Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-08


in His hour of need all forsook Him and
fed The question for you and me is: Am
1 right with God? When Christ called
Peter. and he. with reference to John. said:
What shall this man dor Jesus answered:
what is that to thee? Follow thou mo-
Paul says: Every one Of us shall give an
account Of himself to Cod The inconsiS-
ter cies Of those about us viii be no excuse
for us at the bar Of judgment. zs
Another excuse. even more common than
the first. is II am afraid that I cannot
hold out -
The maker of this excuse has one-sided
view of Christianity. He imagines he is
to do it ALL Any one beginning the Chris
tan life with such a view Is doomed to
failure The question should be-not Can
I hold out? but-Am I willing to let Goa
hold on to me? In this latter condition
failure Is impossible Paul says: with
every temptation God makes a way OF es-
cane" Jesus says: 10 am with you al
way. even unto the end of the age On
yonder mountain the eagle has its nest and
rears it's young. One day the parent BIRD,
with a little one perched on its back, hies
up and up toward the sun. Let us give the
birds the ability to converse and the parent
says: MY child, 1 want you to spring from
my back and try to fly" The young eaglet
replies: But l shall fall, know shall
fall" The parent bird answers: DO your
best and trust me, III be near you And
so the eaglet spreads its wings and for
few moments scars into space and then
self-conscious and weak, falls down, down,
down toward the cruel rocks below But
look! There is the swoop OF the master
of the air and the falling eaglet rests on
err Again, father gives his son swimming
lessons and one day says: My boy, want
you to swim over the stream and BACK.
But, papa. l can't" Yes, you can, III
start and soon the lad, in the rush of the
current, feels his strength go and cries
out, Papa, help met And Immediately
the strong arm of the loving father is UNI
der him to sustain and keep. Could the
eaglet plead the excuse of its weakness,
knowing that the pinions of its parent were
at its disposal? Could the lad plead his
fears knowing that father was near to aid?
So, at the bar of Judgment the fear of
failure to hold out will be no excuse. God
says: When thou passest through the wa
tiers, 1 shall be with thee"
A third excuse and perhaps the common
est of all, is that of Not now, but some
other time
II am not ready" etc. This excuse is ex-
pressed in one word-procrastination. 1t
does more harm and will ruin more souls
than any other excuse. Not ready! When
will you be? The days come and go; the
weeks pass in swift succession; the years
of your life multiply and still you offer
the same excuse, Not tonight" Some
other time We take a man by the hand.
His hair is frosted with age; the winter
of life is upon him and we question him
about his soul He says, mot now" We
ask him: Did you ever give that excuse be-
fore?" He seems startled. Yes" he says.
"hen dld you nrSt plead this as an ex-
cuse?" And then comes this sorrowful
answer, When 1 was a lad" For over forty
years the enemy of his soul has held him
and kept him from entering Gods king
dom. When will you be ready?
Felix used this excuse and waited for
a more convenient season. but it never
came Agrippa was almost persuaded"
but you do not read of his conversion. God
says, Behold now is the accepted time"
and we believe that, In the light of these
warnings through the Scriptures, together
with the promptings of conscience. no
soul will dare plead this weak excuse be-
fore the bar of justice at that day" Oh,
my brother, knowing that God is good;
that He loves every soul with a never
dying love and that He is not willing that
any should perish, let us cast aside all
our excuses and, relying on Gods aid,
pleading Christ's merits and imploring the
presence of the Holy Spirit, let us live for
Him who gave Himself for us