The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-01-06
George Mcdonald an the z'ats'as-A
Sermpn or the Perfect Man.

Guiding portion of which we reprint from
the Trsbunc's report:
1r thou wilt be perfect, oh. fr'enHs' oo
YOU no; sec that il you are not perfect you
are stained and spotted, and II you nave not
begun TO know it it is because you are SO
stained and spotted that there Is not enough
OF clean background that you may show
yourseIf against il tc know what you are
Do Won, on the other hand, under sense
,ha. vol, are not clean, and that your life is a
poor thing. and that you are prone to selfish
ness, say YOU are ashamed of yourself? Doyou
feel that il friends saw what is in you, there is
something ia you clean enough to make you
ashamed! Then, my friend, can talk TO
you. Would you be perfect, then! Would
YOU like to be such that you could just throw
your whole soul open and say, Il am not
much, but you can look a. me-" But you
cannot avoid throwing open your soul TO
God. We cannot keep God from seeing las.
Sod must see us. But would you wish to be
able 10 throw your whole being open that lie
might see the evil things in it, aud search you
and try you and know your thoughts, and see
tue wicked thing on you and take it out Of you.
Begin it at once il is possible TO you. But
would YOU be perfect? You tell me, COB,
perfection Is SO far away there is no Use in my
irwin. after perfection" But you may try to
keep the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES not you
f. was in no mockery that the law was given.
You cannotSay, " | can't keep them" There
is pot a single one you cannot keep. You
might try a little more. You might put
your foot on the first rIng Of the ladder.
But, YOU say. alt will he all swept away
from me, for the Lord said to the young man
that He wanted something more after all
that Yes, yes. that is true. II we are
able to keep the whole law perfectly, who
does not see that a man mus. be perfect be-
fore he can do il? But II it were possible
that we could keep the whole law in every
particular, even then, more than ever, ii the
human heart could cry for the thing il
lacked, eternal life, / would say, 81 did all
this, and what can l do to attain eternal
lile!"
What can do to get His lovc--to obtain
high, full. rejoicing existence: If we
could keep His commandments perfectly, we
should then most certainly feel that desire
Tor knowledge, for the law cannot give love.
That is not love. You must feet the very
God Of love pulling in your hearts, is well
as His love in you. You must love him
not from yourselves. but from the very God.
That is love. If thou will be perfect"
said the Lord, and can imagine with what
an ineffabe smile He said it. He had told
his disciples, "Be We perfect AZ your Father
IN Heaven is perfect, is God himself is per
feet" The soul that can he satisfied with
less i, not yet fired with the eternal truth and
love, does not yet know of these things, and is
in its babyhood. What did he want him Ia do.
then? You sec our Lord does not begin
with what is difficult to do; He always puts
that aside. With regard TO His own mission,
He would not enter into any diSputatlon
with His disciples, or about God or Himself.
lie said: "It you arc willing to do what
God tells you. you will know MI about that
He based the whole thing upon action, which
is the highest condition OF humanity. Ioa
say faith is higher. | say faith j, the highest
action of the human mind and car. Here it
is; here is the opportunity for it. He says:
at thou wilt be perfect, sell all YOU have
and give TO the poor, and come, follow me-
II ne hud done that the gates Of Heaven
would have been thrown wide open, lie
would have known himself that he had got
all he wanted, and the friendship Of the Lord
would lave made him laugh at these riches.
Oh, young men, are you afraid TO give
YOUR attention to this, lest perhaps Jc,u,
Christ will ask Of you to part with your mo.
nrv and become Il wanucrcr! | assure you
that YOU need not be- afraid. tie will not a IL
that OF YOU. Why, you have not been keep
Ing The commandments. You arc not fitted
you are not worth Of such iii honor-that OF
nobility. "ScIl ill that YOU have and follow
me- See first il you can keep the com
mInamcnt>.
nave said that believe that no mere
keeping of the commandments will save
man, but do surely believe that Il man wht
begins by keeping them is i'll the way o
.tcri,al lie. He is in the way of il. can
not dare. and have no inclination here t
suppose that he Knocked The nlun when IN
said, " If you want to enter into eternal lilt
YOU must keep the commandments" Dit
the way lie in the loss Of his money espe
ciaily? Yes, to HIN, if he was told it, Thu
probability being that the young mans mo
ncy was much 10 him. 1t WAS the only thin!
which stood between him and eternal life
You may not have any money to trust Il
him, but you may be striving after it, which
is Just us bad and fully as dangerous if yol
have not learned to be sick of it yet
But some of you certainly have what wa
required of him then. You say, Il hay
I,etn trying little TO keep the command
ments, and have made poor job of it
aud il ] could get that something of whicl
have glimp,cS of sometimes; ii could &c
that, think / could keep them better. Blu
j! is il Great trouble and burden" No doubt
it is, friends. IL we had this something VIZ
would have 10 difficulty; if we had it, com.
nandlncnts would bc no trouble TO lis an,
more. The mighty God in lis would max,
lls forget all about the commandments
We should not only Judge, hut be all truth
and righteousness. But you say, "Whai
shall l do" in Il Fuller sense. There j,
something, if YOU will only be honest with
Yourself. There is something YOU have got
To part with, something that YOU feel already
that YOU have to part with, and you have to
give what was demanded of this young man.
You have to 70 with Him. You complain
that Tie always talked in figures, and that
what was to he done then, when Jesus was
III the body, was easy 10 do, but YOU do not
know how TO do it now. There is only one
God in the earth, and the God that made
the outside world is the same that made
the inside world. Surely, if that youn.
man could have forsakcn his riches and
gone after Jesus you can do somethin.
infinitely nearer I o the facts he named. You
ask how, again and again. That is for Hin,
10 tell you. l cannot tell you. But know
This, that every man should lay open his
heart and say, "What shall do that may
get hold of this:' II l do not believe that
/ do not know what reason there would be
10 talk to you. Ii there is no bond between
The heart of man and the heart of God then
there is no religion. let lis cat and drink,
for tomorrow we die" and that death mus
be annihation.
The soul OF every man cries for this help.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, such is
the fact. And this soul. conscious of free.
dom aud life that must arise from sense of
God, is a little nearer TO that centre of life
whence wc have all come. One thing seem
To know that we are here in this world only