River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1911-01-19

straight in the desert highway for.
our God. Every valley shall be ext
allied and every mountain and hill.
shall be made low; and the crooked
shall be made straight and the rough
places plain; and the glory Of the
Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it together.
Surely this world is wilderness Is
we look at 1t in the light of the Ser
mon on the Mount, or OF the Golden
Rule. 1t is topsy-turvydom gone to
seed. There are good people in it.
not few, and good work is being
done in it, not a little; but taking Id
at long and large 1t is so unlike Gods
ideal that it seems when conrasted
with that ideal like wilderness over{
grown with thorns and thistles. !
But God had loving purpose In
creating the world, and He intends to
give effect to that purpose so fully
that when the final outcome appears
all created intelligences will acknowll
edge that He has done all things we'll.
Gods Need of Servants.
And God Is going to carry out His
purpose of good In the world through
the fundamentally of His servants in
it. That involves delay, because God
can only work through men in proper
ton as they put themselves at His
disposal and work willingly under His
direction, and very few men or wom-
en- yield themselves wholly to the will
Of God The few who do can accom-
plish great things for God, but very
much is also being accomplished
through the exceeding grace of God,
by persons who though not wholly
consecrated in heart and life, are
nevertheless honestly trying to do
some work for God.
God has promised to give the king
dom of this world to His Son, and
that "the earth shall be filed with the
knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea (Heb.
2:14: how is this glorious state OF
affairs to be brought about?
BY the efforts of poor. weak, fool
ish creatures such as we are. For
NOO I'D dU1S ~ O1dh6 Oil 8 dCS cIOOuAO
toward us and to work in us both to
will and work for the accomplish
ment Of His purposes. He can make
His strength perfect in our weakness.
But there must be preparation OF
heart in us. If we are to assist effec-
lively In preparing highway for our
God In the desert we ourselves need
to be prepared for that service; the
wilderness must be cast out Of our
own hearts. The thornS and thistlea
that are growing there must be up.
rooted and the good seed Of the
kingdom must be planted in their
place.
Faith In Christ Needed.
This cannot be done without much
conflict with ourselves and there ia
no use In attempting it unless we have
a determined purpose to succeed. We
also need very definite faith IL
Christ, for we cannot gain the vic
tory over sin without His help.
We all naturally shrink from this
conflict. No one likes to go to wal
with himself. But there is no other
way OF escape from bondage to the
thoughts, desires, and habits that rot
life of it's highest joys and noblest
aims; there is no other way of fitting
ourselves to take our part in prepar
ing the way Of the Lord.
And none of us can afford to lose
our chance of having a share In the
bringing about of the glorious trans
formation Of the worlds desert into
the garden of the Lord; for day Ia
coming when we shall realize that tt
have had share in that work was
the only thing worth living for a dag
is coming when we shall feel, as we
cannot feel now, that every life has
been complete failure which has moi
Won from the lips Of the Lord of glory
the commentator. We'll done, goot
and faithful servant"