Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-08-04

nose into the thing before him, ~
and by the very Roadway OF success, the
very stress of competition, IS 1ouno 70 De
using up all his strength, Soon ms prayers
FOR them and feels less and less need TOR
them. When his days and nights at the
Office are through with, he recuperates his
tired energies at the club, where he can
still with the waning nerve power taik
over the course Of the market-or else ne
which will enable him to keep his place IN
Caesars kingdom.
He does not mean at first to renounce
his obligation to God. For some time he
paws it in the worthless currency OF good
Intentions and g~ood-humored apologies. BY
and by even these are omitted, and ne ~and
his friends begin to justify the derellctlon
to God on the score Of the increasing
claims of Caesar. This laxity on the part
of men and women to-day II giving. back
to God the things that are Gods is simply
;Dpalling in view of Gods unrivalled gifts
and blessings to us. If it be true that Ito
whom much is given Of him shall much be
required and that judgment will ever be-
gin at the house of God with the privl1-
as stand we shall, before the Son OF Man?
Eye cannot serve God and mammon."
Christ Jesus does not block the way OF
our paying our just debt to Caesar, but
He does warn us with the utmost plain
ness not to give Caesar everything.
If we allow "the huge mundane machine.
to run over our souls, like some car of
Juggernaut, crushing ost our religious free
dom and initiative, we shall be horribly
fattened in our manhood, our sympathies,
our ideals, our conceptions OF HE. The
results may not appear fully Tor a while,
but in the end there will be experienced
an impoverishment, an atrophy, a sinister,
manned and crippled growth which Will
make us unfit for our citizenship IN the
in beginning his Epistle to the Romans
that is. to the people who then lived at
the capital city Of Caesars realm-accounts
in the following words for the sin and
misery, the failure and decadence of heath
endom: He tells them that when they
knew God, they g%lorified Him not as God,
neither were thankful; Processing them
changed His truth into a lie, and wor-
SHIPPED and served the creature more than
the Creator, who is blessed forever" 1t
was an awful blunder. No greater could be
made by any man or people. They made
the world they lived in their god, their
only god, and worshiped and served it
with their whole hearts. They worshiped
power, knowledge, pleasure, wealth, force,
passion, art. They lived for these things
uHtH lucy lducleu tndt THESE WeIS JIG
only things to live for. We know the re-
suit. As they rejected Him, so God re-
jected them AS a punishment He gave
them over to moral corruption, to an
abandoned mind, to a fostering decadence.
"And men crowded around and strove
for place and food, and the strong beat
down the weak, and the rich were gorged
strife and cruelty filled the earth with
violence" That was happening at the
very moment Christ spoke these tremen-
dous words: "Render to God the things
which are Gods" This is the sort of
heathenism which exists everywhere on
this earth where it is not persistently
kept down by the spirit of Jesus Christ.
IL God the things that are God's!" "To
God the things hat are God's!" Let that
cry haunt you until it compels you to pay
your debt. 1--we the courage to look on
the one hand at what you are giving to the
world represented by Caesar. and on the
other at what you are actually giving to
God. Is God missing His rights? Is your
duty to Him threatened by the power
n pomp of this massive earth? All! then
be all the more careful that your debt to
heaven is paid. By the blood of the Cruel
fed. give back to God what really belongs
victions,. your spiritual reality, your eterna.
being-all these to God, for they are His
Believe Him when He tells you that al
else that we ee.and handle is but a shadow
that passeth away. Aye, trust Him wher
He pledges you His help whenever yor
sincerely want to follow Him, and prom
ises never to leave you to struggle on by
yourself. Through Him who condescendec
to make His home in our hearts, who by
His spirit "helpeth our infrmities," let III
make such offering to God as yet we can
Give God, through Jesus Christ, YOU
Saviour, first Of all yourself. He will &C
cept nothing IN the stead Of you. Do no
clutch the portion of goods that falleth t,
you and try to nave them all to yoursel
in some far country, where you shall neve
hear the Fathers voice or see His face
but whatever you do have from Him
whether more or less, try to enjoy it as
child in your Fathers house,. under tn
constant benediction of His smile. In tn
face of this tremendous pressure of earth
which bears Down so heavily upon ever,
soul, resolve manfully that you will no
yield; that the great and first command
ment Of Christ, "Thou shalt love the Lor,
thy Cod shall be kept. Render unit
Caesar the things that are Caesars, an
unto Col the things that are Gods"