The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1910-04-04

I'D The. word now shows us the
first severity. Take now thy son, not
tomorrow, not another day but now.
Imperative truth. / am speaking to
those who know what surrendering a
son means. There arises in my own
heart a feeling which comes from sur
rendering a son. Some of you will
know better some day.
1T is a great test of all we know
when called upon to loosen the tie
which binds our loved ones in the
flesh. The universe is in the balance
that day. 1t was so with Abraham
"(2) The second part was in the
words, only son. He had Ishmael
but he was not of promise. He had
cast out Ishmael as unworthy to in
herit. Though he could not disown
his flesh, he could cast out the I'M
worthy. Now he is called upon to
offer his only son. it seemed to cut
off the very means of knowledge, it
seemed to cut short the processes of
making God true, to offer his only
hope of fnlfillment.
sacrifice He had come out of a land
where molock was the God and hui
man sacrifice was the highest express
sion of Precipitation to the god Mo-
lock. Here he stood facing what
seemed to reduce Jehovah to the level
of heather gods. But it was only
seeming. He is not told in the text
to kill his son. He is not told by
Jehovah TO put the knife to his son.
He is to offer him as burnt Of
fering.' What was burnt offering?'
Everything must be burned. A full
surrender Nothing left Ali placed
on the altar blood and flesh and ashes
only to be the remnant.
The text furnishes proof he was
not to kill his son, for when Abraham
took the knife to slay his son Jehovah
stayed his hand, which proved that he
'Bewailed her virginity she died a
death as Jesus had.
The Lessons.
ter the school of God by faith.
Faith is evidence and faith is sub
stance.
THE ultimate of knowledge is evi-
dence and substance. Faith is both.
The man who orders his life by faith
of the inner consciousness, has evil
dence, and abides in the real. He can
not always follow the rules of logic to
explain but he can abide under the
shadow of the Almighty by faith.
Mt Moriah teaches us we can see
best when we don't see at all. puz- |
zle? A paradox? Yes and no. He |
called the place Jehovah-Jireh.
In Gods mount it is seen. No
man can stay in the plain with cares
for the earthly alone and see the high
est. 1t is only as he brushes away the
flesh, and rises with the inner con-
seriousness of faith can he see.
He pierces farthest into the mys-
terry of Goodness who leaves the bur-
den, and cares for fiocks here and
rises to meet Jehovah without ques-
ton or distrust.
He that doubteth is damned, not by
decree of God, but by the processes
of inherent atrophy, which comes from
lack of exercises of the spirit. You
can not see with an eye of flesh a
spirit. But you can see it by an eye I
of faith, when in Gods mount
IF | ask you to describe your moth
Il
best when you closed your eyes of +
flesh and looked with the inner eye.
Second lesson: The kind of sac
rifice God requires is not dead man
or woman, but a living one. (Rom.
12D The offering of living man
involves two things.
"Prayer-Now prayer is the means
by which we find out Gods will and
plans for us. Prayer is not to tell /
God what we want, but to help us
find out what God wants in us.
In prayer We change eyes with the
Almighty, and lay our plans and
Isaac's at his feet and take back with
us better ones, from him.
I'VE do not pray long enough. We
pray and run away. We do not wait
to see if God has some great gift for
us. Manton the Puritan preacher,
used to say, Foolish boys that knock
at door in jest and wantonness will
not stay till somebody cometh to open
to them, but man that hath business
will knock and knock again till he
gets an answer When we use our
telephones we are not content until
we hear the voice of the one we seek.
Many pray and talk to God but /.
hang up the receiver before the an
swer comes. Wait lin your prayer
for the voice of Jehovah whom you
seek.
Devotional study of the word or
Bible is involved in offering living
life Devotional | say. Critical study
Of the Bible is alright and I have
nothing against it. But there comes
lime when we want message.
Il received a letter few days ago
from the best friend I have on earth.