Pleasantville weekly press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1890-1911, 1909-11-13

now being called grow in love for the
Lord, every hindrance to his favor will
be quickly noted. 1t is this class that
in ouf text is represented as seeking
Divine assistance in the searching out
of their secret faults.
Some of these faults may be known
TO ourselves and to the Lord. bnt un-
known to fellowmen. The he;St that
Is truly converted to the Lord and to
harmony with all the principles OF
righteousness which he represents
must more and more desire full per-
fection-full victory over the weak
nesses of the flesh. and must strive for
this condition. Other secret faults
may be secret from us but well-known
to the Lord and possibly quite plainly
manifest to our brethren and neigh
bors. How earnestly ali who are truly
the Lords people should seek to see
themselves as others see them. and to
correct those faults which hitherto
have been secret to themselves.
Assuredly the Lords assistance is
necessary in this work; but in praying
to him. in the language of our text. we
should remember that his method Of
answering our petitions is to show rs
the facts of our case. and then to en-
courage us by his promises to fight
good fight against the weaknesses thus
brought to our attention. The Bible is
the Lords lamp. The Spirit Of its Yon-
derful teachings. like a two-edged
sword. is sharp and penetrating. 1t
can discern or discriminate between
the very thoughts and intents of the
heart which deceive so many into
thinking wrong course justiiable.
The Christian who makes continual
and good use of this Sword" will soon
find that with its assistance he is able
to analyze his oi0n motiUes lying behind
his words and his acts; will sometimes
find himself secreting them. and some
times masquerading them as graces
and virtues.
The difficulty with the majority of
Christian people seems to be that they
have never undertaken a close scrutiny
of the notifies lying behind their words
or their deeds-yea. the motive or in
tention lying hidden in their own
minds. The reason for this laxity. the
reason for their failure to follow up
with the searchlight and to bring
every thought into captivity to the will
of God in Christ is that they have not
yet attained to a sufficiency Of love for
righteousness and a sufficiency of
hatred for iniquity. The reason for
this condition of things may be that
they are .'babes in Christ who have
in the past fed merely upon the milk
of the Word and not upon the strong
meat and are. therefore. weak in the
faith and weak every way along the
lines of Christian character develop
ment. What they need is more love
for the Lord and a greater apprecia
ton of his Word. which will lead to
more earnest study of the same.
1.-The entrance of thy words giveth
light" psalm cxix, 1907. AS the Word
of the Lord dwells richly and abounds.
it educates us respecting Gods will
and its standards and. if we are obedi-
ent to his will and his gracious pur-
poses. we will endure his tests and
ultimately stand approved as our Lords
joint-heirs in his Kingdom.
Keep From Presumptuous Sins.
One of the great character tests i'm
posed upon the Church is humility. 1t
is not sufficient that we love right and
hate wrong and search for even our
secret faults. Even after attaining
perfection we might be presumptuous
and. if so, be unfit for the proposed ex-
altation. Satan. when holy angel
called Lucifer, the Morning star, was
perfect; but the SIM, presumption
crept into his heart and blighted every
thing. So Satan strove to tempt our
Lord. who was perfect. to commit a
presumptuous sin, through which he
would have made shipwreck Of his ca
reer. He wished him to presume upon
Gods goodness and abundant care. not
by starting rival empire, as Satan
himself had attempted to do, but to
presume. nevertheless, upon Divine
goodness to the extent of jeopardizing
his life by leaping from the pinnacle
of the Temple and trusting that God
would suspend the laws of nature and
when no such miracle was necessary,
because no such hazard had been de-
manded.
Applying this matter of presumptu-
GUS sin to the Church Of our day; we
find some who appear to be the Lords
people presuming upon his goodness
and mercy and love by jumping from
financial and other pinnacles and
trusting for miraculous protection
from disaster. This. to our under
standing, is presumptuous sin. Some
times we see presumptuous conduct
amongst elders and others in the Body
of Christ, much after the manner of
Moses transgression. when presump-
tuously he smote the rock, while God
had merely hidden him to speak to
the rock. For pastors and elders Of
the Church to assume and to exercise
an unscriptural lordship over the
Church would appear to us to be a
presumptuous sin-a presuming to take
place and authority not bestowed by
the Lord. On the contrary. sometimes
a congregation Of the Lords people
may be presumptuous in neglecting
the Scriptural direction to take heed to
those who have the rule over them
and watch for their souls, as those
who must give an account. In how
many ways might we be presumptuous
and ignore the Lord. his supervision
over the Church, and his message to
us in his World
Our text declares, "Then shall be
innocent of the great transgression"-
innocent Of anything which would
prove me unworthy of eternal life and
worthy of everlasting death-''the Sec
Ond Death"