St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-08-15


op and become strong and fruitful!
nEMAS began all right, but he didn't
- hold out. 1t is not the beginnins
but the end which tests what man is
1t is easy to start In race, but it take.
pluck and muscle and endurance to GOV.
er the course and come in winner. De
mas exhausted all his. zeal in the frs
squirt of his Christian experience. re
member years ago young man who
after his conversion, developed a most
surprising zeal for the Lords work. He
was the first speaker and the longest
talker in meeting. He was active in all
the work of the church. His enthusiasm
was rebuke to the steadier, more ever
efforts of the faithful membership of the
church. And SO 1t continued for weeks
and even months. And then there came
change. The thrill and enthusiasm OF
the first experience wore of. The sud
den growth of spiritual activity which
so remarkably manifested itself with
cred in the MONDAY heat of LIES trials.
No new and deeper experiences came to
thrill the inner life and keep alive the
new-found hope and joy. He slipped
farther and farther away until at last
the old life and old ways claimed him
again. 1t was the case of modern
Demas. What did his early zeal profit
him now that 1t must be written Of
him: "He hath forsaken the Lord, hav-
ing loved this present world, and is de-
parted to the conditions of the old life. =
And how many many there are with q
similar experiences!
VIVA opportunities Demas had! A
w Paul to work with. A Paul to ad-
monish, instruct and advise him. As
we contemplate his desertion OF Paul,
and his return to the pleasures and am
billions of the world, we marvel. And
yet, had we been in Demas' place, would
Paul have been able to have written
differently OF us? We think SO. But
we forget the Demas weakness in our
own lives, how we have deserted our
pastor, or our superintendent, or our
teacher, or leader of some department
or work in the church just at a time
when our cooperation and help were
most needed, and we think II we had
been privileged to labor with Paul we
would have been true to him and the
cause of Christ. The test is not what
we think we would have been or would
have done II we had lived in the days
OF Paul and had been with him at
Rome, but what we are in the place
where God has put us. How prone we
are to attribute to ourselves virtues
faithfulness in the face of trial, heroic
devotion when persecution and danger
confront us-under imaginary condi-
tons, and then utterly fail in the ac-
tual experiences of life. Great oppor-
tunities you say Demas had! Greater
opportunities have you, to-day! You
have all and more than Demas had. You
have Paul In fuller and deeper measure
than ever Demas had, for all the wealth
of his record, and his marvellous doc
trinal epistles, unfolding the tram
scending mystery of the church, lie
spread before you in Gods printed
Word. You have all the increasing
light of the centuries as spread abroad
by the church of Jesus Christ. You
have the record Of its development and
growth You have the superior privi-
leges and advantages and glorious lib
erty of the twentieth century. And
with SO much to help you that Demas
had not, what have you to say for your
for the desertion Of your
trying post Of duty, and slipping of to
the Thessalonica of worldly pleasure
and ambition? When the great Swiss
reformer. Zwingli, was boy he made
his resolution: II will be true and up-
right before God in every situation in
which He may place me-" He learned
to be steadfast and unmovable in the
duties of the everyday life, and when
The supreme testing of later years came,
he did not fail to stand faithful to God
and the cause he had espoused. And so
It must be with every Christian. II
you hope to escape the failure OF Demas
when the great testing time comes, you
must be "true and upright before God
In every situation in which He may
place" you.
YOU may be sure that Paul ex-
i hausted every effort to keep his
elbow laborer from deserving the
Lord, and departing for Thessalonica.
But the tears and prayers Of Paul and
his earnest pleading were Of no avail.
Oemas had made up his mind. and he
To xvvaw %o1 ~ On AVID ca
70 he would. Again we say 1t is
strange that he would not listen to
oaul's urgent pleading, but have you
lever let your heart be drawn in its
lesire away from God. and despite all
hat. the still small voice could do as
lie pleaded with you that you were do
ng wrong, despite the pleading OF
riends and loved ones, perhaps, or Of
,astor or Sunday school teacher, you
ave rushed headlong after the pleas
ire of the world at Thessalonica? You
now 1t is so. You do not have to
hink very long before the sad circum-
tances Of your forsaking Of the Lord
nd the rushing after the selfish de-
Tres Of your own heart are clearly re
allied. Why was 1t that Demas back
lid? Why is it that you desert the
ord and get back into the world?
II EGLECT Of prayer; neglect Of
y Bible reading; forgetfulness Of
be atoning power of Jesus blood
hitch has cleansed you and made you
cceptable to God; disobedience to the
sadings of the spirit through the
ledium of the conscience. so as to
rieve Him away; neglect Of personal
'ork for Christ. All these are steps to
ne final forsaking Of God and the get.