The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1905-03-17

J Ana the husband Wanuefs Ok TO do as
he pleases? Why not. is he not free?
And the wife wanders off to do'us she
! pleases. and the marriage vow wanGcrs
off. Why not. is 1t not free age!
! And like house that rests upon tie
shifting sand the home breaks up ana
falls, and great is the fall thereof for
1t pulls society down.
All my friends, freedom Is n mag
nitcent ana glorious thing. ana 1t mas
its great and magnificent uses, and it
has its great and malevolent abuses,
and in spite Of all our solemn declara-
ton papers and Magma Charta claims
lnmAn life is not free. except with that
freedom which is the sacred moral
sphere, for rich or poor, or young. or
ola, from moral leading comes. Free
Com which comes from elsewhere Is
not freedom, but bondage to our pas
sionS. rs more and more we give graft
tication to them; bondage to our cir
cumstanccs as mere and more we give
multiplication to them, and, worst OF
all bondage to ourselves, our own i'm
peHal selves, and from our own prison
selves unable to escape.
There is NC such thing as true and
nndOubted freedom for human life,
freedom for the human conscience,
freedom for the human heart, freedom
for the soul, except as we learn to-day
to stand before some great eternal
Lord. Where is the master who, as
we come and stand before him, and
enter into his presence to receive our
freedom can give freedom to us, who
first of all can give what you and
need, conscience in freedom. The
Master unto whom all hearts are open.
from whom 10 secrets are hid. who
knows it all-the whole story of our
life, the secret sin and shame. con-
cealed perhaps from others, but not
concealed from Him, from whom no
secrets are hid; the Master who, like
no one else, can give conscience acquit-
tai and start us afreSh in life, grant
US pardon of the conscience, of sin and
wrong. Men have always wanted that
forgiveness, and in Jesus Christ they
have found it, and they find it in Him
to-day. The poor outcast sinner upon
the streets of the city goes to stand
before Him, not like the servant in the
story of the text, to cOndone and eX-
cuse his sin, but to acknowledge his
fault and to receive forgiveness. And
that voice speaking to man, ringing
down through all the ages, is speaking
to them to-day, saying, go in peace"
and to the SHINING woman, Neither
do l condemn thee, so and sin no
more"
With us ordinary and commonplace
persons. is there not some little spot
in our hearts where, in loneliness, we
dwell; where the heart cries out FOR
sympathy for some one to stand beside
it; and it is no: until it learns to go
and stand before Him, unto whom
all secrets are known-Jesus Christ
the Master-that this sympathy and
fellowship is found. Conscience free
dom giving. heart freedom giving, and
then soul freedom giving, where the
soul seems to reach the home to which
it belongs and to find its greatest lib
erty in the bosom of the Eternal.
When once we come upon the limita-
tons of a person, some one has said. it
is all over with him. Has he knowl-
edge, enterprise, ability, it boots not;
no matter how attractive he was yes
terday. how great an inspiration, he
seemed like a limit!css sea; but we
have found his shore, and found it a
pond, and we care not if we never see
him again. Not so with Jesus Christ.
We never find Him out. He is always
beyond us. and the nearer and closer
we come to Him, He is still beyond us,
like some great path of golden light
shining down upon us across the face
of the dark and troubled waters from
some far off horizon line where earth
and heaven seem to meet and where
the soul finds its true liberty, It's free
dom, it's true dwelling place in Jesus
Christ the Master. Is it not so? Let
human experience testify and answer
bow it is that Jesus Christ has seemed
to raise up the soul that is cast down
to it's freest fellowship in God
That is true human freedom, and
not until we find it there will we find
it anywhere-not until we go in and
stand before the Master. Thus you
and l. if our Christian life is to have
and honesty of purpose. if
it is to have growth and development
in it-yea. more, if it is to have peace
and power and freedom in it, that is
what you and l must try to do day
after day. through all our life OH
earth. until at last. when the day OF
life is over and the busy world is
hushed and the evening shades come
and the twilight gathers around us
and lifts us into the cloud to be seen
Of men no more. then If any one should
ask: "Where is he? Where did he
yo?" the answer will seem to come:
He went in and stood before his
Master"
Bears Fruit.