The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-10-22

and Sunday school, and mission sta
ton However. theFe are certain con-
ditions wh3c b must prevail before the
Christian can realize this blessed union.
this cooperation Of the Lord, unto
whom hae been given adj power in
Heaven ana in earth The Lord can
not work with some Of His followers be
cause they have not met His conditions,
and mary Christians fail to realize the
blessed PRESENCE and power OF Jesus
because they persist in doing in theiE
own strength and their own way His
work
I EFT us consider more fully what Is
l. involved in these Ave rules. First
of all is emphasized the necessity OF a
clean heart and life. The Lord never
yet used vessel which was foul with
willflll and persistent and hidden sin
The Christian may keep the outside
clean and polished. He may deceive
men as he engages in the Lords work.
but he cannot deceive God, and II
within the heart and hidden in the lie
there are sin and indulgence which ne
is not willing to give up, then the LORD
cannot work with such a one And
what is more sad and awful than Tor
the Christian to be doing work in the
Lords name while the Lord is absent
from him2 He is building apart from
God. He is putting up the wood, nay
and stubbIe which viii be destroyed
by the searching fire of Gods testing
judgment. The Psalmist asks: VINO
shall ascend into the hill OF the LORD
And who shall stand IN His molly
placer" And God replies. He that
hath clean hands and a pure heart.
1t is such that the Lord works with 90
accomplish His purposes among men
Dear brother, is the Lord working Win
you? If not, what is it that is roDblng
you of this blessed copaftnersh1p eX-
perience? Search within the heart and
the life Drag out the hidden and cher
ished thing. Give it up. II thy eye
or thy hand or thy foot offend thee
pluck it out and cut it off, for It IS bet
ter for you to go through life suffering
the lack of that which you so much
love and desire than that you should
fall short Of the glory of God and His
plans for you. Cry with the Psalmlst:
Create within me clean heart,
God, and renew a right spirit within
me- He will DO it, and then you will
begin to know what it means to have
the Lord working with YOU.
DUT not only must there be the clean
I'D heart to enjoy the cooperation OF
the Lord. We must seek Ills glory and
not our own Herein lies a constant
danger. The heart is SO sabtle that
even the most humble and cansecrated
Christians are. apt to be deceived as to
the motives which dominate The life.
It Is only as the Christian realizes the
danger of uneonsciously seeking ones
own glory, instead OF the glory of God,
that he is able to detect the weakness
and guard against it. Self should be
obliterated and forgotten as far as pos
sible in the Masters service. This was
the first of four rules which governed the
life of that brave soldier and devoted
Christian. Gen. Gordon, better known
Jas ttChinese" Gordon. And the other
| three were a help to the realization Of
! this holy ambition to forget self and
glorffy God They were: Absence OF
| all pretence; indifference to the world S
] opinions, and absorption in the will Of
| God. All, how richly would the power
and presence of God be manifested in
/ and through us IL we maintained this
attitude towards God and the world.
We must seek Gods glory II we would
enjoy His cooperation. Frat, then, is
the clean heart and life, that Is, condi-
ton Second, the desire for Gods glory
and not our own, that is, attitude; and
/ the third point has to do with equip
ment What shall We use if we are
to have the Lords cooperation? Need
we ask when God has promised so re-
peatedIy to richly honor and bless His
Word, at shall not return unto Me
void?"
/ r. ONDITION, attitude, equipment,
/ u and then unity-Christian unity,
which made the early church such a
victorious and aggressive church. The
Lord cannot work where there is lack
of harmony, where there are jeal-
| ousies, where divisions separate and
weaken We need more and more OF
that loving fellowship and unity which
prevails when the Spirit Of Christ rules
in the hearts of His children Thank
God there is coming to be a larger
spirit of fellowship and cooperation be-
/ tweea the followers of Christ of all de-
nominations. The old divisions ard
jealousies are almost dead and gone,
and in their stead we are finding q
constantly increasing purpose and de-
sire for harmony and unity in the great
and blessed work Of winning the
world for Christ. And in the measure
4 that this is true, there are realized
the presence and help of the Lord. And
last and above all, faith is needed
faith that will claim the Lords pres
ence and cooperation. and faith that
viii reckon upon It. Faith draws the
Master to the side of His disciple and
feels His quickening power.
.eYet though I have not seen, and stiu
| Must rest in faith alone,
I love Thee dearest Lord, and will
| Unseen, but not unknown
i Faith that Christ was working with
them sent the disciples forth upon their
marvelously successful evangelistie
4 journeys. Faith that Christ was with
4trapa ao5 helnirp Them sent Haray fr