit are lost
sight of. But nevertheless it is the
eternal and Interchangeable truth of
God that it is mot by might. nor by
power of man. but by the Spirit of
God, that the purposes of God are
wrought out through men.
Ierubbabel, to whom the words of
our text were cent through the proph-
ct Zechariah, had beer called to n
great work by the Lord. The task Of
rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem
and the restoring OF the temple had
rested upon him. After the first burst
Gt n lTre fp1 e. L.
the return from captivity and the rees-
Enlistment Of their homes in Jerusa-
lem, the work Of rearing the city's pro-
tecting wall and restoring tire temple
Jagged. Zerubbabcl felt the burden of
tie gigantic task As Christian peo-
PIE are always so prone to do. he came
10 feel that he was carrying the burden
all alone. That il all depended uuon
hlm' II the walls were completed and
the temple reconstructed. And in
proportion as he took his ewes Off God
and looked within himself for the now.
er and ability TO carry on the great
work, he became DISCOURAGED and nor
haps was almost ready TO give mn I'm
disgust. lie did not have the sympathy
aho cooperation Of the inhabitants Of
the. city as was his right to demand
ana expect. lie doubtless tried to pus h
and drive them to the completion Of
the task which lie knew God had set
MN to accomplish. Perhaps he set to
seeding them in the impatience Of his
encouragement. Perhaps he went as
Tar as some Christians do when facing
diiiiculties similar to those Of Zerub-
babel and threatened TO ouit and 20
back 10 the easier surroundings Of tho
hapyionian home. And just at the
point when he fully realized how ut
leriy helpless he was to accomplish tho
TASK before him, and when. utterly
discouraged. he was ready to give up.
God sent His prophet to him with the