The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1903-05-09

| was insensible to the warm rays OF the
sun, which was willing to drink in the
gentle and refreshing rain and still lay
cold and black and barren, which re-
ceived the mellowing and enriching
touch of its masters hand, and which,
Notwithstanding all that was done for
il, persisted in remaining dead and
barren! How long would human pa
thence tend and care for It and wait for
il to respond to the efforts expended
upon IL? But look Mt that sadder pic
ture suggested by our text of the gar
den spot of the human life which re-
ceives the gladdening warmth of Gods
love, which drinks in all the goodness
which He showers upon the life, which
has day by day the tender thought and
care of the Master Gardener, and yet
that soul remains as dead and barren
as the hard sands Of the desert and as
Indifferent as the adamantine rock.
Angels are watching the garden spot
| of God, and when the quickening in
the human heart takes place and the
tender stalk of the new life pushes up
| ward toward the warmth of Gods love
and where il can be watered by the
showers of mercy and dews Of grace,
then there is Joy in Heaven. What
glad time is spring. Oh, how we delight
to pass down the garden path and note
here and there the returning green, the
tiny green sprouts reaching upward
through the dark soil, and the burst
ing bud on tree and bush! The evil
| - lrsn
through our being. We are glad with
Joy almost unspeakable. And in the
| regions where angels hover and eager
ly watch the teeming millions Of earth,
there is rich. pure joy which only
Heaven can know in all its transcend
ing fullness, when dead soul re-
spends to the quickening touch of God
and rises to newness of life in Christ
Jesus.
| THE seed, hard and dry in my hand,
is insensible to the possibilities of
life. AS it lies there / speak to il of
life, of richer, deeper, fuller expert
ence, of fruitfulness. 1t views compla-
| Gently its sleek and shiny dress, il
feels the fullness of its own present
state and it replies that it is quite con-
tent. All, say, but you are dead now,
| you don't know what life is. With in
credulous voice the seed asks how
know that there is life and new and
larger experience which it may enjoy.
And reply, because i have seen other
seeds thrill with life, have watched
| them push down into the nourishing
soil and reach up with their tender
| green; l have seen the sun smile upon
them, and heard the rain whisper his
fearful message of love until the ten
der green shoot has become the strong
and fruitful stalk, with its graceful leaf
and beautiful flower. And as draw
the attractive picture of life, the little
seed in my hand listens eagerly and
then asks: "And how may !, too,
know what this life ISL" "Ah, by put
ting yourself in the hands of Mother
Nature and letting her quicken you
with her energy. As long as you lie by
yourself you will only be hard dry
seed, but il you will let Nature exert
her power upon you, the thrill of life
will burst the narrow prison Of your
present dead condition and you enter
upon new and larger and better ex-
istence and experience"
EFT the little parable of this tiny
seed speak its lesson to you, oh
soul! Unless God has quickened you
into life through faith in Jesus Christ,
you are dead-dead in trespasses and
sins! I speak to you of life; not the
life which is throbbing in your veins
faction in the earthly experiences, but
of that soul experience which comes
from the presence of God there. You
settle back in the ease and comfort of
your present condition and say you
are quite content. All! but what about
the time when the present experiences
shall have ended, and earth's light and
Joy and satisfaction shall have given
place TO the darkness and uncertainty
Of eternity? There is no life apart
from God. Jesus said: "Verily, verify,
say unto you, he that heareth My
word, and believeth Him that sent Me,
hath Eternal Life, and cometh not into
judgment, but hath passed out of
death into life" How limited and mean
are the possibilities and opportunities
of dead soul! That is what death
means. Contraction, narrow bound
aries, decay and mold. But LIFE!
Oh, think of what II means in Nature
to the seed, and then let God speak to
your heart of what It means in infinite
~ more beautiful measure to the soul!
EUT you ask incredulously how /
~ know that there is such thing
az soul life Of which you are now un-
conscious and to which you are indif-
fercnt. First, because have expert
euced IL in my own soul; and, secondly,
have seen ii experienced by others,
and read in Gods Word how the Cos
pei is the power Of God unto salvation
to every one that believeth. and see
the myriad witnesses rise from its
sacred pages and testify to the life
giving power Of Jesus Christ. The
deadest (pardon the unusual superla-
tive, but Paul gives us warrant for its
use when he calls himself the chiefest
of sinners), the deadest man the world
has ever known was Paul, but Gods