The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1912-03-20

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upon God.
The psalmist recognized within him
self something to which many are
very indifferent-a soul that related
him to God, and differentiated him
from the brute creation. Whether
that which he recognized was In itself
immortal or only contained the pos
sibility OF Immortality need not inter-
est US now, but 1t was another sell.
an alter ego, what some might CALI
the subliminal self, and which has In
those who have lived. a life of pur-
poseful sin, been stif1ed, and yet cries
out constantly for recognition. and
nourishment, and ultimate perfection.
It is not the imbecile who thinks OF
bis soul, but it Is the man who recog-
nizes his true humanity. If you please;
as in this case, oftentimes the man OF
affairs. Of parts. of high ambitions.
And this man is frequently quite out
of patience with those who profess to
be physicians Of the soul and yet
prescribe little or nothing that bene-
Ats the soul.
Great statesmen. inanciers. railroad
magnates, inventors, artists. manu-
facturers, etc., when they go to
church, want soul food, something to
which the soul responds. A leading
lawyer recently said with reference to
the message that should be given
from the pulpit: 1T should come from
Cod and should relate to the inner
life, It should be food for the soul"
The call was not to something in
definite: wait thou only upon God"
Here is the recognition Of the cor.
relative to the soul, the spiritual God.
This recognition was not Of an abb
stract Idea, but OF a personality-ft
gave no opportunity for quibbling and
doubling. There was no suggestion IN
n little "if." This man Of affairs
and great parts was not the only his
torical character who has thus thought
and acted. Some men may be- like
Job and ask where they may find
God, but many others have had direct
and constant Intercourse with the
spiritual God. they have seen him who
Ia invisible.
Can this not be said Of our three
martyr presidents? OF Gladstone, OF
! Bismarck, Of William Of Germany. OF
Justice Harlan? And as we glance
back over the past do we not have
Chinese Gordon, Stonewall Jackson,
oliver Cromwell, Gustavus Adolphus.
s~avonarola, Paul, David, Moses. Abra-
ham and a host of others? Granting
that these men waited on God, for 30
they all protested, their achievements
are not an enigma
What is 1t to wait on God? Is 1t not
keeping silence before him? LET all
the earth keep silence before him.
And such silence before God Is an e.
sential element of prayer. One has
recently said that prayer Is not the
claiming a hearing, 1t is giving a hear
Ing; it is not speaking to God, 1t n
listening to God. 1t is true that
'.Whatever is best for me. my God VIII
bring to me-,
II do only wait, and trust, and pray,
What'er seems dark to me, shall end !
light for me;
It's but the cleaning. which fore-Funs
the day."
This waiting before God, too, sus'
gests a readiness to respond to the
call of God as The old retainers would
respond to the call Of their hege
lords. And was there ever a period
Of the history Of the race when the
likelihood Of a call was as great? The
world is open to men spirit-filled to go
10 the thousand million human beings
who. as yet do not know the true
God.
Another suggestion Is that Of tarry.
Ing. How impatient We are! A man
must make his first millions In ten
YEARS OF business. Ten more millions
must be made In the next fve years.
Who now tolls for the slow increase
m an investment, except the man
who lacks the speed Of action Of to-
davis trading7 And this is largely
true of christian work-we will not
work to the limit and be patient as
long az the fruits do not fall into our
laps In great quantities. And how
impatient We are in trial! We will
not walt until God gets through his
process of realizing for us our best.
until the purifying fire has burned
away our dross. And this waiting on
God would not be IGNORING to him I'M.
less our waiting was with confident
expectation. The soul Of David would
never have received a blessing If he
had waited before God indulging q
perhaps.