Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1908-06-18

There is no sense and no reason in
much OF our constant petition to God
to inf1ll us with His Spirit. The in
huences of types of thought and of
prayer are hardly escapable. We
have grown SO accustomed to ask
God to fill us with His Spirit
OF power. But submit, would we
not pray. better and more to the point
II we thanked our Father for the
favors OF His love and acknowledged
70 Him IN person, what He already
KNOWS, our shortcomings and our lack
OF appropriation OF the gift OF His
Spirit The showers of spiritual
blessings are forever falling free, full
ana sufficient upon human souls
everywhere. Our prayers should not
De OF petition that God may give us
showers. but rather Of Thanksgiving
for past, present and future blessings
and of dedication Of self, through the
riches of His grace and powers to
finer and more fruitful life for Him.
The presence and influence Of the
Holy Spirit in the life of the world is
constant gratuity. II you are not
the deeply grounded spiritual man
that you should be the fault lies not
with the Spirit, Of which there is
abundance unto all mems necessity.
but with you who have refused that
wealth Of spiritual power which, un-
der God, might be yours IL you would.
Everywhere and continually the Spirit
of the Lord is active. He knocks
ever 1T the doorsof the sinners heart.
do Is forever pouring out the mex
haustible waters Of spiritual life upon
the parched souls of men. But neither
God nor His Spirit can fill an In
verted cup. The showers of blessings
can not flood a closed heart.
Then, too, the Holy Spirit is con-
trolling energy in the life of the
man who is susceptible to His infiu-
ence. Christ tells us that His Spirit
shall lead us unto all truth; that He
EhalI be our Guide, our Teacher and
our Helper. The catalog of the activ-
tiles of the Spirit in the life Of man
is strengthening and sustaining. BY
Him we are led into the entirety of
divine self-revelation and of eternal
truth. Under the guidance OF the
Spirit of the living God we may pro-
gress from truth to truth as the won
ders of Gods universe are revealed
to us and the application OF everlast-
ing verities brought home to our
hearts. May no man finch to follow
the Spirit hithersoever He may di-
rect. AS Dante went through hell
and heaven and the intermediate re-
gions Of the world beyond, and told
in allegory and song the wonders that
he witnessed and the sights he saw,
SO may we, with the Spirit as our
Guide, be given grace to look truth
squarely in the face and portray it
faithfully to the world And If we,
oc hric hol
be bounded by those who fear the
light of truth we shall yet be certain
that the truth, the truth alone, is
worth mems fealty and shall. make
them free.
The Spirit as the Comforter ap-
peals to the heart of every Christian
Who of us does not JOY in the fact
that above us and within us is this
comforting Spirit of the Lord our
God? The human heart cries out for
comfort when distress and danger and
destruction come upon it. When our
hearts are bowed in anguish and our
souls are crushed with grief, when
every human tie is severed and no
mortal hand may avail to dispel our
utter darkness, then the Spirit of
the loving Father strengthens, sus-
tains, sanctifies the soul. "Save me,
O God, for the waters are come into
my soul" we cry out with the
Psalmist. In the Judah wilderness
of the world our souls thirst for Him,
our flesh longs for Him as in a dry
and thirsty land, where no water Is.
Then the Spirit comes, and with His
entrance the live springs of refresh
ment minister to our souls deep need.
The Spirit as the Comforter is God
in His presence ministering to the
humanest of mortal needs. No man
can live happily without Him. No
man can weather the trials of tribula-
ton and the temptations of prosper
ity without Him. Lending the sor-
rowing light hearts He keeps the sue
cessful level headed.
The sense of the constant presence
Of the Spirit of God in the individual
and world life is the certain indica-
tion of true religious experience.
No man who lives near to God is with
out it. It is elemental in Christian
experience. And this consciousness
of Gods abiding and guiding is the
mainstay of the soul. Without It
progress is impossible in the truest
sense. With it we may fight with fear
lessness. with hope unquenchable.
against principalities and powers.
against tAc W1ChouHSSoSS VI ul6A
places and the sins Of mighty men.
For the abiding Spirit of the living
God is the controlling energy in the
life of humanity. Bad men may de-
feat Him temporarily; evil policies
may frustrate His purposes and hur1
themselves against His plans; but the
Spirit of God is unconQuerable. He
is the controlling, the overruling en-\
ergy of the world. In this Spirit we
should find our strength. From Him
we should derive the comfort Of our
souls. -
Prohibition took good many peo'
ple's breath away, much to their gain
eonforsoS fha Atlanta Georgian.