The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1905-04-04

| linen down on your knees at the mercy
seat, as an unloaded camel crawls
| through the needles eye, and thou
shalt have treasure in heaven and come
and follow me-" o man, today are
you ready to lay your open pocketbook
at the Masters feet as well as your
prayers?
The Needles Eye.
Personally l do not see how any one
can make any other Interpretation out
of this text. Some commentators de-
| clare that this passage of Scripture
MEANS IF any man trust in riches it
is as Impossible for him to enter the
kingdom Of God as for great, big,
4 huge, long necked, thick Tipped, hump
backed, crooked limbed camel to go
through the eye Of sewing girls
needle" Others assert that the Greek
word for camel" translated in broad
sense means a "cable rope" even as
the three English letters row on the
one hand might mean a row Of cab
bage heads in a vegetable garden and,
on the other hand, a barroom fight.
These latter two substantives are spelt
in the same way as the Greek word for
camel, which sometimes signifies sea
BILE rope" But I take the third inter-
probation of the commentators I take
| the third because to my mind as a
traveller in the east 1 think the door or
| the needles eye cut into one of the
great gates of Jerusalem and into the
great gates Of other eastern cities is the
only rational smile. With my own eyes
I have seen the needles eye, that very
door about which Mark says Christ
great, grunting, grooming camel being
pulled through on his Bonded knees.
All, see him tug at the rope and jerk
back his head. See him fight and bite
See in that symbol of the camel the
rich man struggling to hold on to and
to grip his gold, refusing to bend the
knee to Christ.
Merchant, is 1t not harder for you to
feel your dependence upon God now
since you have made financial sue
cess in life than s:'hen you were finan-
| cially poor? When as a poor farmers
boy you started for the great city to
make living you then felt your de-
| pendence upon God. There was no
doubt about it. You prayed hard the
! night before you left home that God
would care for you. In the railroad
train just entering the depot you put
your head upon your hand in the car
| seat and said: Lord, lead me. am
a hcn1 oil y hn7
me-" Do you make that prayer now?
With big bank account and home
! upon a fine boulevard and multitudes
Of friends, do you get down on your
| knees every day, like a camel going
| through the eye Of the needle, and say:
Lord, thou who dost feed the birds Of
| the air and clothe the lilies Of the field,
clothe and feed me, guide me, pro-
tect me. am helpless without thee"
| Do you make that prayer daily? Oh,
I rich man, rich In money, but poor in
| grace, down on your knees. Down on
your knees in supplication. Lift high
er today the throne Of God by bending
low over the lowest throne step. Down,
rich man! In the name of Jesus, down.
How to Get Through.
The needles eye of the Jerusalem
gate is~very low. I also find that it is
very narrow. Not only does the camel
have to bend his knee to get through
1t, but he also has to have his packs
| taken off his back. II this is not done
the camel, with it's distending loads
hanging upon it's sides like our grand
| fathers saddlebags on a horse, could
not get through the narrow door. The
rich man cannot get through the nee
dies eye OF the kingdom of God unless
| he stops carrying around with him lis
great packs OF meannesses and con-
tempHbilities and selfish actions, with
which often he is accustomed to deal
| with his fellow men. And yet how
hard it must be for a rich man to be
absolutely just and kind and truthful
| and forgiving to those whom he meets
in the ordinary walks of life. Indeed,
the more see Of rich men the more
feel that, as far as their dispositions
are concerned, they are in the unenvi-
able position Of those who were
brought up as an only child in fam
lily and have every temptation under
the sun to make them spoiled children
and spoiled men.
There was not very much chance Of
you and your brothers and sisters be-
coming mean and selfish when you
were young You were only one of
nine children. Your father was a
farmer. All the boys and all the girls
had to do their full share of work.
You not only had to divide the home
labors, but you also had to share your
toys and your pleasures with each 9th
er. If a box Of candy came into the
house you were not allowed to grab
handful, IF there were three crnllers
upon the table and six children you did
not have three or two or even one. You
only had a half Each child had as
much as you had, and you had as much
as the rest; no more, no less. When
you went off to the city school you
took turns and went of In patches.
You did not all go together. You wait
ed your turn and helped each other to
an education. You shared each others
bed. You halved each others sorrows.
You doubled each others joys. Oh,
feel sorry for the man or the woman
who did not have the blessed training