Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1904-09-01
IAN ADVANCE ORDERED"
A Bright Sunday Sermon By Rev. Dr.
John E. Adams.
Tells Of the Law Of Progress as Exemplltled
10 the Waxing Strong Of the lnfant

80: "Seek We first the kingdom of God
and His Righteousness, and all these things
shall be added unto you" DR.. Waters
said in the course of his excellent sermon:
From the beginning until now mans
search has been for the golden age. Some
times he named it the Golden Fleece;
sometimes Holy Grail. Plato prophesied
a weary pilgrimage, found it beyond the
Delectable Mountains Bacon saw 1t in
Atlantis, rising out of the midst of an I'M
sailed sea- 1t is always afar Oft and in the
future. Like the pot of gold at the foot
of the rainbow, it is always over the next
hill.
Jesus also prophesied a golden, age,
called it "the Kingdom of God" and found
it in the present time; For long time
ways plenty in the ground-when they
Scratched the earth 18th a hoe it laughed
with har> est" They priced diamonds,
and 10! they were always in the river beds
for the finding They shivered for warmth,
and 10! coal was stored under the hills
They longed for some pack horse, and 10!
giants were chained in every flowing riv-
er. They were always looking for the
golden age. Jesus said: Look within
the Kingdom OF God is within you"
Men are always expecting the Kingdom
of God to come through some device of
their making. They cry, LET lis have
better government and better wage, and
we will have the Kingdom of God; let us
toll and hoard a mountain of gold, and
when our barns are filed we will have the
Kingdom of Tod. Let us search after
knowledge, nd when we are wise we will
have the Kingdom of God. Let us trade
our strength for popularity aud reputation,
when with the laurel we have bound our
brow we shall be blessed"
Jesus says just the opposite: "Seek the
Kingdom of God and you will have no la.
Dor problem, for you will have n increased
wage; seek the Kingdom of God, and you
will find wealth; seek the Kingdom of
God. and you will be enrolled among the
children of Immortality" Men say, Let
us get rich and we will be content" ,Je-
sus says, BE content, and YOU will be
rich" Nc. say, Let us get wisdom, and
we will be happy" Jesus says. BE hap.
py and you will be wise. Men say, "If we
can gain all these things, like houses and
lands, we will be the children of the King
dom of God" Jesus says, Enter into the
Kingdom of God, and you Will have all
these things"
When will we believe the teachings of
Jesus? He was ahead of F's time. We
are growing up to Him, 20 understand Him
better than early generations Ever say.
ing of His we find true as law and fact.
Take that saying of His, THE meek shall
inherit the EARTH 1t was too hard for
His age. But time, the great tester, pro-
nounces it pure gold. The wise man every.
where sees the exceeding reward of meek.
ness. They get who forget.
Jesus sad to His disciples: at is ex-
pedient for you that | go away" They
could not believe that then. But when
long time hath passed we know that really
death is benefit and that great men are
never so valuable to their disciples as after
they have gone away from the earth. The
text, "Seck first the Kingdom of Cod"
etc, is one of those sayings that we have
to grow up to. Generally men have read
it i'll some mystical way. They have re-
gardcd it as true only in some peculiar re-
lgous sense. But it is literal fact; it is
truth; it is law of the universe. Virtue
Is the road to fame. Golliness is profit
able in this world.
"And all these things shall be added"
What things? Christ has just named
them-food and clothes and the material
prizes for which men strive. Men are
swayed by motives as trees are by the
winds. Tell me what You most love and
will tell you what you will be. You love
knowledge with passlon-the Greek did
and he became q. scholar; you love pow
er-the Roman did and Rome is yet law
giver for the nations; you love beauty
John Keats did and he became a poet.
Among the motives that sway mems daily
lives, we may put first these three--the
pursuit of wealth, the gaining of knowl-
edge and the winning of fame. How can
these things best be won9 According to
Jesus by a deep hearted search after the
Kingdom of God.
Wcath-the laws of wealth are the lays
of righteousness. Knowledge-the king.
dom of knowledge is the Kingdom of God.
Fame-"the Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous, but the ways of the wicked
shall rot"
Let us look at the world of wealth. The
savage has no prosperity; it is only the
civilized man who grows rich. What is
wealth? Emerson tells us 1t begins with
a tight roof that keeps out the rain and
good pump that yields sweet waters and
horses, or locomotive to cross the land,
and a boat to cross the sea" But whence
come the roof and the pump and the ship
and the locomotive? Man did not invent
them; he only discovered them. They are
the laws of God dressed up in clothes of
wood and steel and stone The laws of
wealth are the laws of righteousness Men
go toward prosperity as they find the laws
of God.
are three possible ways. A man NAV beg
But neither pauper nor beggar increases
the wealth of the community. Only by
the laws of industry and vision can we in
crease wealth. But the laws of labor and
vision are the laws of the Kingdom of God.
Barbarism has been, with its poverty, de-
fined as society without the command
ments." Contrariwise,. then, civilization,
and bonds is society with the command
ments. Violation of the laws of God in
every age means bankruptcy. Obedience
to the laws of God in every age makes for
prosperity. History writes down the tale
of empires. When she writes down "Py.
ramids" and 'Parthenon" and Hanging
Gardens she expresses their desolation
by saying over their ruins, These people
forgot God, aid hence their waste places"
Commerce" "Shipyards,' Temple" Iii
brary,pp and expresses heir glory by say
ing, These have remembered God-hence
their prosperity"
The Bible pronounces "Anathema"
against those who make haste to get
rich'-that is, they who, despising the laws
OF God, take a short cut to prosperity.
Their wealth l. poverty; their gain is loss.
The mistress who holds back the just
wage from the maid; the borrower who re-
fuses to return to the lender; the govern
ment that debases its people with debased
coin, may temporarily gain; but such
wealth destroys the possessor and is like
the wrecker's handful of coin, cleaned from
the beach to which he has beguiled an
argosy; is like the camp followers bun.
die of rags ltolen from the breast of men
slain in battle; it like the coin of Judas
only blood money paid to buy a potter's
field wherein liberty and justice and pros.
perity shall at last be buried IN the grave
of dishonor. Way back in the Old Tesla.
ment we have Moses saying: "Thou shalt
not have diverse measures in thy sane
tuary" The words call up for us a scene
from that far off time. There are booths
wheat and bottles Of oil and silks and
,loths, and the merchan. has two sets OF
scalcs-one scale; with large pan, in