Milford chronicle., 1905-02-17

which is like a river, unless you brini
yourself into harmony with Gods law
and obey Gods commandments.
Naaman had to learn this lesson be
fore he could be cured of his leprosy
His way was that the prophet SHOULD
come out to him and stand and call OF
the name Of the Lord and strike his
hand over the place. Gods way wa;
that he dip seven times in the Jordan
When he took Gods way he was cured
but not until he took it. Gods way can
cure you, o immortal, Of your sin. Are
you ready to welcome this divine peace
like a river, which viii come to you
through Jesus Christ? The way Of the
cross is the source Of this peace. From
the mount Of Calvary that stream
gushes forth, as from Mount HermOn
flows the Jordan and from the Ad-
irOndacks the mighty Hudson.
But the pleading river teaches us an
other lesson about the divine peace
which passeth all understanding. The
longer a disciple of Jesus Christ lives a
Christian life the deeper and wider does
the river Of his peace become. 1t
should deepen and widen and grow
more majestic in volume, even as the
waters Of the Hudson grow deeper and
wider as they slip past the highlands
and lap the feet Of the Palisades and
sweep on in their grandeur to the place
where they are married to the waters
Of the mighty deep at the nuptial altar
Of Governors island, in upper New York
bay. 1t should go on growing deeper
and wider, even as become the waters
Of the river OrinOcO where they empty
themselves into the unfathOmable
depths of the sea. When, in 149S,
Christopher Columbus for the first time
touched the mainland Of South Ameri
ca and saw this great river, one of his
officers congratulated him because he
had discovered another island. The
immortal explorer replied: mo such
river as that flows from an island.
That mighty torrent drains the waters
Of a continent" The pleading river Of
Gods peace grows wider and deeper as
we travel along its banks in the journey |
of life. At the beginning Of our Chris
tian course it may seem u small stream, |
but as the years pass and our feet come |
nearer and nearer to the great ocean Of |
eternity the volume of the river in /
creases until it becomes a peace that /
passeth understanding.
Is this increasing power true in ref
erence to our spiritual peace? As you
compare your present life with that
Of your spiritual life ten, twenty, thir-
ty years ago are you conscious that you
love God more now than you did then?
Do you read the Bible more now than
you did when you Joined the church
and prepared for your first cOmmun-
ion? Is your enjoyment of prayer and
your dependence upon it more intense
now than they were at first? Are you
striving more earnestly than formerly
% gather the showers of blessing that
ire everywhere falling around you into
7our own spiritual nature? Are you
more ready now than at the beginning
# your Christian career to go into the
lOuse of a neighbOr on whom sickness
n bereavement has fallen to admins
er comfort and to cheer him with re
ninders of Gods promises? There is
awfully wrong with Chris
ian who, while his wealth and mental
,ower increase with the passing years,
inds that his spiritual nature does not
widen and deepen like the pleading
iver Of Gods peace.