Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-06-27

our prayers" No man ever spoke true-
words than these.
The more | pondered upon this par
Of my subject The more remembered
that the greatest workers for Jesu:
Christ have been men who had nc
financial capital save their faith. They
lived in one sense up to the last cont OF
their income. They prayed for big
things, and then, having deiberately
and calmly made up their minds that
God wanted them to undertake biz
things, they went ahead and built thcil
hospitals and started their reformatory
movements, and their money came
when 1t was needed, as the mama of
! the wilderness came day by day tc
feed the 1sraelites when they were on
} their way to the Promised Land Some
! time ago there came into nv posses
sion a book with this suggestive title
Tales Of Trust" 1t Is written I'm the
anocdotal style. There page after page
Is filed with the answers men have re-.
! cciNcd to their prayers. AS turned
these leaves over | said to myself: "If
all these stories are true how negli-
| gent have ! and other men been of this
! mighty power! One fact I know-if all
| the answers that God has sent to pray.
or had been written down, if only the
! instances in which God came to the
financial help OF those who were doing
big things for him because they had
asked Of him big things I suppose that
even the world itself could not contain
the books that would he written
Faith In Men.
But not in prayer alone is n brmful
gospel faith necessary. We must have
faith IN the men and the women by
whom we are surrounded if we would
accomplish great things for his honor
and glory. We must believe that God
can enter into the hearts of our friends
and recreate them into mighty spr.
itual forces for good as he can enter
INTO our lives and make us mighty
spiritual agencies. Paul writes in one
of his epiStlcS, II can do all things
through Christ, who strengtheneth me-"
Paul had rllh to say that have
right to say that about myself. And
| also have n right to say that about
every man, woman and child with
whom | come in contact in daily life
Now, there is no human power which
VIII more quickly make a man a use
tul servant Of Jesus Christ than the
divine faith which we have in our
brothers and sisters that through God
they can do all things.
But the great trouble with our at
tempt to reclaim men IS this: When
men and women start to do wrong.
when they begin to wander down into
the paths of sin, the world loses faith
IN these sinners. When these sinners
try to come back TO the straight paths
of purity and truth the world fights
them back and turns toward them the
cold shoulder of Indifference and doubt
And after the world loses faith in
man, then the time is not far distant
when that man will lose faith in him
self, and then-God pity him. For,
with jump, he will leap over the
precipice Of despair. Oh. faith, thou
mighty faith. thou faith by which Abel
sacrificed and Enoch walked and Abra-
ham went forth into an unknown land
to find an Inheritance for his children;
oh, faith, thou mighty faith, by which
Joseph ruled and Moses led the chill
drcn Of Israel forth from their Egvp-
tan bondage and with which Joshua
rocked down the Jericho walls; oh.
faith, thou mighty faith, with which
Peter and James and Mary Magdalene
Bonded the knee to worship Christ;
oh, faith. thou mighty. divine faith,
shall we not lay hold of thee and
through the power Of the Holy Spirit
save our fallen fellow men for God?
Mothers Are Faithful.
Did say that all the world would
lost its faith in a man after man has
sinned seven times seven? Yes. | said
that, but l must make one exception.
There IS always one human being who
will never lose faith IN us when we
have done wrong, and that is our
mother. That is the reason why the
Christian mothers love is the most
potent of all loves for the salvation Of
sinner. The mothers faith will not
give her children up, and that is the
reason why they win so many Of their
hayward children for Christ The
warden Of one of our prominent state
penitentlaries a few years ago was
asked IL the prisoners friends, as n
rule, continued to visit them. "No."
was the reply; "they are usually men
who have been scourge and disgrace
to their families. 1t Is relief TO be rid
OF them. Their friends, their wives
and even their children make one or
two perfunctory visits at first and then
give them up. In the course of a wear
or two they are forgotten by all, as If
they were in their collins. oXcent by
their mothers. Their mothers ALWAYS
come and keep coming and try TO influ- |
eGlcc me In their behalf. No matter
how black eyed In crime rufIian NAV
be, his mother will know some good
point to tell me of him. She never |
wholly loses her faith In him." Is not
that o man. the history of orr lives?
When we did wrong. did not our moth !
ers cling to us so closely that we could |
not shake them off? And today is not /
one of the greatest powers by which |
we may win men to the cross of Jesus |
Christ the mother faith in our hearts?
Oh, that by the grace of God we could |
all have mothers faith in those who |
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