The Tupelo journal., 1903-01-23

ueatn hau Deen Snub u by The sign
of the blood upon the Intel and door
posts. There were just two kinds OF
people in the wilderness when the
fiery serpents came upon them:
Those who miserably persisted and
those who obtained life by lifting a
dying gaze to the brazen serpent
which Moses held up. And the COM
ing of Jesus sharply marked the line
of separation, or one side of which
II the souls that have found life
by a look at the Cruciied One, and
or the other side the souls that r
dead in trespasses and sins because
they will not look away from self
and the mirage of a false hope to the
One Who has been lifted up for the
salvation of the world. Only a liv-
ing organism car hunger, and so, in
the consideration of u text, we have
to do only with those who have found
life in Jesus.
Take your Bibles and read the first
two verses of the fifth chapter of
Matthew. 1t is carefully and explicit
ly stated that He separated Himself
from the multitude and went up into
a mountain. And in the quietude of
some retiring nook among'the rocks
away from the surging and curious
multitudes, He sat Him down, and
His disciples came unto Him and He
taught them. 1t was not a mes
sage for the multitudes; it was for
His true followers who were to be
instructed in the principles of His
Kingdom. They were to become
preachers of salvation, and in prep
aration must come to know the right
of God and the utter hope
lessness of any attempt of man to
attain that righteousness by his
own efforts. Why, the Sermon on
the Mount is a terrific Gatling gun
Kidding mar through and through.
Who is there who can stand up be-
fore it's declaration that whatsoever
is angry with his brother hath COM
mitted murder already in his heart?
What a terrible and sweeping indict-
ment of man is the statement that
whatsoever looketh upon a woman
to lust after her, hath committed
adultery with her already in his
heart" In this day of loose mar
riage and easy divorce observe .Je-
sus' declaration of the one single
ground of divorce. Observe the
standards which rule in the world to-
day and then hear Jesus say: Love
1900. Ill., A. 49,
you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despiteful-
ly use you, and prosecute you"
Every word and syllable of these
declarations is a terrific Judgment
upon the soul of the natural man.
1t prostrates him in the dust and
makes him realize his utter sinful
ness and need of a Saviour. Man at
tempting to live out the Sermon on
the Mount! Preposterous! Impos-
sible! 1t would be an easier task
to search out Jacobs ladder and
climb up by it into Heaven, than to
keep this perfect law of God. The
dead soul might cram itself full with
it, it might weave for itself a beauti-
full robe of covering, it might garland
its brow with the sparkling gems
of the beatitudes, but underneath it
all would still remain the specter of
the dead soul, and no thrill of Divine
life would be felt. But meet Jesus
at the cross with the filthy rags of
your w righteousness and He will
call your dead soul into life and
clothe you with His righteousness,
and on the other side of the cross
with Jesus as your Guide and Helper
the Sermon on the Mount becomes
the beautiful and shining way along
which you will walk. Then, and not
until then, blessed are they which
do hunger and thirst after righteous
ness, for they shall be filed"
1t is a charming and beautiful
picture which Gods Word gives us
in the story of Ruth, the sweet, gen.
tie Moabitish m From her
mother-in-law's lips she had heard of
the true God, and putting away the
gods of her w people she came to be-
lievei in Him. And with His coming into
her heart came such a hungering and
thirsting after Him and His people
that she forsook all to have her soul
hunger satisfied. And how God filled
her! Her cup of blessing ~overflowed.
She became the great-grandmother
Of David, through whose line came
the Christ. What a wonderful illus
tration this is of our text. How per-
fectly precept and example in Gods
Word fit together. The hungering for
God of a supplemented woman of
Moab started a stream of blessing
which did not end until upon the
f1ood-tide of its fullness the Son of
God was swept from Heaven to
earth and spoke the words: BLESSED
are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness, for they shall be
filed Our text is a perfect epit-
ONE of the life of Ruth.
Notice the contrasts between Ruth
and Naomi which strikingly empha-
size important spiritual truths. Ma
omi went out full from the pres
nee of the Lord and was brought
back. empty. Ruth was found by
God empty and was brought into His
land and filled. Naomi did not hun
ger after God and was content to
abide in a heather land away from
her God. Ruth, a daughter of Moab,
learned of the true God, and was not