Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-06-21

during character. o that the love Of
every one of us may penetrate into
the very being of God! That the ten
drills OF our affections may twihe
themselves about the heart Of the
incarnate God! Then shall we be
stable, then shall we grow.
To the end that ye, being rooted and
foundationed in love, may be strong
to apprehend with all the saints.
Strong for what? That you may know
the love Of Christ in all it's mighty
dimensions! And this is most nat
ural evolution. To acquire love is to
obtain finer powers of percepting.
There is nothing like love for sharp
ening the wits. The eyes and ears
of loving mother are immeasurably
quicker than the sehses of the love.
less. It is not true that love is blind;
love is endowed with sight Of enor-
nous range. But while he was yet
afar off His l.ather saw Him.
Do not be surprised, therefore. to
find that when we are rooted and
grounded In love we obtain finer pow
ers Of apprehension. But what are
divine love and grace! The holy pano-
rama is stupendous, and even with
our sharpened spiritual senses we
cannot take in the infinite glory And
SO the apostle tells us that we are to
apprehend it with all the saints. with
the help of all the saints! It takes
all OF us to survey the vast estate.
One Christian sees one aspect of the
glory and another beholds an1other.
The Matterhorn, seen from Zermatt,
is one thing: from the Eggishorn it is
quite another. And SO with these
stupendous wonders of divine glory.
Each Christian is to behold his own
share Of the marvellous revelation.
Matthew will discern one aspect. and
Mark another. and Luke aYother. and
John another. Each Individual will
behold some individual glory. The
IurroW OF one field abounds in won.
ders; what then of the infinite estate!
]. Let US notice. how wide is the
compass of love To the end that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love,
may be strong to apprehend with all
the saints, what is the breadth? How
broad is its compass? Why, nv
friends, the love Of Christ is so broad
as to take in this whole world! The
love of Christ comprehends all men,
all people, reaching to the utmost
stretch of human sin, or sorrow, OF
need-it is the great gospel whatsoever,
How broad is this love of Christ
There is actually no limitat ton to it.
Do you mean that Jesus Christ can
love the man who has lived a wicked,
yes, vile life-Who now bears upon
his face the marks Of the beasts-who
is so repulsive that we shudder to
look upon him-that man, that, poor
wreck of a thing-that man in the
gutter, that man disowned by his own
father, and. listen to it, his own
mother, and all his friends? Will not
that mans excesses shut him out from
the love of Christ? No. No! Even
for that man, defled, wretched. Jesus
Christ has love. He hates the sin;
but loves the sinner. He came to
seek and to save just such broken
lives as that.
2. How far it will carry us. There
are a great many really good people
who fear to become open disciples of
the Christ and unite with His church
because they fear that they will not
De able to hold out. as they say. Their
ideal of the Christian life is SO lofty
that they fear they shall not be able
to continue in well-doins to the end
SO they stand aloof
Then. there are great many Chris
Hans in the churches who are fearful
all the time-fearful as to the issue
Of their life. and many are especially
afraid of death. They have a horror
of it; they are afraid that it will
ccme to them in an hour when they
may not be ready fer it.; they are
afraid that it may bring pain that
they may not be able to endure-and
so they are full of terror.
And then there are Christian men
and women. and young men and wo-
men everywhere, who are asking, ''Is
this Christianity able to carry us
through this lfeT' Is it strong enough |
70 carry us up the steep sides of the |
Of difficulty we meet in |
life? Is it strong enough to carry |
rs safely through the valleys where |
there's are Kissing serpents, and where
[he voiled vampires have their homes.
md where crouching beasts of temp
'ation are ever ready to spring upon !