The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1885-12-24

Kingdom, among men. The very nature
of the command stamps the mission as {
holy one, and indicates that Christ spoke
to those who would faithfully perform
the work whereunto they were sent. Ths
command evidently comprehended the
performance of all that was implied by
it's phraseology. 1t did not mean the
miraculous demonstration or exhibition
of brass, or scoundrelism, as it has beer
corruptly construed in our times-it
meant the earnest heart-work of true
Disciples of the Lord and earnest work
ers in His Kingdom. When he commands
a follower to do certain things, He means
the things commanded to be done-and
not such things as may be conjured up in
the mind of the servant commanded. II
is easy, perhaps, to deceive man, but nc
man can deceive the All-wise One.
There comes up before the vision
while thinking upon this subject, an in:
cident of camp experience, during time
of great public excitement, and to some
extent a great public calamity. There
came mana member of certain Com
pany-who, by profession and bearing,
sought to impress upon all with whom
he came in contact with his sacred call
ing and election. He chad call to the
ministry" He walked in studied atti-
tude; he rarely smiled; he never indulged
in any of the frivolities Of camp-life; he
never even engaged in the merry songs
with which the boys were wont to enliven
| the otherwise tedious routine of camp
| duty, Aor the WEAKNESS of the march:
he permitted his hair to grow long, al
most to his shoulders, notwithstanding
the pleasant invitation it gave to certain
diminutive but numerous crawling crea-
lures to make their home therein; in
short he was "a good man. sent upon a
Divinely-appointed (?) mission, to reprove
the world for its sins. Now the Chris
tian life is like fruitful tree. You may
know it by its bloom and by the color and
flavor of it's bearing. Add to the life of
the Christian soldier of whom we have
been speaking, the trait of performing un-
selfish and kindly acts-that is to say,
making sacrifice of ones time for the
benefit or convenience of comrade, and
you have the bearing tree at once. And
it ao0s bearing tree, though sometimes
the fruit might be considered little eX-
pensive.
Now in the command in which this
good man served were great number of
smokers who in the quiet of their
homes had enjoyed their cigars in perfect
and blissfuf cortentment. But the eX-
istence in camp by its isolated nature
forbade the enjoyment of the weed. In
such case, and under such circumstances,
the man who can give the sufferers a
good old-fashioned smoke is a philan-
thropist. What was the surprise of the
camp one fine day to behold our preacher
who had been to certain town, on leave
of absence about the camp
with a benign smile upon the ministerial
countenanee and box of cigars under
trouble and expense, and was giving the
benefit of his labors by selling the "fra-
grant" weeds out at the rate of fifteen
cents each. That he had only paid five
cents each for them but short distance
away, did not of course detract from the
beauty of the ministerial character. He
had given the boys smoke as a matter
of mercy-and taken their money as
matter of business. He was preaching,
by these acts-of course preaching always,
and all the time, that the Kingdom of
Heaven was at hand. But the boys may
be pardoned for their evil thoughts and
words, for some of them seemed to be
confident, after testing the weeds, that
the Devil was also at hand, and grasping
at the ministerial scalp. And this was
only typical transaction. The good man
had evidently mistaken the nature of the
call Too many Divinely appointed ones
interpret the call to mean that they shall
go into the world and preach the King
dom of Heaven and play the Devil, at the
same time.
A short time ago-at most not many
months, a young man came to Glen Roy,
in this county ,and stopped for dinner. He
had a call to preach, and had been travel
ing and laboring in obedience to that call
for a considerable time. His next ap-
pointment was to preach at Coalton. The
dinner hour came, and the pious man sat
down to the meal. The vigorous, healthy
young boarders were about to wade into
the meal in good old-fashioned style,
when the Brother was asked to say grace.
Lifting his eyes devoutly, he inflicted a
long prayer upon the hungry boarders.
After his departure however, it was re-
marked by those present that his grace
was little too long-that there was
1roothiTor hahin6 II And fhprA
The next heard of the young Divine, he
was trying to borrow money here and
there, of all of his acquaintance. But
the Divine command and call to preach
remained with him. Of course, when he
obtained money under false pretenses, he
did it in the line of his idea of preaching
the Kingdom of Heaven; when he stole
of holy things. When he entered career
of crime, including swindling, thieving,
lying, seduction and bigamy, he did it in
ministerial capacity. And now that he
is languishing in jail, rejecting upon the
ruined life of an innocent girl, and the
general wreck of his own character, he
perhaps gets true conception of his
made by many misguided creature be-
fore him. He went about preaching that
the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand,
when in.reality the Devil and the Peni-
tentiary were both at hand, the former
gloating over the victim, and the latter
yawning to receive him.
Such lives as these are horrible exam
pies which should prove lasting and
beneficial lesson to all observers. The
Christian life is simple and easy propo-
sition easily understood and easily lived.
But man or woman cannot live right,
and do wrong at the same time. The