River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1922-05-25

1s%zE3 &WA Is the recipient
able to guarantee that he will pay
| back? If he is not, there is no grant
| of the loan. But in redemption, where
would be the security to offer! we
| have never found ourselves resource
| full enough to repay any investment
| for the soul.
In our human line is David, a
Peter, and a Demas. They are con-
sentative samples of the millions or
others. What examples of security 10
set over against loan from Heaven!
| David Blame the woman, or divide
| the blame between the two; either
way, when the net result is given De-
hold the exhibit of human insufhcien-
| cy Of asset. Peter! Say that he meant
| to be brave or say that when justice
and fairness were Knocked, he con-
| tended against the wrong; either way,
| you must decide that but for the
guarantee of Jesus, made to him be-
forehand, his ability to make good
any pledge of fidelity was not suffl-
cient. Demas! Paul writing to the
church at Colosse, sends greetings
from this man, but later writing TO
Timothy he is compelled to say, DE-
mas hath forsaken me, having loVed
this present age" Such mans guar
antee would fall below par But these
three men are far and away in adj
vance of the man who until now has
rejected Gods mercy. If they, with
all that they have accepted, must
draw exclusively on Gods grace to
deliver them, then, how absolutely
impossible it must be for soul con-
demned and lost to approach God on
the basis of loan.
Rather than pose as guarantors, we
must accept the position of eggars.
We have no security to offer. Moth
ing in my hands bring" Nothing!
The program of redemption could
never be placed on the basis of
| trade. In a trade it is proposed that
we approach an equivalent; give and
| take. But in matters that pertain to
| the salvation of the soul, we are
| bankrupts rather than contractors.
| With what would we trade? Might
we offer bad habits in exchange for
| the healing and mending of the soul?
Might we offer ten thousand neglects
and vanities for the peace of God!
Might we offer our piled-up guilt for
| the uncondemning smile of God?
| Might we offer our poisoned motives,
| besoiled thoughts, flippant words, and
| ruinous deeds in exchange for the
| ''blood that cleanseth"? Would such
| be our proposal?
Having nothing with which to either
arrange a loan or trade, we are
| driven to look for possible resources
| elsewhere. God, and God only, has
them. He has given, He can yet i'm
part. His sunshine at the window,
beaming and throbbing to get In that
| it may cleanse the place and bestow
| the glow of health to the face of the
invalid there, is but shadowy hint
| of how His grace Urges and presses
| upon our souls that we may receive it.
Behold the tree gives its fruit, the
artesian well it's water, and the far
/ stretched spaces their air, and think,
/ soul. how "grace to cover all our
| SIM is offered to you and me. 1t is
| all contingent upon what He has al
| ready given and done. "He that
spared not his own Son how
| shall He not with Him also freely
give us all things?" That gift once for
| all is the guarantee of all the rest.
| We know what He can do and will do
partly because of what he has done.
| Giving is His; receiving, ours.
But if what he has done becomes
the guarantee of what he will do, it
must also be accepted as the marking
| out of the boundary of his doing for
us. If we reject that, we declare for
the loan or trade plan and remember,
it is under that plan that, "the wages
of sin is DEATH" A possible barter,
| but what q result
So really all this hinges upon our
determination to try to push God Into
the sphere of cold commercialism be-
cause we insist upon the barter plan
and turn from the gift" Our idle eff
fort, our wicked effort to push God
into the mart must fail. His gracious
call for us to receive from his merci-
full giving turns bankruptcy into for
tune the beggar into the son of the
king, and the duration of the change
is everlasting. The habit of buying
and selling, the mathematical reckon
ing and bidding on prices may cost
men everlasting failure. The fact is
absolute that God will not barter. But
| He will give. Even wounded pride will
not be lowly enough to accept that.
But a broken heart will.
L. L.