Newport weekly independent., 1903-08-07

turned against you In the hour of your need, and since then trial and perse- cution have seemed to follow you. How is it that you are so cheerful and sweet in the face of it all ?" And Eliza tried to tell her mistress so she would understand how it was Jesus helped her; how. as she walked in the will of God, all things worked together for her good, even though she could not understand it all. Eliza dwelt in the Land of Uprightness. It was where God was. It was where human experi- ences were lost in His eternal pur- poses. It is the only land where true joy and peace and contentment are known. Do you not want to go into that land?
 + TT is such desirable summer land l of the soul, it must be worth the journey to reach it. You do not hesi- tate to undertake the trip to the summer resort, where you expect to spend your vacation. You do not ask to know all the experiences and delights of the place be- fore you have reached It. You know you must take the tourney first before you can prove all the attractions and ad- vanta2es which nave been ascribed to the place Knowing this, why should you be so unreasonable as to demand that you experience the joy, and peace, and contentment of the Land of Upright ness, before you have taken the journey thereto? You cannot enter the land, you may not prove it's charms, until you have travelled from the Land of Natural Self over the route which God has laid out. The first step in the journey IS looking into the mirror of Gods per feet righteousness, and realizing that you are sinner in His sight. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" The next step is realization of the lost condition of the soul. For the soul that sinneth, it shall die" The next step in the journey to the Land of Uprightness is true repentance for sin. Repent! Bring forth, therefore, fruits meet for repentance" The next step brings one to the cross, where the de- spairing look of the soul is turned to one of joy as it beholds the Christ bearing
 
 with Bunyan's Christian, the vision loosens the bands which have bound the terrible load of sin to the soul, and it drops out of sight, forever. Then, with the lighter step of faith in the only begotten Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, the journey to the Land of Uprightness is quickly completed, and then and not until then, is the soul pre- pared to understand or enjoy the bless edness of that wonderful land. Then it is that the sun shines brighter the birds carol more sweetIy, the flowers are arrayed in more, gorgeous hues, and all the appearance of the world ard the aspect of life are changed.
 COME wonderful things take place as O one gets over into the Land of Up- rightness. There was that person whom you never could like while you dwelt in the Land of Natural Self. You even hated him for some unkindness or wrong, but when your feet rest within the Land of Uprightness, and your prayer is: Teach me to do Thy will" then your bitterness is changed to love, and you hear Jesus whisper in your ear: Love your enemies, do good unto them which despitefully use you" In the town of M. were two merchants in, the same line of business. Their stores were within a stones throw of each other. These two merchants dwe1t in the Land of the Natural Self, and great bitterness had sprung up between them, as their rivalry in business gave rise to real or imaginary wrongs be- ing suffered on the part of each from the other. Each would have been glad to have seen the other swept to bank ruptcy and ruin, and each would have done what he could, that was short of the really criminal, to bring this to pass. Thus matters stood, when, by the mercy and Providence of God, one of these merchants travelled the road which led to the Land of Uprightness. And there, after struggle with his old na- ture, and the bitterness which had ruled his conduct toward his rival, he found the hatred changed to love, his desire to see his rival ruined changed to a longing to have him saved, too. The story Is IOO long IO tell III ueIdll, put the result of it was that from the Land of Uprightness this man dealt with his rival, and won him over at last to the same blessed relationship to God and Jesus Christ. And this is only one of the manifold changes which take place when the soul enters the Land of Up- rightness.
 A ND do those who enter the Land of n Uprightness never stray? Yes, sad to say! they do. There are those who '1eave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness" Faiths vi- sion becomes dimmed, the eyes are taken from the onward, upward look towards God and the Eternal City, whose spires may always be seen from