Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1905-11-03


meek and lowly in heart; and We shall
md rest unto your souls. For my
yoke Is easy, and my burden is light"
SPIRITUAL SELF E-MEASUREMEN
KEY c. b. r. HaLIock. ID. D., Rochester, N, Y.
And in the mans hand a measuring
reed. ed.'-Ezekiel, 40: 5.
In this chapter we have an account
of EzekieIs vision of temple and
city. The vision seems to have been
intended to encourage the captive
Jews in Babylon that they should re-
turn to their own land, and there build
a new temple which God would own
and where He would meet them and
Dless them. 1t seems also intended TO
direct them to look further than this
ana to expect the coming of the Mes
siah, who should set up spiritual
temple, even the Gospel church, the
glory of which should continue to the
end Of time. The dimensions of this
temple and the several parts of it are
taken by man with a line of flax
and measuring reed, or rod. The
size of this visionary temple is so
great as to plainly intimate that what
Ezekiel saw is not to be taken literal
", but is to be understood Ia a spirit
ual sense.
But 1t is not our purpose to describe
the vision or to try to interpret it. In
stead, we wish to apply the. thought of
the man with the measuring rod in a
spiritual way. We wish to have it sug-
gest to us the duty of spiritual self
measurement God sends to us the
man with the measuring reed. The |
Bible intimates very plainly that our
thoughts and words and actions are
continually subject to Divine testing.
and most of us have consciousness |
that we are weighed in the balance
and found wanting. But we often
times forget our duty of coming up TO
the Divine standard. We are guilty
OF discounting our duty, of trying to
pass Off fifteen ounces to the pound.
or thirty-five inches to the yard. in
character weight, or character meas
urement, among our fellow men, for
getting that God sees us all the while
and measures us by an absolutely re-
liable and unvarying standard.
If God measures us then we ought
to measure ourselves. We ought to
learn so far as we can what is his
and then measure ourselves
by 1t. 1t would save us many hours
Of remorse and self-reproach if we
would remember the measuring man
and keep our lives up to his ideal 1t [
would save us from many hours of re-
morse and self-reproach If we would
exercise ourselves more constantly in
the duty of measuring ourselves.
All around are men working in the
sand. With many it is not a summer J.,
only, but a whole lifetime written I'm !
nothing more substantial than the l
sand. What kind of work am
doing? How substantial is it? How
much of it is going to remain? God q
wants us to do abiding work, work
that will stand the test of time. of tide.
,f fire-work that shall remain.
christ said to His disciples: 81 have 4
chosen you. and ordained you, that We
should go and bring forth fruit. and
hat your fruit shall remain" What t
S my work like? Let me welcome c
again the man with the measuring /
'eed. Let me get about the duty of c
spiritual self-testing 1t will not harm c
ne, but will only make me more care. f
'ul, make me build better, If l stop c
o find out what sort of work | have e
'een doing. Am l building narrow or /
arge? Am l building of wood, hay q
md stubble, that the fire can so easily
lestroy, or am l building of stone? Is
my of my work of the kind that shall
emain? S
Let us have frequent interviews c
With the man with the measuring reed
md be willing to have our creed, our Il
haracter, our thoughts, our words, a
ur works constantly brought to the U
est of Gods standard. D