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58 THE EABNEST CHEISTIAN AND GOLDBN RULB.
TO THE OVEECOMEBS.
BY NEWMAN CHAMBEBLAIN.
JESUS speaks seven times in Revelations,
and once in the Evangelist, to him
that overcometh. " He that overcometh
shall not be hurt ofthe second death."
" He that overcometh shall eat of the
tree of life inthe midst ofthe Paradise
of God," etc., etc. Oh, what a history
we have of God's Israel in the Old Testament.
After they were taken from
the bondage of Pharaoh into the
wilderness to go by God's commandments
to the land of Canaan, only two
followed the Lord fully. Among all
the commandments that the Lord gave
them, was one that tbey should not
make any covenant nor any league
with the wicked nations that they passed
through. If they did, God told them
he would not drive out their enemies
before them. We are now in the wUderness,
taken from the bondage of sin
and Satan, going to the New Jerusalem,
by God's commandments. If we make
any league with the wicked, we are lost,
surely. But many of our professed
pastors, instead of adding to their faith
the Christian graces, are taking degrees
in Masonry. Shame on sueh disobedience
! Then the excess of tobacco-using
is another departure from God's
word. Jesus says, "Cleanse yourselves
from aU fUthiness of the flesh."
Why ? These bodies are the temples
of the Holy Ghost. Says Dr. Clark,
"Were I to present a sacrifice to the
devU, I would stuff a pig with tobacco,
and lay it upon the altar." The Holy
Spirit is enough to help our infirmities.
Sinners, in the Church and out of it,
why should you compel the lips of
Jesus to curse you 1 Why should you
compel those lips which for long ages
have spoken grace to you, to utter the
irrevocable sentence of your doom ?
Eternal destruction ! The damnation
of hell! O, perishing sinners, why wiU.
you die? All who fail to become converted
or bom again, and overcome the
world, the flesh and sin, will be at the
second resurrection cast alive into a lake
of fire and brimstone! They are henceforth
tormented in heU fire forever and
forever! Not only is open confession
of a belief in Jesus, God and Heaven,
and to have part in the first resurrection,
necessary, but also a high degree
of actual as well as imputed sanctificaton.—Rev.
xiv. 4, 5. It is evidently
possible, even in this life, to become,
by increased faith in Jesus and prayer,
wholly sanctified and be preserved
blameless unto the coming of Christ,
(I Thess. V. 23.) and cleansed from all
sin and unrighteousness, (I John,
1,7, 9,) and redeemed from all iniquity.
Titus ii. 14. John xvii. Ephe. i. 4.
David says, "Mine eyes are ever
toward the Lord. My mouth is filled
with his praise and honor all the day."'
Never a man perished with his face towards
Jesus Christ. I must sing the
highest notes of praise to him who hath
washed me in his own blood. I am
fixed and kept in the Holy Spirit upon
the rock of ages. All is serene, all is
peace within. I mean to sit in those
blissful seats in tbe New Jerusalem
with tbe celestial choir, and sing with
them the song of Moses, the servant of
God. Glory to God in the highest, and
on earth peace and goodwill toward men.
•'
QUIETNESS.
BY DELIA A. JEPFBES.
There is, perhaps, no lesson that is
more difficult for us to leam perfectly,
and to practice continually, than that
of sitting quietly before the Lord. Quietness
is one of the Christian graces :
and when -it is learned, and practiced,
we are pretty well advanced in the
school of Christ.
To be just where God would have ns
be,—to do just what he would have us
do—to say from the heart, "Lord
choose for me," is to be in a state of
quietness.
"How often we have wished God had
done otherwise than he did! How often
we have asked, and asked amiss,
and our prayers have not been answered,
and we have afterward seen that,
had we bad our own way, it would have
caused trouble.