Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1905-10-28

nine-tenthS or our Wills, DuI we uuoe
surrender unto him complete and abso-
lutte obedience.
We must acknowledge Christ as king
of the entire will. We have more rea-
son to do so than had PLATE, though
he conceded more than some Of US are
doing. In the first place, he yielded
his will to Christ enough for a little
while to defy the Hebrew mob. Then,
in the next place, he tried to save
Christ by a subterfuge. He placed
alongside of Jesus one Of the worst
criminals of the east, and then he said:
According to the law, / must pardon
enc Of these criminals. Which shall 1t
be-" He did this with the hope that
the people would let him pardon Christ.
Then when all means failed he took
basin Of water and washed his hands
before the people as he said: Il am in
nocent Of the blood of this just per-
son. See We to it," Ah, yes, Plate did
much to save Christ, but he did not do
enough. With one word he could have
said, Free, freew and Christ would
have been free. He yielded his will to
the divine will OF a-eighth, One-fourth,
one-third, one-half, but he did not yield
all. "What will you do then with
Jesus who is called Christi" In every
department of life will you give to him
complete obedience?
Obeyed His Father.
Would that PLATE could have real
lied that in full submission to Christ
he would have found his own safety!
I recall the story Of the little child OF
switchman on one of the German
railroads. The fast mail was rushing
down the track. The switchman at
his post moved the switch to give it a
clear track. Suddenly, to the fathers
horror, the man saw his little boy run
upon the rails. The father dared not
throw the lever back. 1t would have
meant the death Of hundreds Of per-
sons. His own boy must be killed
rather than that others should perish.
So the father cried out to the child:
"Lie down! Lie fiat down" The boy
dropped. The great engine and its
coaches swept past. Then 1t was found
that, because the boy absolutely yield
ed his will to his fathers and lay down
fiat upon the ground, his life was saved.
Oh. that PLATE had obeyed his divine
Fathers commands as that little child
obeyed his earthly parent! Would that
we could surrender all our wills to
Gods will. Pilates halfway attempts
TO rescue Jesus did no good. PLATE
should have been man enough to have
gone all the way, no matter what the
temporary cost might have been. He
| should have firmly said: Jesus, thou
Son of God, thou art free. l, the gov
ernor, decree it,"
But to yield our wills to Christ's Is
not enough. There is another ques-
ton which l would put, what are you
going to do with Jesus who Is called
| Christ in reference to your affections
or your hearts loving pOwerT 10 be
obedient to Christ is not necessarily to
| be a loving disciple of Christ. There
| is many a clerk in a store who tries
| to be obedient and faithful to his EN-
| ployer's interest who personally has
| no more use for his employer than a
weasel has for rat or mongoose Tor
| a Kissing cobra. There is many a wo-
| man today trying to be true and duti-
full wife who years ago lost all love
| for her husband. That husband has
again and again broken every one of
his vows. She is true to him for her
chi.Grcn's sake alone. Thus believe
there are many men trying to obey
| Christ, and yet they are disciples who
have not learned to love Christ
Pilot. in one sense, was trying TO
| serve Christ, but PLATE did not love
| Jesus any more than some Of us love
him who have been trying to follow
him for years. Why are you a Chris
tian? Why do you go to church and
always contribute to the church and
have your name enrolled upon the
| church books? "For two reasons" you
| may answer. "When I was a little
| chap. mother started me to church and
to Sunday school. For years and years
she took me. Churchgoing is an old
habit. and old habits are hard to break
Then, in the next place, though L dc
not profess to love Christ very much
vet l fear the results if l do not follow
him. Adoniram JudsOn was started IL
the Christian ministry by the death OF
one of his worldly college mates. AS
soon as he heard he was dead this
sentence sprang to his lips: Dead and
lost! Dead and lostp So, because
fear death without Christ, that is the
reason l am following him." Now
my friends, your answer is the answer
many are ready to give. They worship
and follow him because they are afraid
not TO do it. Their God is a God oi
fear and not a God Of love. Now
comes the practical question, Wha'
are you to do with Christ in reference
to your hearts affections?
We Must Love.
You must love somebody or some
thing. You cannot help it. The ten
drills of the heart will climb up and
reach out for an object to love, just as
the roots of tree will reach out tC
clutch hold of the rocks or will slnl
themselves into the earth. As We
must love, cannot you and l learn t
love Christ? Cannot we begin to study
and to learn what he has done for US
In the record of that beautiful life can
not we learn to love him as we learned
first to love our mothers on account Of
the sacrifices they have made for US
Then, having realized what the divine
love means, cannot we learn to dC
something for his loves sake? Gods
love can change our actions toward
him If we will only let it. What arr
you going to do with Christ In refer
ence to the hearts loving capabilities?
But 1 cannot close this subject with
|