Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-06-28

is disappointed, and finds that they,
who should be his best friends, are
often his greatest foes. This teaches
him the great lesson of taking his eyes
| OF men and placing them on Christ,
| and by prayer and faith to reach out
and take hold Of the solid rock. so that
| when the winds of temptation and
| floods Of doubt come, he is enabled to
stand. The great privilege, however, II
open to him of uniting with the Chris
tian Church, and thus with people like
himself, planted in the house of the
Lord, grow up into q beautiful Chris
tian character.
! II. The palm tree grows in the
purest soil; it will not grow and -four
4 ish in filthy places like some trees"
Its heart is soft and tender, and is fed
by hidden springs, that flow beneath
the surface of the ground. It's roots
!, drink deep. and are sustained, while
they send up the moisture into the
| leaves and branches, and they are re-
freshed and invigorated. "Its pres
ence. travellers assure us, indicates that
water is near, and may be obtained
from springs, or by digging; according
ly, Israel found twelve springs and
seventy palm trees at Elim."
| The palm tree Christian grows in the
purest soil, where the Gospel is
preached in its purity. David said,
"Who shall ascend into the hill of the
Lord? He that hath clean hands and
| a pure heart" The Saviour said,
| Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God" The blessing of
a pure heart and the blessing Of
holiness are one and the same thing;
4
wholeness, both mean perfectness. God
said to Abraham, II am the Almighty
God; walk thou before Me, and be thou
perfect" David said, "Mark the per-
feet man and behold the upright, for
the end of that man is peace" Jesus
said to the young ruler, eff thou wilt
be perfect. go and sell that thou hast,
and give to the poor" BE ye there
for perfect. even as your father, which
is i'll Heaven, is perfect" Some men
say they do not believe in perfection,
but what man believes he believes
is very different from what he does
believe" No man will cut the sleeve
out Of his coat, or the toe out of bis
shoe, or in buying horse search for
one that has a SPAWN, in order to up
I hold his doctrine of imperfectiOn. He
may say that Christian cannot be per.
/ feet, and yet If he is not perfect lie vii
talk about him all through the com
| munity. Men do believe in perfection
What kind Of perfection. then, does the
Bible teach? Not Adamic, nor Angelic
nor sinless, but Christian perfection
The palm tree Christian then, is per
feet Christian, an all-rOund man
Water is a type OF the Holy Spirit
| it is cleansing, refreshing and power
full. The woman OF Samaria went out
to get a pitcher Of water, but she got
whole we'll instead. Often we Chris.
iians cone with our little pitchers to
fraw water out OF the wells OF saliva.
ton What we need is the palm tree
idea; it is rooted and grounded In tho
well, and therefore has the we'll in it
IN every fibre Of it's being The paln
ree Christian lives i'll the Spirit. walks
b the Spirit, and draws his life. light
Ind power from this secret source. OF
in other words, he is baptized with tls
Holy Ghost and with fire. This opens
up the way to the next heading.
III. The woody fbres produced il
! the interior Of the palm tree are reg
ularly pressed Outwards. giving uni
formity of thickness throughout. 1t Il
therefore straight and very lofty, al
ways growing upright. and has no
failed to attract the attention Of writ
ers in every country where 1t is III
digenous.
II the palm tree Christian is saved
I sanctified and baptized with the Hol
/. | Ghost he must work this salvation ou1
/ so that there may be uniformity o
t thickness between his profession an
| possession. He must therefore b
4 straight in all his dealings with tn
! children of men. A great many Chris
3 tians are in doubt as to whether thei
lives are straight or not; now the onl
q way a man can tell whether he has
: yard Of cotton or not is to place tn
: supposed yard of cotton alongside
I the yardstick, and it the one is just a
4 long as the other he comes to the COZ
r illusion that he has a yard of cottoI
. The only way man can tell whethe
3 his life is straight or not is to plac
. himself alongside OF tue Word Of Coz