Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1905-02-02

sell. Peter Murphy lived up stairs A.tAs
tenement With me. He was . worse |
drunkard than l, Il that could be, and We !
had gone on many . spree together. Well, |
when I got saved and washed clean in the
blood Of Jesus Christ, I was SO happy I
didn't know what to do with myself. So 1
went up to Murphy and told him what I
had got. He was just getting over a spree
and felt pretty sick and sore, and was !
ready to do anything I told him. So I got /
him to sign the pledge and told him Jesus
alone could help him keep it. Then I got
him on his knees and made him pray and
surrender to the Lord as I had done. You
never zee such a change in a man as there
was in him for the next week. I kept
watch of him and prayed for him and
helped him on the best.I could, and sure,
he was a different man. Well. come Sum
day morning, Joe Healev called around to
pay his usual visit. He used to come
with him, and them two would spree it al! |
day until they turned the whole house into
a bedlam. Well, I saw Healey coming last |
Sunday morning, and [ was afraid it would
be all up with poor. Murphy If he got with
him. l went down to the door, and when
Murphy is out. He don't live here any
longer So I sent Hea,ey off and saved
Murphy from temptation. But what /
want to know, your reverence, is this, did
I tell a lie? I meant that the old Murphy
did not live there any more. You know
Mr.. Moody told us that when a man is |
converted he is a new creature: old things
new creature, and that the old Murphy
does not live any more in that attic"
eff any man be in Christ he is a new
creation. Old things are passed away; be-
hold all things are become new" After a
man makes this discovery he begins to
0--~- II 1900 LI-L H.
must now walk, not after the flesh but af-
ter the spirit. This is by no means an
easy thing to do. / wonder how many
have mastered this art? 'Tis one that can
not be acquired in a single lesson. 1
sometimes think we shall never know per-
fect]y how to walk after the Spirit so long
as we bear this body of flesh. There is
much misapprehension on this point. Not
a few have been sorely ~perplexed, and ,
some have been quite disheartened in their
attempts to make the plain facts Of their
experience fit certain doctrines taught
from the Scriptures. Here is a typical ex-
Christian life. There was no doubt as to
the genuineness of his conversion. He sc-
cepted Christ intelligently, and with an
earnest purpose to give Him a loyal serv-
ice. He had run the whole gamut of SIN
full indulgence. but the change in his life !.
was a radical one. He ceased to do evil
anu tTI6u TO lCuTH " uO SCOu. LII uC was
hindered by. old habits and tendencies
which still lurked in his flesh. The strug-
gle was fierce and he faced IL heroicallv,
until one day more severely tempted than
usual he vent to his pastor and said: Its
no use. ] might as we'll give up trying |
have been guilty of some of the same old
sins that I used to indulge in, and l won
be a hypocrite. 80 you can take my name
off the record" The pastor made use of
his Masters method. and answered the
young man with Il parable. It was the old
story Of a farmer who was p,owing IN a
meadow lot. He, kept his eyes fixed ON \
tree at the farther end of the field, and de-
straight as possible. That was to be his
guiding line. and it was his intention to
make each furrow as straight as the first.
He succeeded fairly well for awhile. until
a bird flew close to his face and startled
him so that he jerked on the rein with tire
result a crook in his furrow- Several times
in ths course OF his blowing he got of the
line, bat Just az soon as he discovered MS
| DETECTION he pulled back and got en- the
straight line again.
How aptly this illustrates the initial e1-
p~erience of a child of God. He starts out
with the determination to walk in the
footsteps of his Master. That is the cen
trail purpose Of his heart. His new nature
throbs with a single motive of LOYALTY to
Christ. But in his immature condition he
blunders. he flies into a passion perhaps,
or INDUCES some Old sinful habit, forget
ting his new relationship with God. and
he makes a crook in his furrow. But in
Pthe instant when he comes to himself ire
repents of his DETECTION and, fixing his
eyes upon Jesus, he gets back on the line
aud tries again. Such deviatlons from the
line of rectitude often dishearten young
Christians. Their plumbers of immaturity
are mistaken for tokens of insinceritv.
Walking with Christ in the school of expe-
rience they will learn that the evidence Of
their loyalty. to Him in whose footsteps
they seek to follow, is not found In the ah.
solute perfection of their walk. The real
test lies in their immediate repentance
and turning back to the line when a de
Walton or detection has been discovered.
A soul-inspiring truth that one ought to
grasp at the beginning of the Christian life
is that walking with God leads ultimately
to Gods house. A beautiful commentary
on this point was that made bv a little
girl, as related by DR.. Morgan, of London.
Her mother questioned her about the les:
son learned at Sunday-sclrooi. She had
been studying Enoch, aud tod her mother
that he was a man who used to- take long
walks with God. And one day they went
for an extra long walk, and God said to
Enoch, "You are a long way from home
Enoch, and you had better come in and
stay with Me"
It has been truly said that's Heaven =
sometimes spoken OF as a place, admission
to which is gained by some lenient act q
divine amnesty. People speak of going t.
/ heaven as though it were d concert room
. to enter which a ticket only is required
: Nothing could be more unscriptural
l Heaven is not a place into which we ar
6 admitted. but a place into which we grow
! 1t is little short of foolish the way som
talk of going to heaven when they die
They exclude God from their life on earth
: They find no love in His presence here
n Heaven would be a place of painful I'm
} ~prisonmeut."
;, The f%elicities of the heavenly countr
viii be conditioned largely upon our capae
ity to receive. And our capacity to re
ceive win be determined by our ability t
serve. The service of heaven win Be a Sci
vice of love. I think we should stiie i
the atmosphere of heavens love unless "
had learned to breathe in it's purity an
live in IT'S beauty here below One mus
learn to keep step with Jehovah here an
now if he would enter upon the joys of tn
"a divine nresence hereafter. Learn to 10y