Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-12-14


Don't you think he would feel himself
duty bound to keep it?
| Don't you think God feels duty bound
| when you question a motive He has
promised to answer? That ought 20 be
enough.
Something Tells Me Am
Going to Live Forever
There is something tells me that am
| going to live forever? We are humans
! and if we are failures we are the only
! failures in the universe. Vegetation Is
not a failure. There is the argument
from the standpoint of instinct.
Who tells the birds to come back and
! build their nests up here; who tells
them our frosts are over and the flow
ers and the trees are blooming and bud
ding; who tells the birds to leave here
| and go south; who tells the rivers to
freeze; who tells the birds of their mi
grafton?
Who tells the wild geese to leave
South America and go way up to Win
nipeg? Go up to Alaska and hatch your
young. Who tells the plants to burst
out? Who tells the grass to turn green
and the leaves? Does God do that and
then blast it with 10 below zero? No
He wouldn't do that. He wouldn't dis
appoint the birds and nature.
Who tells you to put potatoes in the
! ground? Who tells you to plant corr
and pull it and the lettuce and onions?
Does God do that and then blast it with
zero weather? God does not disappoin1
| you. Certainly He is not going to dis
appoint humanity
| Who tells the bee to leave that hive
and go yonder to that clover patch, and
| then come back to the hive? And you
can move it fifty feet and he will &c
back to where that hive was and stay
| there. And he will go thre or four miles
and leave that clover field and sc
straight to that hive. You move that
hive and he will go right there and he
| will find it.
Who tells the squirrel? Take the
squirrel that is born up north this
spring and take it down to Florida this
i fall and ii won't lay up nuts. Who tells
that squirrel they don't have any win
| ter in Florida? Who tells the squirrel
! that we have winter here and they have
! got to lay up nuts?
Where do they get all that? Man did
not tell it, Instinct does it, Oh! God
does not disappoint a squirrel in it's in
| stinct. He does not disappoint the bird
Must the eyes of my soul strain and
never see God? Must I have a longing
| to live for ever and have it disap-
| pointed? So there is the argument,
from the standpoint of instinct God
says "He wilr' and l believe him. That
| is why I am a Christian. So why don't
you believe God about prayer?
And then it is natural. God is nat
ural, kind hearted. loving. he is a per-
sonality, my friends, and so he wills
to help, he wills to bless, to do these
! things.
man says, "If God is good"-why
] do you put the question mark? He said,
eff God is good and God is great and
| God is disposed to bless us, why does
! he require us to ask?'
! Oh, that makes me sick. 1t is like
| any other argument, you can dun it
| down like the point of a needle. Try
! ing to find some excuse for not being
! decent for God.
1 haven't any respect for such peo-
| pie, but l will try to help you.
Now, why does he require us to ask?
| First is this: it is natural, it is in
! accord with the nature of God. 1t is
| like a parent and achild. 1t is because
| that child asks that brings that to
! recognize it's relationship to you and
! it's dependencies upon your judgment
| Why do they ask? Because they rec
! ognize your superior judgment and
! they get your opinion on it. All right
we are all children of God. DO l know
more than God? Certainly not. When
not need it's parents, it needs a slipper
on any good convenient place it can
| land
Therefore it is in accord with Nature.
1t brings me to realize my dependencies
on God. God loves me. 1 became a
| child of God through faith. A parent
would not tell a child anything that
would bring disease or kill the child
/ know God would not tell me to do
haf &c Co
| God tells me to pray and be a Chris
tian, l know it is for my own good. 1t
| is natural, just like a parent and
child.
1t is another thing. 1t is advan-
| tageous to us. Why? We grow by ex-
preston. Mentally, physically and
every other way. We grow by express
sion
Have you ever seen a man in your
| life that had natural shrinking and
an impeachment when he was a boy? L
was that. On Fridays we used to speak
| in little school i went to on the high
| lands and the teacher would say, BILLY
| Sunday, speak, THE World is Round"
THE World" and 1 will be darned
| if l wouldn't forget the whole thing and
I would stand there and blubber and
then the kids would laugh at me and
would go out and fight two of them
dAleT got through, SO L USED TO nave
fight every Friday.
When L was converted L made up nv
mind l would give testimony wherever
l had the opportunity. / would think
of some things l wanted to say and
when L would stand there L would for
get it, but l would get up and blunder
and stagger through it and 1 kept on
If anybody ever worked hard to be
able to talk and say something, 1 have
l have grown by expression.
So therefore, we grow by expression
God wants us to develop; that is why
God wants you to ask and tell Him.
He is anxious for you to grow men,
tally and physically and He is anxious
for your faith to increase. We get by
giving.
The more you give, the more you get;
intellectually physically and spiritual
ly, everything. That is why we put
a seed in the ground Put a kernel of
corn in the ground and you get 1853
times as much as you put in. So you
give and get.
That is why a man goes out and sows
the wheat. Look at the abundance God
God gives him back. If the farmer got
no more than he put in the ground he
would starve to death in four months
You cut a little potato and put in an
eye and God will give you a hill.