The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-12-09

fear" That abaut expresses the situation
Of many of you Look at the faces on the
street. Almost every one is careworn and
anxious. There is no doubt that care sits
heavily ON mankind. What is wronqg
Simply this: ThaS while God has promised
peace and is ready TO give 1t ii nilist be re-
ceIved By faith. 1t goes without saying
that the amount Of peace and quiet we
sLall experience will be in proportion to
our trust in God. If we were really able
to trust God with everything instead Of
doing, as most Christians do, never trust
ing God and more than they can help and
never feeling quite sure as to what He
may do: If we would cast our cares upon
Him instead of bearing them ourselves
what unspeakable peace we should enjoy.
But we have not quite got at the real
root of the difficulty yet Doubtless some,
of you are thinking that if some particular
thing which vexes you were out of the way
you would be all right and your peace
would flow as a river. No, that is not the
trouble. It is not some petty vexaton
that constitutes the bitterness in your Gun.
il you probe your hearts deeper YOU viii
discover that the real reason is that You
are, not right with God. You have not
truly and heartily believed in Jesus. You
have thought good deal about religion,
but you have never clearly taken the peace
full step, and until you do you will never
experience true and abiding peace. I'M
til you do this fully in obedience and devo-
ton to Jesus Christ; not until you are able
to say, very humbly, yet with sincerity: IT
know whom I have believed" Not till
then can you be at peace
l am not called upou to explain the mys-
terry of Christ by which we are able to ar
rive at this blessed conviction of faith tt
would be difficult thing to follow by
logical process. There are many things in
the working out of your deepest conscience
which are beyond our logic. Nevertheless.
L say there is no escape into the realm of
rest save by faith in the atoning grace Of
Jesus Christ. The thing that is at the bot
tom of the fear is the latent conviction that
you are not right with God. It is that
which kept you vaguely unsatisfed. 1t is
eating the heart out of your enjoyment of
life. Get that right once and you will re-
ceive the "peace of God which passeth I'M
derstanding." Perhaps l may not have
been sufficiently personal direct and pun
gent, and, if so, I pray Gods forgiveness
and yours. 1t will not heal a deeply
poisoned wound to skin it over I pray
YOU. probe your hearts to the uttermost.
1t you feel you have been wrong until now
begin to be right from this hour. Get the
central stav made firm and strong. Get fast
hold OF God. The great step is to be really
persuaded that God is your father To
be persuaded that Fe loved you, unworthy
as you are; that He reckons you among
the number of those to whom He gives
eternal life. The unrest comes from the
fear that you have not got on the solid
ground; that you are still worse, risking
the losing of your soul. At any moment
the Master may rise and close the door
Your soul may suddenly look back upon
the probation period forever and look for
ward toward heaven for everlasting. O,
| hpcnpnh for ha of nrth
in the gospel. Have it out with God, once
for all. Get on terms of peace with Him
before the day may close. Cast yourself
in the everlasting arms.
have spoken of two things First, the
consuming care: second, the latent convic-
ton. There is one other experience that
may break our sleep. pray God that none
of you may have it. 1t is the experience
of one who has committed spiritual suicide.
In one of Victor Hugo's books there is a
character who, after long series of exper-
fences. at last arrived at a great crisis; he
waversc hesitates, and then commits CO.
lossal sin. Conscience is insulted beyond
forgiveness. Then suddenly he hears. as it
were, an internal burst of laughter-laugh
ter of the soul-and the soul rarely hears
this innermost laughter more than once
without hearing it forever. This character
afterward falls asleep and dreams. He en-
ters the town; he comes upon many men
standing in various postures, silent and i'm
movable, as if dead. In unspeakable terror
he tries to flee out of the ifeless city,
when, looking back, he is appalled, to secN
the inhabitants coming after him. They
overtake him and hold him and cry: do
you know that you have been dead for a
long while" Now and then. in polite So
ciety, in select communities, even in this
fellowship, unknown to us, but not UNI
known to God, one comes upon one OF
these dead men, who have heard the inter-
nal burst of laughter, who mocks and de-
fes God and insults divine mercy. There
is such thing as spiritual suicide. Men
sometimes by their action or non-action
take the life of the soul; they are dead to
repentance and to hope, and at last they
are dead to God. Thus men drive sleep
forever from their eyelids, like Macbeth.
When once the conviction seizes upon the
soul then farewell to slumber and peace.
God forgive me if I have spoken too,
plainly, if have misrepresented the spirit
of truth, but if have been true to the
word of God then let him that hath. ears
hear what the spirit says: To-day, if you
will hear His voice. harden not your
hearts" Lay hold upon eternal life. Then
you may lay down in sleep, since when you
awake you shall still be with Him; and
whether you wake or not, you will be the
Lords and His forever.
Keep Moral Ideas Clear.
We need above all things, to keep our
moral ideal clear and high. "Woe unto