The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-07-13

unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest" 1t is He
who says, ri am come that yc might have
life and that we might have it more album
dainty" 1t is He who speaks to lis in our
sorrow and says. Come with your sin and
shame, come with your sadness and dissp.
pointment, come with your heavy trial and
Encouragement and 1 will give you peace"
God with us! now to give us the victory.
God with us, now, to forgive our SINS. God
with us! now, to give US heaven IN our
consecrated labor for Him. ..|
I would that these words Of Jesus which
we are considering might live IN your
heart, as I try to have them live in my
the everything. ever-loving Father! How
common it is for us to think of God our
Father as far removed! 1t may be because
of our training, but however we may &C.
count for it, the fact remains that many OF
rs fail to realize that God is dealing with
is now just as intimately Ind just as gra-
ciously as He dealt with the great prophets
of old. How many of US carry about with
US the sense of God? Do we have the con.
viction of Gods abiding nearness wherever
we are? If not, the greatest blessing. of
more needed to-day than a truer, larger,
mere Scriptural idea of God. We need to
realize His abiding nearness. But we need
to forget the old idea of an ~unapproach.
able God. I recall the words of Henry
Drummond, that great teacher, who, dur
ing his short life, won so many men to
Christ. "I remember very well" he says,
'the awful conception of God I got when
] was q boy. I was given a book OF
Watts hymns, which was illustrated, and,
among other hymns there was one about
God, and it represented a great black,
scowling thunder cloud, and in the midst
of that cloud there was a piercing eye.
That was placed before my young imagjna.
ton as God, and I got the idea that God
was a great detective, playing the spy
upon my actions and, as the hymn says,
writing now the story of what little chil-
dren do. That was a bad lesson. 1t has
taken years to obliterate it." And / fear
most of US have had to go through a sim:
liar experience before We have been rid OF
the terrible God of childhood, the far-
away God Of childhood, and come into the
spiritual conception of the everywhere
present God of the Bible.
Now it is this everywhere.present Cod,
our Father, who seeks our life to save it.!
He wants our life now, for without God
life is q living death. With God, life is
growth, development heaven now and
heaven hereafter. Without God it is de-
terioration, atrophy, death. Here are two
facts which our own experience confirms
as true. We need to realize, therefore,
that there is never a time when God the
Father is not near US to lead US into bis
life. In the hour when you feel the stir OF
divinity within you, in the hour when con-
science speaks and says, be a nobler man,
3 purer man, a truer man, IN that hour 1T
is God which worketh in you" Possibly
it was but yesterday that you spoke the
unkind word that wounded a devoted
heart, or gained your point IN business by
running your fellow man, or committed al
sin that leaves a blot on the scutcheon, but
afterward, unless your heart is already
dead, you heard a still small voice plead.
ing with you to repent your evil way and
live a better, higher life. 1t was Cod
which worketh in you" .'
Multiplied are the experiences in which
God is speaking to our souls, and many OF
us have never heard the voice. Ears have
we but we hear not. We have eyes but we
fail to see. There are great crowds who
trampIe upon the beautiful violet, never
thinking that they have one Of Gods
sweetest thoughts under their heel. There
are myriads of stolid eyes which look up |
ward to the stars but see not Gods glory
in the robed beauty of the sky. There are
multitudes who stand beneath the magnih-
cent blue vault of heaven, gazing upon
some gorgeous sunset, never dreaming that
are they who fail to feel the presence Of
God in the ordinary experiences of life.
NV friends, God wants our life. Do some
thing with your life. Let your energy,
your talent, your service be for God your
Father. Be not so concerned to ave your
soul as to save your life. Give God your
life and He will sanctify your soul.