The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-07-27

his friends begin to Justify the derellction
to God on the score of the increasing
claims of Caesar. This laxty on the part
of men and women to-day IL giving back
to God the things that are Gods Is simply
appalling in view OF Gods unrivalled gifts
and blessings to us. II It be true that to
whom much is given of him shall much be
reouireh," and that judgment will ever be.
gin at the house OF God with the privil
eyed, what is to be said when we all stand
as stand we SHALL before the Son of Man?
"Ye cannot serve God and mammon." !"
Christ Jesus does not block the way Of
our paving our lust debt to Caesar, but
He does warn us with the utmost plain
ness not to give Caesar everything.
II we allow "the huge mundane machine"
to run over our souls, like some car Of
Juggernaut, crushing out our religious free
dom and initiative, we shall be horribly
hattened in our manhood, our sympathies,
our ideals, our conceptions Of life. The
results may not appear fully for a while
but in the end there will be experienced
an impoverishment, an atrophy, sinister,
manned and crippled growth which will
make us unfit for our citizenship in the
higher kingdom here or there. st. Paul,
in beginning his Epstle 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 glorifed Him not as God,
neither were thankful. Processing them.
selves to be wise, they became fools. They
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 worshped
power, knowledge, pleasure, wealth, force,
passion, art. They lived for these things
until they fancied that these were the
only things to live for. We know the re.
suit. As they rejected Him. so God re-
jected them. As 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
and the poor were sent empty away, and
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 persistentiy
kept down by the spirit of Jesus Christ
To God the things that are Gods" ''To
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
and 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
to Him! Your soul, your heart, your con.
being-all these to God, for they are His
Believe Him when He tells you that all
else that we see and handle is but shadow
that passeth away. Aye, trust Him when
He pledges you His help whenever you
sincerely want to follow Him, and prom
ises never to leave you to struggle on by
yourself. Through Him who condescended
to make His home in our hearts, who by
His spirit "helpeth our infirmities," let us
Give God, through Jesus Christ, your
Saviour, first of all yourself. He will ac
cept nothing in the stead of you. Do not
clutch the portion of goods that faleth tc
you and try to have them all to yourself
in some far country, where you shall never
hear the Fathers voice or see His face
but whatever you do have from Him
whether more or less, try to enjoy it as 9
child in your Fathers house, under the
constant benediction of His smile. In the
face of this tremendous pressure of earth
soul, resolve manfully that you will no
yield; that the great and first command
ment of Christ, "Thou shalt love the Lore
thy God shall be kept. Render untt
| Caesar the things that are Caesars, -
unto God the things that are Gods"