St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-19
adjusting your life TO God and thus ris


heart that prompts our words and
freights them with life divine. BE able
to say, my words are spirit and they
are life." Jesus said: 'Seek first the
kingdom of heaven, and all these things
shall be added" But the human always
Reverses the Spiritual Order ss5
and men are seeking all else first and
want the kingdom of heaven added.
How plainly this is shown. in the lives
of most Christians. They have SO much
ure and snatch but few moMentS now
and then fer the consideration OF re-
iigion. This subject is put off and must
wait until the affairs of this life recelye
all due attention before taken up, and
how often put off altogether, and re-.
llgiOn consists in the form of church,
going and supporting the gospel fnal-
cially. To seek the kingdom of heaven
is TO seek honor, honesty, purity, chair
ity, love; to seek the kingdom of heaY-;
ell first is to be resolved to possess these
graces whether we possess any worldly
goods or not, to willingly sacrifice any
worldly interest rather than sacrifice
the least jot or title OF these heavenly
conditions.
TO be Christian is to willingly lose
all we possess of this worlds wealth,
rather than dishonesty gam possession
of one dollar or wrong fellow being In
the least. That was Jesus Christian
ity. Is it ours?
The kingdom cannot be sought, and
the Gospel cannot be extended through
any other means than the holy, living,
burning words of hearts consecrated to
God. / mean Gods people, consecrated
to the work, can successfully do this;
but it cannot be done through the fnan-
ciai generosity of un-ChriStian men =
unconSecrated meH-in the church or
out. How often business men sub
scribe means to purchase property and
put up great building for some Chris
ton OrganiZatiOn-the I. Nj. Z. A, for
instance. These men do this to help
build up the city, and if they were as
sured the building and its work would
be a detriment to the town financially,
although instrumental in accomplishing
a mighty work for God, they would
withhold their subscriptions. This alone
ought to decide whether the plan be
righteous one. If they who claim to
be Gods people cannot, or do not, erect
their own buildings. God will not bless
the work carried on in one built iii this
way. Why? Because il the Christian
people
Haven't Enough Enterest
in the work to provide building, they
will not be interested enough to work
In the right spirit after the building IS
given them. Jesus promise, that all
these things would be added il we
sought first the kingdom of heaven. is
significant. 1t surely implies that our
means for carrying on Gods work VIII
be in proportion to our sincerity and hit
ness for it. Therefore we will never
lack for means to carry on just as great
work as we are capable or doing. III
we have so little grace that we can get
all our work into an SXl0 room, we Will
have that room, but il we can, to the
glory Of God, use five-story edifice,
nothing under the heavens above can
prevent US occupying such place. r.
How be it! He dWelleth not in tenn
pies made by hands," and l am not sure
that great buildings are necessary.
How successfully would be establish
his kingdom if the people would cease
to labor, as they do, to build fine
churches and halls, and would, each in
dividually, preach the gospel from pure,
honest hearts to all with whom they
were In any way associated, RENE mber-
ing that "the best sermon ever preached
is the practice OF truth. and its demon
Stration through the destruction of sin,
sickness and DEATH"
If all who bear the name of Christians
were labOrlng thus, they would soon
revolutionize the world. Then, when
the people, by muititudes s'heard them
gladly" it would be- timely and appro-
pirate to put up a building suitable for
the throngs which would congregate to
hear the word eXp0unded. A house
erected in this way would be the out
ward expression of the inward; 1t would
be one of the things added after the
kingdom of heaven had been sought
But one built of subscriptions from the
world in which TO find the kingdom of
heaven is an attempt to add the king
oom to his possession, to gain it through
material agencies. Jesus said the
kingdom of heaven is in mems hearts,
and if they do not find it there, they
will not discover it in
Houses Made with Hands.
Not long since an earnest Christian
worker said to me that without the aid
of the married men the various depart
ments of gospel work could not be
carried on. Who says that? God or
man?
Most assuredly man! If the zeal with
knowledge be in the hearts of the peO-
pie, they will sacrifice each his mite,
and it will be enough to provide every
thing necessary for the work. and as
they are fitted for broader fields, the
means will be provided, else Jesus did
not teach the truth. The trouble Is,
what zeal is in the Christian world lacks
understanding and lacks sufficient con-
fidence to give freely of money. They
forget that he who clothes the lilies
will also clothe them. Did you never
wonder why it was that money was not
freely obtained to extend gospel work?
Did you never wonder tina
anything could prevent earnest
workers from carrying out their good
purposes? L tell you, every Christian
worker has all the money and other
auXiliaries he IS capable of using to the
glory of God. God would not withhold
means and man could not. Many also
are spending much money in the cause,
when it is nothing to Gods glory. how
little is accomplished compared to the
time and money spent!
1t is useless to pray to God to put it
into the hearts of the people to provide
money for His workers. As they are
fitted, so will they Work, and no one can
Jesus had much money, although we
know that He made use of money; Ju-
das carried the bag" land yet who has
done the work He has? When We seek
to understand and work as He did the
fields will begin to broaden. He re-
buked the belief that declares the time
has not come for such labor, saying,
"Ye say it is three months to the har-
vest, but behold the fields are now white
to the harvest" or words to that effect.
The reason He gave that the harvest was
not gathered, was not that the rich and
influential would not give them aid, but
that the 'labOrerS were fewD'
All Christians are laborers, and he
who is not a laborer is
Not Really a Christian.
Neither is he who seeks not first the
kingdom a follower of Christ. How peo-
pie hurry through their business and
worldly pleasures sometimes to spend a
little time in Christian work, when they
should be at Christian work in their
business and in their pleasures. Then
business and pleasure would not con-
flict with religion. A lady once said
that some Christians were very religious
at church and at home, but thought