The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 21, 1901, Page 12

1z most masterly and rable argument of Paul Book of Romans in de- f the plan of salvation by great n of the dead reat theme is in fense faith the resurrect n I Cor., xv. His the resurrection of the dead, which he proves from the fact of Christ's resurrec- After ring the glorious changr from the m the mor claims trium 1 up in ible to the incorruptible, 1 to the-dmmortal, he ex: hantly, *Death is -swa O death, where is victory 7* ting of death is sin s, “The = power of is the law.” This be! true. the tht 10, do iz to get rid of the sting of death, which is sin, an1 th through Christ. “But v God, who giveth us the Vi through our Lord Jesus Chris g to our hearts much i glorious truth that over death and the grave victory over sin through Numerous are the fo truth is f every holy life and the spread and truth, which de- work of a faithful soldier. zgle will be harder than all ever be without ainst the forces of es continue untfl Christ shall None must think of lay- armor until the crown be le we are much like Eli- rvant: we see too_much of ittle of our God. Our fear, which isy the We hear the y all about us who r the stroke of the g in themselves. , we hear the songs of many who have con- continue to conquer Jesus Christ. all enemies have béen . _Our knowledge We know death it has surrea- But death is been conquered. to fight be- riumph over the devil, the world, (4) self, e, death. i{E DEVIL—A MIGHTY FOE. “That 1t of the = ptives re taker II Timothy of afl r opposing ¢ care- as of the soul cunning d it long turn must will rience with the Master Luther, be aid ‘one sinner, it Sata every conqu ieves Christ, n defeat this of his volce ¢ will <hall burn; hy feet 0. turn? What if thine eyes refuse to therea$: ti of unrighteousness bers servants to un s quity; they are ants of those whom they v ). What slaves to the % are! How many are h in the lusts thereof' The sewing 1 - cumference of their lifé is d.reveling in the s to appetite, . to_the un. me pleasures of sense, The end things is deat! “For these sake cometh the wrath of God of sin ng drink upon the children of disobedience.” “For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is_he brought in bondage.” Many a poor, sickly person has starved to death amidst plenty of the most whole- some and appetizing food, for the want of an appetite! What matters it how rich the provision for the spiritual life of man, if he_is wholly absorbed in his physical life. Take him where you will—{nto our paradises of beauty and fragrance of flowers, into our well-equipped librarles, into our art galleries and museums, and he will be sure to find that which appeals to the lower and animal nature, while the pure and noble and sublime will miss hig view God has ords higher life. Men are not y a taste for the beautiful jects of life; they e to produce beau- tiful thoughts and deeds. Beautiful thoughts and deeds _stamp themsel upon the face. There are faces that have possibilities of beauty but they are empty; they tell of a starved soul. Others are written with discofitent anJ selfishness An artist once secured an unwilling Chinaman to sit a model for him. *John,” he said, “if yo er T won't pay you. N M d John; “w! £ he lookee ugly. secret of an attractive personality is high thinking and a pure heart. - Only when a beautiful face mirrors a beautiful don’t look pleas- en Chinaman soul has the world found its ideal. t thing of importance to all of us is to know ae art of right living and the science of character building. Man must so live that the higher and spiritual things of life may lend loveliness to mind heart. “For,” as Dr. Hillls says, “it seems an incongruous thing for man to adorn his cottage, lend charm to its walls a1l windows, make its ceilings to be like the floor of -~ heaven for beauty, while his heart he cherishes groveling i sin light-winged He whose body in’a pala t net carry a hat like vage.' Jesus is able to save us from this bond- age.of the carnal and fleshly mind. He those who come unto “new desirous of the things that igher life. 4 X American lecturer, the uselessness of most men’s said: “If millions in Africa parts of the world were sunk in the sea they would not be mi ed. Thousands in Christian lands could be spared and not missed. The bubbles where they. went down would mean as much to the world as do their lives now.” Some are endowed with wonderful powe but their life is low, but Jesus Christ jn a man’s life will clevate, improve and £nlarge it, inspiring the soul with noble aspirations. speaking of lives, once and in other What was the life of John Bunyan worth before he became a Christian? If he had been cast into the sea the world would not have missed him. His life was an_empty bubble. But Bunyan became a Christian and a new i al of life was born into his soul. Then if Bunyan had been sunk in the sea, what an incalculable loss the world would ha istained! It is ssible for the life of every one to b e so rich as that of Bunyan, but no one can come tn Christ in sincer- ity without becoming glorious. How many selfish, worthless es we witness Men and women think e thoughts, indulge parrow feelings. perience low desires ana do little good hecav and low. IIT. THE WORLD. The friendship of this world, we are told, i with God; and whosoever will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. al evil in the world itself apart n. There is no reference to an t world that holds us in its grasp. ought is living holly for the s pertaining to this life only. We are to love the good things in this earthly life and covet the best gifts, while we are to shun the evil things of this earthly life —the thin; which hinder our right rela- tions with God and prevent our learning to do zood. Whatever retards wth in Chris character and destroys one’s pvower of Christian usefulness and help- fulness is of this world only, and must be overcome. Worldly customs, maxims, dress, amusements. notions about re- ligion and social evils are to be carefully watched. We are not to follow the multi- tudes willingly, thinking we shall come out all right in the end. May we learn the timely lesson and make all our experiences in life glorify Christ and build up Christian character. Many things in this world are a mixed and ever present power of attraction and temptation. The Papists are wrong in their monasti- cal ideas. We are not to withdraw from the society of men, neglect or cast away our business and property. An abstracted and sublimated devoticn to God is imprae- ticable and absurd. While we abide in this earthly sphere we are to live for the heavenly and eternal world. The danger comes when we become so ned the beautiful as an’ se the life that is in them is narrow, absorbea in tue ungs that are seen that we forget the things that are not seen. All the sins znd follies of this world must be given up, because they prevent the noblest development in this life and eventually lead to the separation from all that is ¢ and pure in heaven. Young people. beware of the assoclations yoy fornr in life. You will find it easy or difs ficult to be true to God, according to y ur companions and assoclations. If - you would be true in your right relations to God. beware of the spirit of the present world. Don’t dress for another world at the looking-glass of this. The important thing is to settle the question whether we want to love God and seek to serve and please him. If that is our decision anything that would pre- vent carrying it out must be aveided. The place of danger is along the border. It is there the enemy locates his camp. Our only salvation :n this world is in decision of character. We must be people of one purpose, and dead in earnest in carrying out that purp The to victory over the spirit of the world is the sur- render of the will and life to God. 1V. SELF. Here is to many their Waterloo. They can’t quite consent for self to be under the full of Christ. Self = s part of the government and nmjost earnestly contends the right to divide the sovereignty of the heart be- tween Chri an. . This is a_fatal Sa blunder. come a Christiz having their o would like to be- but they persist in in the disposal of their time, property, indulgenc ete. They can’t quite consent for Christ to be their “all and in all. This is a great source of fear and fail- ure amopg many Christians. It is the hardest thing to have their own hearts plerced by the sword of the spirit and to say hy will. not mine, be done.”” Pride, selfishness, anger, swayings, car- ral appetite and passion must be brought under the gentle sway of Christ. Self or God? Which shall it be? The heart is the strategic point. All true reiigion begins there, and it's good to begin with the beginning. rist came “‘to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight.” Self loves not always the best, for self rebels against the spirit of the cross. The conquest of the world is, from first to last, the conquest of vourselves. It is a glorious struggle and sublime to see one wrestling with his evil inclinations and subduing them in Christ’s strength, crush- ing out wicked desires and passions and crowding his life with the pure and good. Overcoming one's self is what counts. We who bear the image of God should take our rank with the forces that build up and conserve character rather than with those that through selfish ease or indif- ference allow character to decay. What does it mean to thus consecrate one’s self to Christ? If T should consecrate my life to some line of study—art or music, for instance— what would I do? T would first of all fully make my choiceeand adhere to it through all obstacles. Nothing should di- vert me from my purpose. I would seek the very best teacher, put myself uncer his tuition and obey his instructions, not once presuming that I could follow my own methods in preference to his. I would read the best Looks upon the subject of my choice, and I would study the work of the best artist d take thé most perfect models as my ‘deas. In this way the high- est possibilities in me would be developed. It is somehow so in the Christian life. The decided choice must be made, once and forever. The one Teacher must be our guide and instructor, and implicit obedi- ence given to his direction. His character and his work murt be the model of our own, and all that does not tend to our’ completeness in the vocation of a Chris- tian must be ruled out of our thoughts and conduct. Such consecration is not for the few only; no professed disciple of the Lord Jesus £hould have a lower stand- ard. The outcome, how glorious! Soul, THE SUNDAY body, spirit wholly given to him who has redeemed us, we may safely trust his care and wisdom in temporal and spiritual affairs. He will make the very best of these powers which we commit to him, And “it doth not yet appear what we shall be,” but, full of imperfeation as we see ourselves now, we shall be some day, like kim, changed into the same image in the presence of his zlory with exceeding joy. In Christ we have ‘“‘a partnefship that is equal to the work of dethroning the great adversary and casting him out from the heart. The most inveterate love for sensual pleasure, the most consuming am- bition, the mest willful and arbitrary hatred of the good, are no bar to Christ's power.. He can renew thg affections and change the race and turn all the power of a man’s being into an engine for resisting and trampling under foot the evil one. Dr. A. H. Storey. This is the genius of true discipleship and the final aim of religion. V.—DEATH. By reason of sin all men are destined to dle. Death and the grave stands be- fore all. Nothing is so feared and dreaded. But when sin, death’s sting, is overcome through Christ, we have nothing to ftear of death. “l will ransom)them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them fi death: G death, T will be thy plague; grave, 1 will bethy destruction!” The true Christian dies well. His de- parture is one of glorious triumph. How beautifully’ and __touch y 18 this shown In’ Ian Maclaren's _por- trait in. ¢ ide the Bonnie Brier Bush” of Willlamm Maclure, a Christian physician whose life had been spent checr- fully and patiently for others In constant sacrifice. When the good old doctor's time came to go, his old friend Drums- heugh held him by the hand, which now and again tightened in his, and as he watched, a change.came over the face un the pillow beside him. The lines of weu ness disappeared, as if God’s hand nad passed over it; and peace began to gather round the closed 'eéyes. The dbctor has forgotten the toil of later years, and I sone back to his boyhood. “The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want,” he repeate:, till he came to the last verse, and then he hesitated. “Goodness and mercy. all my life shall surely follow me.’ Follow me—and—and—what next? _ Mither £ald T wes tae hae’t ready when she “'A'll_come afore ve gang tae sleep, Wullie, but ye'll no get yir kiss unless ye can feenish the psalm.’ *“ *‘And—in God’s house—for evermore my—rhoo dis it rin? A’ canna mind the next word—my, my— 1t's ower dark noo tae read it, an’ mither 'ill sure be comin’.” Drumsheugh, in agony, whispered into his ear, * ‘My dwelling place,” Weeilium."” “That’s it, that's it a’ noo: wha said it? ‘ ‘And ih God's house for evermore my dwelling-place shall be.’ “Am ready noo, an’ a’'ll get ma Liss When mither comes; a' wish she wud come, for a'm tired an’ wantin’ tae sleep. “Yon's her stdp—an’ she’s carrying’ a Hcht in her hand; a’ see it through the door, 1 Yv “‘Mither! a' kent ve wudna forget laddie, for ye promised tae come, and a r ° feenished ma psalm. CALL. " ‘And In God’s house gor evermore, my dwelling-place ghall be.’ “Gle me the kiss, mither, for a've been waitin’ for ye, an’ a’ll sure be asleep.” The' gray ‘morning light fell on Drums- heugh, still holding his rriend’s cold hand, and staring at a_hearth where the firo had died down into white ashes; but the peace on the doctor’s face was of one wha Tested from his labors. That is the way the good man departs this life. His faith in Jesus Christ keeps him pure and good from youth to old age, and takes the sting from death, mak- ing death but the portal to the life eter- ;xa!C;’nlhtm:'enal F‘or the Christian to live S rist, to e Is gain; to depar be with Christ. B i To this blessed victory we are all called. Each must settle the question for him- self, whether he shall triumph in life and in_death or go down in defeat. Who_wishes for defeat? Not a human soul. The desire of victory Is as univer- sally prevalent as Is the tendency to de- spendency, It 1s an innate and very essen- tial constituent of our human nature. This desire is manifested in all climes, tribes and nations., among younz and cld. There is no joy like that of victory. We hever tire talking about our victories. There is no joy in defeat. A certain writer says as he looked upon the returning regiment of the Army of the Potomac as they marched through the streets of an tern city his eyes over- flowed with tears as he gazed upon the bronzed and batt arred veterans and thought of what they had dared and doune for him. “At last,” says he. the column turned in.'t : side by side, attracted my atte ing from those staffs were the remnar of the battle banners that had swept in alternate victory and defeat over th blood-soaked fields of the through the campaigns of Maryl the Rappahannock and the terribl t grapples of the Wilderness, and over t remparts of Petersburg, and there th , fringed and shredded by shot and begrimed by smoke and scorched by flame, but wreathed with vietory. Vie- tory at last. And my poor heart broke down as those banners, baptized in blood, spoke of all their gaping wounds to me, of the noble heroes who had borne them. Ah! they were vetérans!™ But [ present to you a banner bicod- stained by the seif-sacrifice of him who bore it. It speaks of the most wonderful descensiorfs and of the greatest humil- tion on the part of the Son of God him- If. It speaks of the awful struggles of sin and death fied at his of the terrible pains and suffer- approach Ing of Gethsemane, of the tortures of that igrominous death ‘upon the cross, of the glorious trilumphant resurrection morning and of the grand consummation when he F nded to the wor'd above, God Is striving with all of us that we e a complete triumph over sin Will We not open our hearts & of kings? He will come into our lives and drive out every evil thin that defi and defeats, et us uk: Christ now for all he is intended to be to us. If we w= in life's battles azainst sin and at last triumph over death and be crowned victors in heaven, it will be be- cause we enlisted under the banner of the cross and kept step to the bugle notes of the Great Captain of our selvation. Let U3 arise and go hence In the saving power 2 S