The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-05-08
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
@THE SECRET or HIS PRESENCE"
The Rev. pr. }. Wilbur Chapman DeiIv.
ors an instructive Message Suggested
by one Of the Most Beautiful Express
siona In the Bible.

NEW DIRK Alt1.-lhe distinguished
evangelist the Rev. DIR. j. Wilbur Chap
man has never delivered a more eloquent
and convincing message than is contained
in the following sermon, entitled, The
Secret Of His Presence" il was preached
from the text: Gle that dwelleth in the
secret place Of the Most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty"
Psalm xai.: l.
10 me this is one Of the most beautiful
expressions in all the Bible beautiful be-
cause il Is poetic. but more than that for
| the reason that il holds up before MS one
| of the greatest privileges that can come
/ 60 the children of God.
! There is a difference of opinion as 10
| who the author Of the Psalms may be.
\ We get into the way of thinking that
] David wrote everything in the Psalter,
| but Moses is the author here The Tai
| mud a5cribes not only this one 70 him but
| the nine preceding as well. The rule Is
! that all the Psalms without a name in
the title are to be ascribed to the poet
whose name is given in the nearest preced-
ing title. but this rule will not always hold
good. This is the Psalm quoted by the
devil when he was tempting Christ upon
the mountain, and it has ever been throh-
bling with comfort for every troubled
soul Whoever wrote it. it is beautiful,
and all will agree that the lesson taught
is one touching our communion with God
and our fellowship with Jesus Christ.
II is very true that all Christians do
not occupv the same position in this
world All are saved, and it is by the
same precious blood of Christ" But
there is so much more to the Christian
life than simply being saved; that is
only the beginning The blessings here
offered are given in a very general way
God is no respecter of persons and so 1t ls
/ l. ! I L.. g..lG
the conditions may have the blessing; and
as there is only the one condition, namely,
that we Chall dwell in the Secret place
Of the Most High" you would think that
all would ACCEPT, for the promise is that
we Shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty" The blessings here promised
are not for all believers, but only for
those who live in close fellowship with
God. Every child of God looks toward
the inner sanctuary and the mercy seat,
but all do not dwell there. They run to
it ut times and enjoy occasional glimpses
of the face of Him wLC is there to he
seen. but they do not continually abide
In the mysterious presence, and this is
possible for every one.
It is with the desire that I might learn
the lesson myself as we'll as bring it to
you, and with the almost unutterabe
longing that we might know how to abide
have brought you the subject. May the
Lord help us every onel have been on
the mountain tops of Christian expert
ence. when l have seemed to see the face
of Him who loved me and gave Himself
for me, and I am sure that you can say
the same; but the text says that we may
abide there IN our thoughts while we may
be. all the time in the very thickest Of the
fight for God.
I like the verse. Every word is sweeter
than honey in the honeycomb. 1t is g"
restful to know that there is any place
in the world where we may abide. There
is also something very winning to me in
the fact that it is a secret place. for that
surely means that God has something that
is lust intended for me, and for me alone.
When I am there, am away from the
world. 1t is the place Mrs. Brown dis
covered when she wrote the beautiful
hymn.
"I love in solitude to shed
The penitential tear;
w. And all His promises to plead
When none but God can hear"
There is something about thes word
SHADOW that always interests, for there
never has been a shadow without the
light; thus the Secret place" must be a
place of brightness. 1t is a place where
God is, for the nearest of all things to me
as / journey in the sunlight is my shadow
[ and he who walks In my shadow or rests
in it must be very near to me; so that
when l am In the shadow of Cod | car
reach forth my hand and touch Him.
can lift up mine eyes and see Him facs
, to face. ! know there is a sense in which
God is always near us. He is in all things
and He is everywhere But there is some
y thing about the "secret of His presence
\ to which every one is stranger unit
he has dWelt there
In the 10th Psalm the psalmist Seems
in the first part to be writing of thu
Z presence Of God in a general sort of way
? AS another has said "He had been beat
ing out the golden ore of thought through
} successive paragraphs of marvellous powe
I and beauty, when suddenly in the fifty
q first verse he seems to have become con
scious that He Of whom he had beef
speaking had drawn near and was bendin
( over him. The sense of the presence o
. God was borne in upon his inner cor
seriousness, and lifting up face on whicl
reverence and ecstacy met and mingled
D he cried: Thou art near, 0 Lord!"
t we could only attain unto this how strong
+ how happy, how useful we should be. 1t
' possible as well for those of us who ar
in the very midst of perpiexing cares a
S for the priest or the saint; for since tn
t Master bids us all to abide in Him, an
q does not limit either His meaning or tn
= number of people who may obey, ] al
9 absolutely certain that it rests with m
n and with you to determine whether W
3 shall take advantage of our high priv
q eye.
{ I.
S The typical reference must be to til
& holy place of the tabernacle, which tn
v priests were privileged to enter; but Pete
assures us that we have become in tn
+ new dispensation "a holy priesthood
50 that it is possible for us to enter 0
that ground. If this Interpretation is a
lowed, then it is something, too wol
derful almost to describe, to which "
e.. 4 l. Il Il