The Tupelo journal., 1903-05-15

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 eve known was Paul, but Gods
power was equal to the desperate con-
dition, and the instant Paul gave him.
self up to God in surrender on the road
to Damascus. the quickening power Of
God struck him to the ground and he
became a living soul, asking of Jesus,
whose existence he had been denying:
lord, what wilt Thou have
me to do?" And the barren
ness of the seed gave place
to the leaf and blossom of life, for the
influence of Paul exerts its power over
the lives of Christians to this day.
God quickens us and raises us up into
newness of life and gives us the privi-
lege of sitting with Christ in the Heav-
enlies. This last is not an experience
which the Christian can only realize
after the earth life is ended. 1t is q
present reality. The place of a quick
ened soul in thought, in hope, in de-
sire, in fellowship is in the higher
realm with Christ. But in this same
epistle in which Paul so sublimely sets
forth the privileges of the Christian
he plainly declares the practical walk
in the world of the Christian. In the
world, but not of the world, because
the life from God has raised the soul
up to a seat beside its risen and as
cended Lord. There is a good deal Of
nonsense talked about the Heavenly
calling of Christians, as though it abb
solved them from practical living in
the world. Paul did not so think. He
did not SO write. l want at some fu-
ture day to speak of the Heavenly call
ing and the earthly walk, but / wish to
emphasize that the quickened life,
while it finds its fellowship and inspi-
ration in the Heavenlies with Christ,
finds its living practical expression in
the daily life on earth. The seed as it
bursts into life reaches up through the
blue of the heavens after the warmth
aio iiSht " thC Suu WHICH SIllBcS So
many millions of miles away; it drinks
in the rain which falls from the clouds
floating overhead, and the rain and the
sunshine from above find expression
upon the earth in the rare colorings Of
the flower and in the rich green of the
foliage. And it is so with the Chris
tan. He receives from above that he
may unfold and blossom in beauty Of
character in the midst of men on earth.
= Ut how may /. too, experience
u this life of which you are speak
ing? BY yielding to God. You SUBJ
NIT to Him and His power quickens
you who were dead in sins into new
ness of life in Christ Jesus. Suppose
the seed in my hand, resisting my eff
forts to place it in the soil where
Nature could quicken it into life,
should roll off upon the hard rock by
the roadside. 1t would never know life.
So it is with the soul of man. If it
resist the effort of God to surround it
with a sense of His love and mercy
ahu SIoNCs IL Will hCNCl hHoW WlldU
life is, but yielding himself to Him
the quickening of His power will be
felt. Learn the lesson of the spring.
time. 1t IS one of submission. The
brown dead grass, the bare gaunt trees,
have nothing within themselves
whereby they can force life into the
dead, shriveled blade and leaf1ess
branches. They must only submit to
the forces of Nature, and soon the
ground is carpeted in beautiful green
and the 1eafy trees are waving in the
gentle breezes and becoming temples
of music for the happy, tuneful birds.
Of the submissive soul, the soul that
has yielded to God, it can be said:
"And you hath He quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins"
There is naught the sou can do to
waken itself into life. But "by
grace are We saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves; it
is the gift of God" Gods quickening
power which calls into life! Gods
drawing power which carries the soul
up into the presence of it's Saviour!
Gods gracious hospitality which
gives the soul a seat beside the Son
upon His throne! Marvellous. is it
not?
= UT. let us hastily look at the rest
II of our text. Oh, there is enough
here for perpetual contemplation.
We car but touch the borderland of
its scope and meaning. The quicken
ed soul the miracle of Gods grace
and power, that in the ages to come
He might show the exceeding riches
of His grace, liz His kindness towards
us through Christ Jesus" The
angels know of the purity and holi-
ness and power of God, but did you
eve stop to think that grace and
mercy, sin and death are terms of
which they have no understanding
or knowledge. except as it has been
revealed to them through the dead
sou of man quickened by the touch
of God and raised from the depths
of sin to the exalted place with the
Son above the position of the angels?
1t is simply marvellous. Oh, the love,
the mercy, the grace of God which
has done all this for dead and lost
man! And throughout the ages to
come the Exceeding riches of His
grace and kindness and love are to
be revealed through those who have
been quickened into life by His won
~der-working power. We are to be
Gods exhibit to all the now unseen
world throughout the endless years