The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-09-30
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
an ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
REWARDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS"

| The Rev. DIR. n. McGee Waters Says ThNt
ifYou Would Attain Earthly Prosperity
Christ Must BE Your Teacher The
True Prescription For All Scholarship.
BROOKLYN, n. Y-Dr. n. MCGEE Wa
ters, pastor of the Tompkins Avenue Con-
feGa5.olal Church, took as hls subject
! Sunday morning, Rewards of Righteous
| ness" His text was from Matthew vi:
! 80: "Seel, We frs5 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 prophesed
it in a republic yet to be. Bunyan, after
weary pilgrimage, found it beyond the
! Detachable Mountains. Bacon saw it IN
Atlantis rising out of the midst of an I'M
sailed sea. 1t Is always afar off 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 a long time
men went hui cry, and 10! there was al
ways plenty in the ground-when they
with har, est" They priced diamonds,
and 10! they were always in the river beds
for the finding. They shivered for warmth,
and loi 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, ''I.et us have
better government and better wage, and
we will have the Kingdom of God; let us
toll and hoard mountain of gold, and
when our barns are filled we will have the
Kingdom Of 1od. Let us search after
knowledge, nd when we are wise we will
have the Kingdom of God. Let us trade
our strength for popularity and reputation,
when with the laurel we have bound our
brow we shall be blessed"
Jesus says just the opposite: "Seel1 the
Kingdom of God and you will have no la
Dor problem, for you will have IN increased
wage, seek the Kingdom of God, and you
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 eff 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 viii have all
these things"
When will we believe the teachings of
Jesus? He was ahead Of Fis time. We
are growing up to Him, to 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 YVES too hard for
His aCn Rut fin,o tba rYoo+ toe+or
nounces it pure gold. The wise man every
where sees the exceeding reward of meek
ness. They get who forget
Jesus said to HIS disciples: "It 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, Seek first the Kingdom of Cod"
ETC., is one OF those sayings that we have
to grow up to. Generally men have read
it in some mystical way. They have re-
garded it as true only in some peculiar re-
lig,ous sense. But it is literal fact it is
truth; it is law of the universe. Virtue
IS the road to fame. Goodness 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 1
will tell you what you will be- You love
knowledge with passion-the Greek did
and ne became a scholar; you 10 8 pow
er-the Roman did and Rome is yet law
giyer for the nations; you love beauty
John Keats did and he became 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 won? According to
Jesus. by deep hearted search after the
Kingdom of God
Wealth-the laws of wealth are the laws
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
tight roof that keeps out the rain and
good pump that yields sweet waters, and
horses, or a locomotive to cross the land
and 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 VI Opd uIesseu 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.
Again, how 40 we get wealth? There
are three possible ways. A man may beg
it, he may steal it, or man may earn it,
But neither pauper nor beggar increases
the wealth of the community. Only by
the laws of industry and vision can We in.
crease wealt4.. But the laws of labor and
vision are the laws Of the Kingdom of God.
Barbarism hoi been, with its poverty, de-
fined as Society without the command.