The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-10-27

but here we have Christ confessing His de-
pendence on us. Marvellous thing! ''The
branch cannot bear of Itself except it abide
IN the vine" and the vine cannot bear
iruit without the branches. The Apostle
Paul puts that thought in another form
when he says: eye are the body of Christ.
and members-each sevcraiiy-memb bers of
that body" Apart from the body the
members perish There is no power in the
hand, no vision in the eye, no power in the
ear to hear the voice of God apart from
the body. We are the body Of Christ; we
are the organization through which Christ
works; We arc the organization by which
Christ builds up His kingdom on the earth.
Christ desires to feed the hungry. and
c.oshe the naked, and visit the sick, and
build homes for the homeless. and open
prison doors for those in captivity, but
supposing the hands OF the Lord be par
alvzed, how can He do these things? We
are the voice of Christ Christ wants to
publish abroad to the end of the earth the
message OF Gods love and the way of sal
vation, but if the voice be silent, how can
He do it?
we talk about the mercy of God having
no limitation. We talk about the bound
less pity of God. and we do we'll. but the
pity of God and the mercy. of God have
their limitations. Not according to the dis
torted Caivinism which our fathers believ-
ed. Gods mercy is infinite: Gods pity is
boundess: His love extends to all men
that we believe: in that declaration we
glory; we count it the very flower and cor
onation of our religion. And yet Gods
mercy is limited. His compassion is bound
ed, His pity is shortened by us-by us. Ac-
cordine as we are willing or unwilling Is
the limitlessness of the love OF God.
Let us take homeiy illustration. Here
is friend-a man whom you have. always
known, ciassmate it may be in school: an
associate in business-and he has fallen
upon evil times and everything that ne
spent his life in accumulating is gone. You
are rich, you are perfectly able to put that
man on his feet again: to give him Sec
ond chance and another start; you are
Gods elected minister for that purpose.
But YOU don't do it. God is kindly dis
posed to that man; God would help that
man, and He has put YOU in position to
help him. You are His hands; you are
Gods minister;ng agency. but you limit
Gods goodness, don't you?
God is very pitiful, very pitiful. RieH
men can feed poor men, but they doa't do
it. No mama falls from heaven to feed
those poor men. They starve. God IS
wondrously pltlful, and there are strong
people who are perfectly able to help and
comfort weak and sickly people, but these
sickly people die for lack of help. No min
istering angel comes down to cool their te-
yer and heal the1.l. Don't you see that we;
Gods hand, Gods voice, the branches and
twigs Of the vine, limit the fruitfulness OF
the vine, limit the power of the Almig ghty:
'IIerein is NV Father glorified: that y!e
bear much fruit, so shall We be My disci-
pies" Friends, the thought is appalling:
it oppresses me- When I look at that
from one side ] am terrified to think that
the thing that God wanted done yesterday
is not done through my neglect.
And yet there is encouragement here tor
us all. Apart from the vine. the branch
withers: it can do nothing. Abiding in the
vine, the branch bringeth forth much fruit,
and we may abide and we may glorify our
Father Glorify Him. Make Him shine
with radiance and beauty in the eyes of
man. Make God manifest. We can make
God real; we can make the gospel sublime
in the eyes of those who are living without
it. We can so tell the story; we can so
live our religion; we can so manifest the
grace of God in our lives; we can so let
our light shine that others-our neighbors
and friends, our children and relatives
shall glorify our Father in heaven.