Show I titETERNALREFUGE t Everlasting Arms of God Stretched < Out to the Helpless DISCIPLINE V OF DANGER 1 INDIVIDUAL WEAKNESS1 BRINGS I OUT STHE2TGTE OF GOD V l The Bottom Fact of Life the LastS Last-S Resort of Iilnn Unhappiness Re S suits From a Selfcentered Life V When a Mans Back Is Turned to God EG Walks I the Shadow V + I V At the Frt Congregational church Rev Brown resumed his regular even ing services last night He took his text from Deaten5ncmy xxxiii 27 The etecnalGod is thy refuge and under ntath F the evorlastirig arms These words suggest two thrilling moments one when a man is pursued breathless and hopeiess unless he finds some refuge the other len he is sinkIng sink-Ing powerless to keep uI unless he is held up The only real commentary on such texts is experience There is no use In talking to a blind man about color safety means nothing to a man who has never known danger and the everlasting arm of God means nothing to the man who has never felt his own weakness After all is not danger a part of the discipline of life The ideal life is one that grows up into religion as a flower grows up into the spring but to how few would such a history apply Beside Be-side all the winning gracious ministries minis-tries of God how many of u must have something more The stings of conscience the pangs of hunger darkness dark-ness danger the sinking craft Most of us try our own way before we are willing to take Gods way God graciously ciously waits for every failure and there offers help watches for even fainting sinking soul and gathers i into his everlasting arms there is the bottom fact o life the last resort of man the everlasting God is thy refuge The eveslasting arms are not only the refuge for mans peril but they are also the hiding place and resource re-source for mans greatest teserve power pow-er the fulcrum for all great and uplifting up-lifting services There is for man no abiding peace and no great power until he is free from selfconsciousness If the secret history of many mental diseases many bodily ills much of the unhappiness of men could be read we should find the secret of it in a selfish selfcentered life With ones back to God he walks I ever in his own shadow Sooner or later a man learns that his power is limited face to face with questions whose final answer he cannot give burdened bur-dened with responsibilities which he cannot carry alone any longer he sinks into the embrace of the everlasting arms and the great discovery is made peace and power have come and with Paul he can say When I am weak then am I strong 1 |