The L'Anse sentinel., 1903-07-18

tfstl0S ", ne ueClaTeS. All SCTlptuT'
Is given by Inspiration of God. and il
profitable for doctrine. for reproof, fol
correction. for instruction In righteous
ness: that the man Of God may be per
fcct. thoroughly furnished unto al
| good works" There are Demases II
every church forsaking the leaders
| growing cold in their Christian expert
ence and getting back into the world
nEMAS began all right, but he didn't
~ hold out. II is not the beginning
but the end which tests what a man Is
II is easy to start in race. but 1t takes
pluck and muscle and endurance to COW
er the course and come In winner. De-
mas exhausted all his zeal in the first
squirt of his Christian experience. I 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 even
efforts of the faithful membership Of the
church And so 1t continued for weeks
and even months And then there came
a change. The thrill and enthusiasm of
the first experience wore off. The sud-
den growth of spiritual activity which
so remarkably manifested itself with
| cred in the noon-day heat Of life's 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 a
similar experience!
| w HAT 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
bitions 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 IL 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-
tions, 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
trlnal epistles, unfolding the tran
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 It's 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
faithlessness. for the desertion of your
| trying post Of duty. and slipping off to
the Thessalonica of worldly pleasure
and ambition? When the great Swiss
reformer, Zwingli, was boy he made
this resolution: II willhe 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.
NOU may be sure that Paul ex
i hausted every effort to keep his
fellow laborer from deserting the
Lord, and departing for Thessalonica
But the tears and prayers Of Paul and
his earnest pleading we're of no avail
Demas had made up his mind, and he
would go. He wanted to go. And SC
go he would. Again we say II Is
strange that he would not listen ia
Paul's urgent pleading. but have you
never let your heart be drawn in il:
desire away from God, and despite all
that the still small voice could do a.
Hc pleaded with you that you were do
ing wrong, despite the pleading oI
friends and loved ones, perhaps, or OF
pastor or Sunday school teacher, yor
have rushed headlong after the pleas
ure OF the world at Thessalonica? YOU
, know 1t is 50. You do not have tc
think very long before the sad circum
stances Of your forsaking of the LORD
and the rushing after the selfish de
sires Of your own heart are clearly re
called. Why was 1t that Demas back
slid? Why Is II that you desert the
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