The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1897-11-26

voice LnaG cries TO DAY, come unto Me
all ye that are weary and heavy-laden,
and 1 will give you rest?' 1t is not the
choosing of a kingdom or treasure Or
title or honor, but the choosing of
Christ for His own sake alone, which
to-day represents Christianity's chief
challenge to the world. "If any man
come to Me and hate not his father and
mother and wife and children and
brethren and sisters, yea, and his own
life also, he cannot be My disciple"
That is, Jesus asks those who would be
His followers to choose Him above
every human relationship, to love Him
above every human love, and, if it
comes to choice of loves, our love for
Christ must be so regnant and supreme
that other loves, compared with that
GROWING love, are as hates.
''For My sake" that is the highest
motive of all. Men 60 downEto the field of
battle and die on the tented ground that
their country may live, and there's
something sublime in that. All ages, ali
lands have honored the patriotic dead :;
shaft of snow-white marble is none too
good to point their last resting. place,
poem of wondrous beauty none too good
to hymn their praise; but they who die
for the sake of the Saviour, those who
walked singing to the stake of old, those
who gave themselves to the lions rend-
ing paw, those who die for Him now
have a glory outshining the patriots re-
nown. He who, in devotion to friend,
gladly surrenders life to save him, is
impelled by motive that is high and
grand ;but what shall we say of those who
love Jesus, the Friend of friends, so well
that they can die for Him, or, better,
can live wholly to Him? A worthy am
bition may seize man, may lead him
to hardship, difficulty and death; but
there's no ambition like the one to keep
the heart pure and the issues of the life
true because we know that this will
please the King of Kings-an things
done for His Sake.
"For My sake" that is back of all
impulse to holier life. We have seen
some wretch picked out of the mire of
sin, polluted thing, and raised through
the love of some earnest soul into a
noble life. The wretched man has
hardly known why he loathed his old
life, why he kept ever trying to beat the
old sinful self down. It was the love of
the earnest life that did it, that love was
ever an uplifting force. With such a
love attracting the lonely soul it could
not help but strive to be better, if for
nothing more than to please the new
found friend. Topsy grew better, not
because she loved to be good, for she
could sing with full relish, "GoIly, I'se
so wicked!" but because gentle Eva
loved her and wanted her to be good for
J her sake. Often, "a the traveller ia re-
turning home through the dark night,
the light from his dwelling beams upon
him. Now, as he rises to
THE HEIGHT OF SOME OVERLOOKING
HILL,
he sees the light; again, de-
scending into the shade of the
wood, it is lost to view; now, at some
unobscured point in the road, he catches
a glimpse Of 1t though only for an instant,
now, the way bending to the right, he
misses the guiding light. Such is the
life of Jesus; it is ever reckoning us on.
Coming now to the height of some noble
endeavor, we feel In full sympathy with
Jesus life, we feel masters of c.s- mean
er selves; crushed by defeat, in yielding
to some seductive charm,w seem to have
lost the attractive power OF the Holy
Life: but He first loved us, and there
fore we love Him, and therefore, with
many slips and falls, we pattern after
His life.
You all know the transforming power
OF noble love. One loves good books.
Their characters are real to him. He