Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1910-05-13

with divine inspirations keenly felt
and highly priced fhe witness of the
Spirit as an inner testimony of love,
joy. and peace can be easily dfstin-
guished from any other influence that
comes into our life This evidence of
spiritual conditions comes only to the
Christian believer. The Apostle John
says: He that believeth on the Son
hath the witness in Himself" Again
he says, Hereby we know that We
dwell in Him and He in us because
He has given us of His Spirit
The fruits of the Spirit are mani
tested first to the person in whom the
Spirit dwells, then to his friends and
neighbors Sinners can discern the
Christian Spirit in the people who arc
blessed of God Now, IL worldly peo-
pie can see the spirit Of Christ in the
character of Christians, certainly
Christians can feel the Spirit in them
that convinces the world that they
have been with Christ and learned OF
Him. The religious nature of man is
very sensitive to the Divine touch. We
are not only conscious of our thoughts
and of what we are doing, but we are
also conscious of the kind OF influence
exercised upon mind and conscience.
The definite feeling produced by think
ing upon material facts is not more
evident in our life than the influence
of spiritual impressions that come to
us when we contemplate the hopes OF
the gospel
By taking notice of these facts we
can locate ourselves in our Christian
experience as certainly as we can In
We have a personal relation to every
thing we do Thinking and working
are the processes by which we get re-
wards in all fields of effort, the re-
ligious field not excepted.
If we accept the gospel rules of con-
duct and make them binding upon our
selves in the adjustment Of our social
conditions we shall have a Christian
experience because we are meeting the
demands of the promise: If We DO
the will Of my Father We shall know
of the doctrine" The Christian life Is
a busy life in faith and good works.
We believe the promise; we put our
faith into practice and there comes
conscious blessing.
Personal faith in Jesus as divine
Saviour never fails of spiritual results.
It dispels doubt and opens the door OF
spiritual joys that are bright and rest
full in the hopes Of immortal life. 1t
Is mans inheritance and all should
possess it, 1t is fearful mistake to
lose it. Conviction for sin is the
sinners experience; forgiveness for
sin is the Christians experience. The
latter state of life is just as manifest
as the former. Sin brings sorrow.
Forgiveness brings joy and gladness.
Prayer is a personal matter and 1t
never fails in good results to the one
who prays. We may not get what we
ask 1t might not be best that we
should But the loving spirit in which
we pray will be of great spiritual
value to US because of the feeling we
have that God is pleased with what we
have done Our field of religious work
may not be in behalf of institutional
charities. There are spiritual needs
as we'll as temporal needs. The evi-
dence Of answers to our prayers may
be within our hearts and the world
may see in us the the results of pray
er as manifestly as in any institution
whose support may come in answer to
PRAYER. Our character is the great in
stitution through which God reaches
the irreligious world. Our personal
Christian experience is the strongest
argument we can make to win the
world to Christ.