Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-02-11
that = am in Ny Father, and re in Me and
I IN you: Thus Chrlst's objective COM
pla;MioAshlp pIl; becomes subjective fellow

+
ship 0'~''A'e leiioW-
b how closely can two people, heart to
| heart, be together? There IS alwavs +ho
Fell OF the flesh between. All we can do ;s
o, 90 mteenpre5 iller1 looks, words, and sometimes
est to US. We all walk solitary way Rev
feaen that beautiful companionship reDre-
seheeo oy Browning in BY the Fireside:"
When, if but think deep enough
Lou are wont to" answer, prompt as
| rhyme; 40
And you, too, find without rebuff
response your soul seeks ylany a time.
Piercing its fine flesh stuff.
Then it is that Christ Himself comes clos.
er elI IMAM breathing, nearer than hands or
feet, comes into the innermost recessas of
our nature for sympathy and communion
with the human heart
Cnrlst WITHIN us is also the source of
power Christ does not give us power hv-
making mere machines Of us. We are the.
Gay IN the potJer.s hands, but we are some--
thlng more. God does not want us to he
slaves, but freemen; not subjects. hut sons
An equally false way of considering the
help that we receive from God is that we
are to do all that we can with our natural
or redeemed powers, and then let God do
vi ene resi-: SO the longer we nve, the strong
er we are and the less we need Gods in
terposltlon Every time God helps u.s. we
are less or man or woman, and the strong
er we grow the more independent. and the
less we need faith. The end of it all would
ne absolute independence of God Surely,
tins IS not Gods idea
The true way of looking upon our rela-
ton to Christ is that His presence within
our heart" by faith gives us energy to
achleve, not by enslaving, but by enfran-
chlslng the will, invigorating it. energizing
1t, Vltallzlng it, until with Augustine we
can say: we will, but God works the
willing; We work. but God works the
working
Philippians, 2:::l2, l3, has often been mis-
understood: It says: Work out your own
salvatlon with fear and trembling. For it
Is God which worketh in you both, to will
and DO of, His good pleasure" To 'swork
out does not mean to work into outward
as>i literally means, to "achieve'' for sal
Vatlon is an achievement as well as being
at the same time a gift. Nor does it mean
That we are to work in PauPs absence.
The possibility of working out our saliva
ton rests upon the fact that God is with
pleasure. Thus, will is not an instrument
winch we can turn from side to side, and
which when necessary God can use; it is
ourselves acting. That which God does is
not our. act unless God works through our
Wills. -
The possibilities of such, an empowered
life are divine. We need not be .perfec-
tionists and still believe as we ought that
Chrlst>s grace is sufficient for u.s. MANY
pretend to believe it, and do not live it.
They worry; they fret, they give up. The
most m, OF us seem to think that the normal
Christian life IS to rise and fall like the
tides. Yet Paul says: 'NThere hath no
temptation befallen You but such as is COM
mon to man; but God is faithful who will
not suffer you to be tempted above that
We are able; but will with the temptation
al also IN make a way Of escape that ye may
Christ within also makes all living sa--
cred. We have made sad divisions among
objects. We have divided space into holy
and unholy, and declared that God could
be found only in certain places, which had
been consecrated. We have divided time
would serve God on the Sabbath and con-
duct our business and amusements as we
pleased the rest Of the week. We have di-
Vlded money into two parts. We have said
that the giving of the ne-tenth, or one
twentieth to God, justified US in the claim,
OF the rest. We have divided up persons,
and put a certain. class of people called
priests, ministers, missionaries, upon ped
estals,: declaring that the standard of con-
duct for them differed from the standard
tor others, and that their work was espe--
cially religious
All wrong. Ali space is holy, and the,
green grass may be the chancel carpet and
the trees the massive pillars and the sky
the dome, II below there is a heart pray
ing in spirit and truth. All time is sacred
The Monday should be as much devoted to.
Gods service as Sunday, and the Office and
the store should be as mucn shrines Of
devotion as the closet. All money is sa--
Cred. and the money spent upon the nee
essafles OF llTe,. upon business and pleasure
should be spent with equal consciousness
as upon the church. All Christians have
Christ within them, and they should aim
to objectify His life. There is nothing we
need to-day quite as much as the Chris
tlan1Zation Of the secular life.
Then at last, the Christ within is the
source Of final holiness. Christ at last
is to present us holy and unblamable, and
irreprovable in His sight,
Sin does two things for us, separates
US from God and dlstorts our nature. When
we are forgiven We are restored to the di-
vine fellowship, But what about the ef-
fects OF sin upon our nature? See the
scars upon the tree and what the life of
the tree does for it. Listen to what Paul
says: L am perplexed until Christ be
Bethlehem. His Nazareth, His Olivet, so
does He again in His reincarnatlon have
His Bethlehem, His Nazareth, His Ohvet-
Who knows why one plant grows into the
SeIduluHl, dilu TIE OtueI lutO Cic IOSe: IHC
type is something more than the ideal pre-
sented for the imitation of the plant. 1t
Is an informing life.
I think it was the last thing that DR..
a. S. Gurnbert wrote for the Examiner:
Among the Dutch the sometimes
cultivated by planting an inferior rose
close to rose OF superior variety. The
rose of inferior quality was carefully
watched and anthers removed to avoid
se1f-pollenization: the object being that
it should be pollenized by the superior
rose Gradually the rose thus. treated took
upon itself the characteristics of the supe-
rioa. life Of its companion So, our lives
are pollenized as it were by His righteous
ness.
Thus Christ within becomes to US the
sousee Of divine companionship, of power
for achievement, OF the exaltation OF con-
duct, Of final holiness. He who wishes
to plant hope within his own heart Of such
prospects, should begin and never cease
exercising faith in Him who loved uss and
gave Himself TO die for US.
Each Days Living.
Our life may be food to us, OF may, It