The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-03-14
"How Many ["

Selected TOT The Advertiser.
 many loaves have yer" Matt. xv. 84.
 Here was He who could do every thing. What hindered Him, by a su- perb exercise of power, from bidding the very desert where they stood to burst into a profusion of fruit, flowers and streams? But no! He calls for the poor little remnant of food they sufficient, that they had thought noth- ing of it. He has to ask for it. They do not offer it. Yet, small as it is, He takes that and muliplies it into all they need
 Here. then, are two great principles The one of continuity-what is to be must come from that which has been; the other. economy-nothing. however small or poor. shall be wasted
 These two principles are stamped on all the operations of nature. Nature finds a germ wherever 1t is dropped and uses it. but without the germ she will do nothing.
 And her law of economy is just as clear. The dead leaves of the autumn The little stream that has watered so many meadows goes afterwards to do it's duty in the great sea. Everywhere profuslon. but no waste
 Paul, standing upon Mars Hill, in Attn ems. wanted to show those people Christ How does he begin? He takes what what he finds there; He points Gat to
 
 says, Whom ye ignorantly worship, Him declare l unto you" Out of their little bit of truth he opens up the rich completeness of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus; There Is no spontan- eous generation of truth; ITO him that hath shall be given"
 can be spontaneous. Not so. And by and-by, when we find that character does not change but perpetuates itself, we are apt to go to the other extreme, flot oh a.-1 1,1 Is fixed forever. Hosts of young men are reckless because they think that after awhile they can be what they will. Hosts of old men are hopeless because it seems impossible that they can ever be anything but what they are. Both are wrong. Not lawless- ness. and not slavish sub1ection to law. Is the system under which we live. Progress and groWth-but growth from old existing conditions.
 Your future must come out of your past. Your old futures. your old hopes and old resolutions, your old shames-these cannot be wasted. They can be- will be, wonderfully transform ed: but they cannot be thrown away. and God will do it if you will let Him He will make you good by sending His !, ght and love and truth into this past of yours. and giving all that there is good n it. its true development and ConseCratiOn.
 The coming of Gods Spirit Is like the rising of the sun. The world is 8 new world when the sun has risen. But the sunrise needs a world already there to shine upon, and 1t is out of the same old mountains and valleys and fields which have been sc dreary in the darkness that the sun makes the ever new miracle of light and beauty,
 There are some who want 10 get away from all their past-who. if they could, would fain begin all over aga Their life with Christ seems one long failure. But you must learn, You must let God teach you, that the only way to get rid of your past Is to get a flu ture out nf l.. God w.il waste nothing. There Is something in your past, even f t be only that sin Cof Wa4cn HOu nave repented), which If you can put t into the Saviors hands, will be q new life for you
 How many Iouves have ye?" It is tle Lords trst question: and the hands of those who really want His help must search to see what hidden thing they have already. One brings hIs joy another his pain; another his help less desire. another his poor reSolu- tioas, another has nothing except just a!s sorrow that he has nothing. It is d poor. pit.ful collection-"pniy seven Is enough. His blessing falls on them one and all anl they come ba k 10 the souls which g've them up to Jesus, multiplied Eta the means of healthy. happy. Lr.t life.
 Come tp "'r-st, aa n day, jus- a you alet An1 may He make you more and moro what ylu ought to he! May His good there may have been in your past, so that. quickened hy His grace t may bring forth abundant fruit unto everlasting life!