The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-12-25


might be to you If you would take
Him; ! might tell you how the Word
was" before the world was; I may
take you through all the disciplines
of philosophy; l may lead you to
| think l have a good thing for myself;
! but all that is good for me, is, in the
| last analysis, of no use to you, save
as you have gotten it first OF all for
yourself.
The trouble with the church is that
we know much about Christ and
know Him too little. There is not a
church member but who can discuss
very neutrality-suspicious. more or less
| intelligently, to be sure-about the
theology of the Scriptures; who can
tell me that God is divine, that He is
| transcendent and immanent, that He is,
around everything and through every
| thing, that He is omnipresent, that
| He is all-wise, that there is nothing
takes place in the world which es-
capes His divine regards. But it is a
| far different thing to find Christian
who really knows the face of his
Lord, who really knows what is the
| love of God to him.
care not how much you may be
able to philosophize. You may do
that from the Scriptures. The
heather can build a system of philos-
ophy on that Book. But it is far
more necessary to have a life that is
founded on divine realities. I care
not how much you may know about
the Scriptures, about Christ from the
| testimony of other people; the thing
| that is important to me is, is your
! heart burning within you as you walk
! by the way, while the Lord is speak
ing to your soul?
o, my friends, let US not be de-
| ceived. Christ can speak to you to-
day just as powerfully, just as up
| liftingly and just as burningly, as
ever He spoke to the disciples. Christ
can speak to you, in words adapted to
your peculiar need, just as much as
when He spoke to Moses in the burn
| ing bush. He will reveal Himself to
US, just as truly as any patriarch ever
got a vision of God. I am weary OF
the way the church of Christ goes
back to the Fathers. May we have
the Christian foresight and brains
and ability to turn our faces to God
and learn from Him. l am great
believer in giving all homage to those
who have gone before. The knowl-
edge of to-day is very largely founded
on what is left to us by those who
have antedated us-it is the consum-
nation Of an ever-increasing pro-
gress. But the only way that those
who lived before us grew In knoWl-
edge was by turning their own faces
to God that He might lead them, give
them illumination and knowledge OF
the truth. And, if we are to make
any progress at all in spiritual things,
we must be willing to have divine
and wholesouled faith in Gods pur-
eose to lead us Alright, even as He led
the patriarchs. 1 do not mean to say
that we are perfect, that we have
10 reason for contriteness Of heart
but we belittle ourselves. Some peo-
pie think that the power of God
stopped in the hearts of men, with
Jesus and Paul Some people have
more faith in Abraham and Moses
| than they have in the men of their
own day. A man Of our day and age
who bears upon his face the marks of
divinity and of inspiration and Of
power, a man who is in all things
| Just as good as Abraham, should re-
ceive Just as much recognition from
his own and from the world as Abra-
ham gets. Why! on the basis OF
common knowledge, what was the
wisdom of Abraham compared with
the wisdom of to-day; the enlighten-
ment, the spiritual power of the pa
triarchs compared with what we have
with Christ in our hearts? And yet,
we are more willing to accept the
dicta of Moses or Abraham than Of
Beecher or Spurgeon.
| l understand just what Jesus
meant when He said, "a prophet is
not without honor save in his own
country" There He was, man in
His own day and age outranking any
man who ever lived, in spiritual
things; and yet they said, "Is not this
the carpenters Son from down yonder
in Nazareth?" Why, out of that
town no good can come; that man
knoweth nothing" We in our day
and age hail Jesus Christ and the
revealment of God in His truth and
beauty. And yet know men to-day
who are just as much inspired of God
as Abraham was ever inspired, who
are just as much flied with the Spirit
of God as was Abraham, and more SO;
men who have a better and wider
| knowledge of the truth of God; men
whi live lives which are nobler. But
they are not trusted. Let us have
some sort of confidence that God is
able to lead us to-day even as He led
our fathers and the patriarchs. You
may try to down that if you will.
But, my friends, unless the church Of
Jesus Christ begins to give men a
God who is ruling in the world to-
day, a God who is lifting men in the
world to-day, a God who is Just as
powerful in your life and mine as in
any other mans, you will see that the
Presbyterian and the Baptist and the
Methodist and the Congregational
and all the other churches will be
swept out of existence that men may
get for themselves IN some way, un-
der some other organization, the
truth of God.
know there is a good deal of talk,
and a good deal Of trouble in the
hearts Of men, in the church to-day,
lest various organizations outside of
the church should cripple Us. But let
us read in the movings of the people
away from us the signs of the times.
Let us read the handwriting in the
heavens. Let us see in the workings
of God to-day, a God who is just
is powerful as He ever was in Pales-
tine.
The time is coming when the
church of Jesus Christ must get it's
eyes opened spiritually. Personally,