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The Presbyterian of the South : [combining the] Southwestern Presbyterian, Central Presbyterian, Southern Presbyterian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1909-1931, January 15, 1919, Image 5

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Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/10021978/1919-01-15/ed-1/seq-5/

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by the word, and reject the communion ser
vice, the worship of saints, and the use of pic
tures in worship. Distinguished as orderly and
neat, they may be accounted as readily
reached by the gospel.
Hartford, Conn.
THE TRANSITIONS OF A SOUL.
By Rev. E. C. Murray, I). D.
"Lord, remember me when thou comest into
thy kingdom. . . . Verily I say unto thee, To
day shalt thou be with me in paradise." (Luke
23:42-3.) Wherever the gospel is preached
these words are a memorial of the grace, love
and royal authority of the Redeemer, and an
encouragement to the penitent sinner in his
direst extremity. The bleeding, gasping dying
Saviour snatched from the devil, death and
hell the first trophy of the victory of the cross
even on the cross and from the cross itself.
The first transition of the dying robber's
soul was from guilt to grace. For a while he
with his fellow joined the brutal, jeering mob
in reviling and upbraiding the patient Suf
ferer on the middle cross. There was none
to take pity and no comforter, except the
broken-hearted mother, the beloved disciple,
and a few trembling, weeping women. But
suddenly into the holy fellowship of this de
voted band the robber was brought by divine
grace, "convicting him of sin, of righteous
ness, and of judgment." That startling title
over the head of the crucified One, the dignity
of his bearing and the sweet benignity of his
countenance, his prayer for his murderers, the
very words bandied about by the railing mob,
brought back with a flash of recollection to
this Jew the lessons of his childhood. "The
Christ? -King of Israel ? Chosen of God - -Son
of God ?He saved others" ? the significance of
these Avoids gripped him. He had found the
Messiah !
Then those three crosses became typical of
the saved, the unsaved, and the Saviour. The
robber on the left had guilt in his heart and
guilt 011 his head ; he on the right had guilt
in his heart but 110 longer on his head; and
the divine Sufferer in the midst had no guilt
in his heart but "bore our sins in his body on
the tree."
The penitent's first concern was for his fel
low criminal. "Dost thou not fear God, seeing
thou art in the same condemnation? And we
indeed justly; for we receive the due reward
of our deeds : but this man hath done nothing
amiss." Then: "Lord, remember me when
thou comest into thy kingdom." This re
markable confession and prayer fell like sooth
ing balm on ears throbbing with the pain of
blasphemous revilings. And the response was
instantaneous: "Today shalt thou be with me
in paradise."
Luke had already given us a glimpse of
the transition of a soul from grace to glory in
the story of "a certain beggar named Laza
rus, lying at the gate, full of sores. And the
beggar died, and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom." But now in the dying
robber we see the transitions of a soul from
guilt to grace and from grace to glory. I11
Lew Wallace's "The Fair God" there is a
story of a girl who saw three worlds in one
day : the subterranean abode in which she was
reared from infancy, the outer world of sun
shine and beauty into which she was released,
and the world of departed spirits into which
her soul passed that day. The crucified rob
ber that morning was in the prison house of
sin; at noon he was "delivered from the bond
age of corruption into the glorious liberty 0!
the children of God"; in the evening he was
in paradise. In the morning he was a con
demned felon; at noon he was a pardoned
sinner; in the evening he was in Abraham's
bosom. In the morning lie was a hardened
criminal; at noon a penitent believer; in tin
evening a glorified saint. "I saw a wonderful
thing today," said a preacher after leaving a
death-bed; "I found a sonl in a state of na
ture, brought her into a state of grace, and
left her in a state of glory."
"Today shalt thou be with me in paradise":
there is no intermediate place or state in the
transition of the soul from this sinful, sorrow
ful world to the highest, holiest heaven. Paul
in a vision found himself "caught up to the
third heaven ? into paradise"; and was ever
after "willing to be absent from the body,
and to be at home with the Lord"; "having
a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,
which is far better." "To him that overcom
eth will I give to eat of the tree of life, which
is in the midst of the paradise of God."
What a comfort to bereaved ones! "The
souls of believers are at their death made per
fect in holiness, and do immediately pass into
glory." While we are donning our mourning
garments, and gazing upon the crape-covered
casket, our beloved is already with him in
whose presence is fulness of joy, and at whose
right hand there are pleasures for evermore."
"Oh change! Oh wondrous change!
Burst are the prison bars ;
This moment, there so low,
So agonized, and now
Beyond the stars.
Oh change, stupendous change!
There lies the soulless clod :
The day eternal breaks,
The new immortal wakes ?
Wakes with his God."
Greensboro, R. 6, N. C.
Heart to Heart
REPROVING CHILDREN.
A child ought never to be reproved in the
presence of others. This is so constant an oc
currence that nobody thinks of noticing it ;
nobody thinks of considering whether it be
right or best or not. But it is a great rude
ness to the child. It ought never to be done.
I knew a mother who made this a rule. Once
I saw her little boy behave so boisterously
and rudely at the dinner table, in the pres
ence of guests, that I said to myself, ''Surely
this time she will have to break her rule and
reprove him publicly "
I saw several telegraphic signals of rebuke,
entreaty and warning flash from her gentle
eyes to his; but nothing did any good. Nature
was too much for him. He could not at that
moment force himself to be quiet.
Presently she said in a perfectly easy and
natural tone, "Oh, Charley, come here a min
ute; I want to tell you something." No one
at the table supposed it had anything to do
with his bad behaviour. She did not intend
they should.
As she whispered to him I alone saw his
cheek flush, and that he looked quickly and
imploringly into her face; I alone saw that
tears were almost in her eyes. But she shook
her head, and he went back to his seat with a
manful but very red little face.
.In a few moments he laid down his knife
and fork and said, "Mamma, will you please
excuse met"
"Certainly, my dear-" >
Nobody but I understood it or observed tha^
the little fellow bad to run very fast to get
out of the room without crying. AfterwarcJ
she told me she never sent a child away fron
the table in any other way. L
"But what would you do," said I, "if h/
were to refuse to ask to be excused?" ^
"Do you think he could," she replied,
"when he sees that I am only trying to savl
him from pain?"
In the evening Charley sat in my lap, and
was very sober. At last he whispered to me,
"I'll tell you a secret, if you won't tell. Did!
you think I had done my dinner when I gotj
excused? j
"Well, I hadn't. Mamma made me because I
I acted so. That's the way she always does.
But 1 haven't had to have it done to me for*
ever so long ? not since I was a little fellow
(he was eight now) ? and I don't believe I
ever shall again." ? Ex
THE BEST DUG-OUT.
By Capt. \Y. J. Ilolliday.
Somewhere in France.
While spending a few days at camp before
proceeding to , I had the pleasure of J
meeting a group of North Branch "Y" mem
bers. Needless to say, we had many interest
ing experiences to relate, enquiries for Mon
treal friends and general gossip.
Almost unconsciously, the conversation
shifted to the recent life in the trenches, and
many stories, some amusing, others painful,
brought the little group closer together.
But the talk took on a still deeper tone, a
man's thoughts of God and life hereeafter.
It was then that one of the little circle told
this story:
"I'll never forget one night in the winter
of '17 when a chum and I were up in the front
line and Fritzie was making it unpleasantly
hot for us- Shells were dropping pretty thick
around us, and he certainly 'got my wind up'
for fair. My chum and I had crawled into a
bit of a dug-out, but it would have been ' good
night' if anything had landed 011 top.
"I looked over at Pete, who was sitting in
the corner, and looking mighty serious, too.'
" 'What are you thinking about, Pete?"
" 'I was just thinking, B., isn't God just
about the host dug-out, after all!'
"Say, Captain. 1 was surprised, because Pete
wasn't what you'd call a religious chap, but
it got me that night, and I've never forgotten
it, and every scrap I went into after that I
thought of what Pete had said."
And so I pass Pete's query on. Is God the
best dug-out for you? Have you found Him
yet? Don't wait, though, until you strike the
front line trenches where shells are popping
all around. Settle it now, and remember that
He wants to be and will be, if you let Him,
more than a dug-out, a Friend who will stick
to you in the tfghtest corner, and help you
"carry on."
Send out that S. O- S. call now and prove
Him. "Behold I stand at the door and knock,
if any man hear my voice and open the door I
will come in and will sup with him and he with
me." (Rev. 3:20.) ? Montreal Presbyterian
Record.
"Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet
mind. Spare us to our friends, soften us to
our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our
innocent endeavors. " ? Robert Louis Steven
son.

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