The commercial. (Union City, Tenn.) 190?-193?, 1903-11-06

ception, CESSATION, birth, discipline
gradual growth. The Lord teach
es this in many ways in his word.
He says it is like a man sowing
seeds into the ground and he r1seth
night and day and it groweth, she
knoweth not how" Man has his
part to do in the preparation OF the
soul, sowing the seed, but the Lord
makes the seed grow into a harvest.
There is an unconscious work in re-
generation affected by the Lord as
man faithfully does his part. The
preacher then said that if father
had visited California and it's beau
tiful scenes and were to return home
and his boy would ask him: "Fa-
ther, tell me all abo 1t what YOU
saw" The father might describe
it to him as best he could by the
use of words, but if he could throw
pictures of the places before the
eyes of the boy it would be much
more vivid. Our Heavenly Father
gives no pictures of the process of
regeneration in the journey of the
children of Egypt to Canaan; it is
a divine drama OF regeneration.
The children of Israel living IN the
fiat land watered by the overflow
ing river Nile, with Pharoah as king
and taskmasters set over them, in
bondage and slavery, is a picture of
the state of the natural man Self
is the king and he is in bondage to
his natural affections. His life is
on low level; there are no hills and
valleys, no rain from Heaven and a
land flowing with milk and honey.
Out of this bondage to self and the
world the Lord seeks to lead us.
Moses represents the divine truth.
If man will hearken to the "voice of
the Son of God" he will be made to
live. Man is naturally dead to the
higher life. But the promise As
that the dead that hear His voice
shall "live.' The next picture IN
this journey from a purely natural
life into a spiritual and Heavenly
one, is the giving of the law which
is put in golden chest and goes
before in the journey, If we would
enter into Heavenly state of life
the commandments must be written
on the tablets of our heart, and
guide the way in all things. The
children of Israel murmured for
bread, the Lord gave them mama;
they thirsted, he gave them water;
representing the good and the truth,
to supply the hunger and thirst of
the soul. The Lord said he would
not lead them the near way, by the
land of the Philistines, but the
round-about-way through the will
derness. A picture of the trials
and temptations which man must
go through that he may be strength
ened to meet the more interior evils
represented by the enemies in the
land of Canaan. There is no short
cut route to Heaven. Moses leads
up to the land and Joshua succeeds
him as leader. From Mt. Pisga he
sees the length and breadth of the
Promised Land. So do the truths
OF the word enable us to see the
beauties OF Heavenly state of life
which are to be ours if we overcome
all the enemies. The spies are the
divine truths that search out the in
terror evils of our hearts; not only
truths, but the evil intentions of the
will. The Lord said he would not
drive out their enemies in one year
lest the beasts of the field multiply,
but by little and by little will l
drive them out until thou be in
creased and inherit the land. The
land of Canaan was gift indeed,
but the children of Israel had to
fight for it. SO is HeaS9n-eternal
life-a gift, but man must fight for
it, and the Lord conquered the
evils and is present to save from
every evil and to establish us in all
that is good and true. Man cannot
himself, he has no pow
er of his own against evil, but he
can shun evils as the Lord reveals
them to him, and as he does this
he enters the Heavenly
state of rest and peace useful
service.