St. Tammany farmer., 1903-04-11

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is afraid to meet God. He sinks of
into the dark places. Christ de-
clared: "Men love darkness, rather
than light, because their deeds are
evil" And the soul in prison, while
it is clinging willfully to sin, never
wants to meet God. It is in dis
grace, and it knows it.
Being in prison means hardship.
"The way of the transgressor is
hard" Oh, what hardships sin In
flicts. It throws man out of q
job. 1t puts rags on his back. 1t
robs him of home and family and
friends. 1t wrecks happiness. It de-
stroys his peace of mind. All, the
hardest, roughest, deadliest road 10
travel is the broad, smooth road of
sin, which is easy and pleasant until
the soul gets fairly on the toboggan
slide to hell, and then it is the most
dangerous road, the one most filed
with hardships.
Being in prison means limitation.
The world of the prisoner is bound
ed by the four blank stone walls. He
seldom if ever gets even a glimpse
of the blue of heaven. What a con-
tracted sphere he moves in. The
limitation of the soul in the prison
house of sin is as great, or even
greater. The unsaved soul is limited
in time, in attainments, wealth and in
friendships. 1t is limited in time be-
cause the few years of this life are
soon passed-they are as but a
breath, fading flower, the whitening
grassland it has no hope to carry it
beyond the grave. It sacrifices an
eternity with God, for few paltry
years of selfish pleasure and self
seeking. It is limited in attain
ments,s because all heights of learn
ing, of culture and refinement, must
be scaled during this life, and then
all is laid away in the grave of an
eternal death. The soul saved by
Christ Jesus grows in attainments to
the point where death and the grave
are swallowed up in victory, and then
it goes on growing and attaining
throughout eternity. It is limited in
wealth, because it may heap the shin
ing gold about it on every hand, but
it cannot carry one grain of it to the
other side of the grave; but he who
lays up treasure in Heaven finds his
wealth after death, and has an eter-
nifty in which to enjoy all the riches
in Christ Jesus. And it is limited in
friendships, because it may only win
them during the years of time, and
here friends fail, friends desert us,
but the saved man finds his heart
being knit together with those of
like faith with himself, and he looks
forward to the unlimited friendships
of Heaven, of meeting friends and
loved ones gone before, of meeting
Old and New Testament heroes. Oh,
the soul in prison is in terrible po-
sition! Oh, that you would awaken
to the awfulness of your position, O
unsaved soul, and let Jesus set YOU
free!
Three questions spring to the lips
on meeting the Man in Prison. How
came he in prison? How may he
gain his freedom? What will he
do when he gets out? We need not
dwell on the first question. We all
know how the soul gets into the
prison house of sin. Sin forges tue
chain, sin builds the wall, sin locks
and bolts the door.
How May He Gain His Freedom?-
Not by anything he himself can do.
Sins prison house never VT was
broken out of by the efforts of the
one imprisoned within. Jails which
man builds are not always able to
hold their prisoners, but the prison
which sin rears is as impregnable to
human efforts to break and destroy
as is the rock Gibraltar to the at
tacks of the most powerful fleets of
the world. Jesus only is able to de-
liver from this prison, but ''if He
shall make you free, ye shall be free
indeed" The Man in Prison at Phil
ippi, as he realized his predicament,
And Paul gave him the, whole Gospel
in nutshell, when he said: 'Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved" If you ever want to
feel the prison walls of your soul go
tumbling to the ground, you must
turn your eyes in the direction of the
only One who can deliver; you must
let the only begotten Son of God set
you free, then shall you be free, H.
deed.
What Will He Do When He Gets Out7
That's is an important question. Study
the jailer after he emerges from his
prison house. Oh, what a changed
man. The hard heart which knew no
feeling before and could thrust
bleeding and defense1ess men into the
inner prison, now feels the throb Of
tenderness which flows from the Sa-
viour's wounded hands which have
Just set him free, and he takes Paul
and Silas from their prison. He
tenderly washes the blood from the
cruel cuts on their backs, and pours
in the healing oil. He sets meat be-
fore the men who had been shut
in prison without food or drink. And
instead of the profane, foul mouth
ripping out great oaths at the pris-
oners under his charge, we find him
rejoicing in his new-found liberty.
No doubt about his conversion. No
possibility of mistaking the genuine
ness of his religion. When one is
delivered from the prison house of
sin it always brings changes in the
life. Gods Word declares that I'VE
are new creatures in Christ Jesus,
''old things are passed away, all things
are become new" The Man in Prison,
lost and undone. The Man out OF