The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-03-09

| three words are light, lie anu love; faui
are grace, faith and power. 1t is by the
BY faith, complete trust in Him., that we
! obtain the power of God. And what pow
| er, When Paul had reached the lowest
depths of Romans, the seventh chapter,
and sees that he must sin, and exciaIms pa.
thetically, Who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? he can only answer
himself with humility and rejoicing. l
thank God. through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Watch the repetition: Power, IN the
stration of'fthe Spirit and OF power,
"able to do exceeding abundantly y1s:oye
all that wesask or think according to the
| power that worketh in u.s." that ,ye may
know what is the exceeding greatness OF
His power to upward who believe accord
| ing to that working of His might when
He wrought in CHRIST, when He raised Him
| from the dead, and made Him to sit at
His right hand in heavenly Places.
| But power comes through faith. Watch
the priests as they put their feet in the
brink of, that swollen stream. What con-
fdence How did you know what was
going to happen? Some say that as we
crow older we gain more wisdom and
1herefore need not accept less and less the
revelation by faith. Great theologians ac-
ccording to this might live with very little
| faith. In much the same spirit it ls sup.
posed by many that as we obtain more and
more strength we need less and less OF d.
vine interpositisn and have less and less
need Of faith. But "let him that standeth
take heed lest be fall" As long as we live
on this: earth, there will be new terr1tory
of Wisdom and power to reach, and new
| JordansS to cross. We cannot, Paul de.
| clares,' in Galatians, begin by faith and
then be perfected in the flesh. Faith as
the stretching out of the hand toward
Christ must always be Christian priv
Take your own condition, if you are not
Christian. If you join lodge you mako
up your mind after examination that you
can keep all of the requirements OF the
constitution and pledges. You know your
come to Christ, you do not begin by say
ing. Can / or can I not hold out to the end,
| taking into consideration the powers that
I now possess. Rather you say, He has
| promised to keep that which commit
unto Him, and therefore I shall bold out.
| You will make the conclusion Of Charles
G. Finney as he went OUT into the woods
engaged in life and death struggle with
the Holy Spirit. The voice was saying.
"Will you accept now-to-day" de went
out determined to give his:heart to Chrht
before he came out tt,and he DID. But ~
was a promise which.he laid hold Of. That.
| promise was: aye ahall seek Ne and find
Me when ye shallasearch for Me with all
your heart" His answering faith said
Lord Thou canst not lie; take Thee at
Thy word; 7 do search with all my heart
and I know therefore that have found
Thee And as he continued in prayer the
peace of God came into his heart.
Then there are commands and promises
connected with your burdens. Christ said,
do not worry over the morrow. Can we
and again the words, Cast thy burden on
the Lord and He will sustain thee," but
note that the margin of the revised version
says as the other reading for "thy burden"
| "that which He hath given thee" and also
| notice that God sustains not the burden
bnt "thee." Cast upon God what He has
given you to bear and He will bear-thee,
and in bearing thee the burden will be
blessing, not a curse.
Is PRAYER farce? Or can the limit Of
endeavor in prayer be also Gods promises:
Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, IT
shall be done unto you" Christ declared
to the disciples as they had stood helpless
before the demoniac boy, This kind com,
eth not forth save by prayer" Beyond
the reaches Of human strength and wisdom
is the dbmain of prayer-achievement. Dr.
David Gregg when he was pastor in Bos..
ton presided at the fftieth anniversary OF
DR.. Cyrus Hamlin, long of Constantinople.
In the year 1851 Mahmoud had issued an
edict ordering the expulsion Of all mission;
aries from the empire. The British and
American ambassadors told them that they
must 90. William Godell replied to Ham.
Inns statement, "Hamlin, the Sultan OF
Heaven can change this; let US appeal to
Him in prayer" Together, like Hezeklah
of old, they spread the edict before the
Lord and prayed all night. The next day
Mahmoud died and the. edict was never
mentioned. Robert College is the monu-
ment of the work of DR.. Hamlin.
You, to-day, are thinking especially of
the work before you. How much dare yoa
attempt for God? We must often begin
our duty before we feel conscious OF the
strength. But God gives grace for living
and dying both and always when we need
| it. Thank God, we are co-workers with
Him, winch means vastly more than that
we are engaged in the same work or the
same kind of work. Christ said, My
Father worketh hitherto and l work.,
| showing that He was simply carrying out
Bnt & He also said, my Father, which
worketh in Me, He doeth the work. So
we mean when we say that we are CO.
| workers with God, more, than that we are
doing Gods work, but that He Himself'ls
| in us working in usF both to will and. 90
of His good pleasure" Professor Peabody,
of Harvard, declares that there are three
classes that make problems for us in 30.
ciety, the "can't-wotks," the aged, sick and
defective, who must receive gentle and con,
| tinuous consideration; the ''out-of-works,
able to work, but temporarily " unemployed;
the won't works." the professionally idle,
vagrant, mendicant poor.
In the church there are but two classes ss
to make problems; for there are no cant
works." as every one who cannot take q
Sunday-school class or do some other
church service, does work by Christian tes-
| timony and Christian living; first, the
"out.of-works," who are willing to work
but cannot find employment, and Tor this
neglect the church is responsible; and Sec
ond, the won't works." and God pity the
church that has many Of them. Let us
rather be the "can works, ,Sthe 'emSworks,
the will works" .,,:,.,. H.
And does some one ask what are the
prospects of success? Let item listen to
Adoniran Judson, as he lays, TEL taem
as much as there is an Almighty "and
| faithful God who will perform His prom
ises. and no more" Let US believe that
we have but two limits to all OF our en-
deaycrs, Gods commands and Gods prom
iSes.