Evening journal., 1905-11-20

lOiu Jesus.
"'Then, in that case. / must with
draw my promise to pray for you.
What? DO you mean you will not
pray for me?'
Exactly that. For l cannot pray
for Gods blessing upon an act Of sinful
disobedience.'
Z did not know you could be so
unkind.'
My dear sister, I am kind in my un-
kindness. DO you think 1 ought to ad-
wise you to disobey God?'
No, but 1 hoped my husband would
become a Christian after we were mar
ried.'
"'Wel he probably would not. 1t
is much more likely that he would drag
you down to his level. And besides,
God never told you to marry man
in order to convert him. His word to
you is "Be ye not unequally yoked to-
gether with an unbeliever'"
"And the testimony of that pastor is
that the young woman decided then
iand there to obey God, be the cost
what it might Would to God that there
were more such faithful shepherding in
Gods little flockl Il might then be
that the flock woule not be so scatter
ed as it is today, so entangled in the
thickets of the world that it seems WE'LL
nigh impossible to extricate it.
Speaking for myself, and without
lpresuming TO judge my brother pastors,
I cannot see the consistency with the
Word Of God. of the minister's act i'm
performing the ceremony, where one OF
the parties to the marriage is a believer
and the other an unbeiever. If il be
wrong for the believer TO put on the
unequal yoke, il must inevitably follow
that it is also wrong for me 10 help him
lput it on.
"As for divorce, the New Testament
seems to sanction the separation Of hus-
band and wife under certain circum-
stances, though never with the privilege
of remarriage for either party while the
other is living. Moses provision in
Deuteronomy q does not obtain in this
dispensation. and now we have returned
to first principles-'WhatG God hath joined
together, let not man put asunder.' The
whole matter may be summed up I'm our
Lords words in Mark 1O1112: 'Whosoever
shall put away his wife, and marry an
other, committeth adultery against her;
and if she herself shall put away her hus-
band, and marry another. she oommitteth
adultery.
1T is fitting that the little children
should be brought into the picture just
here, while the home and family rela-
tionships are in view. Then were there
brought unto Him little children. that He
should lay His hands on them, and pray;
and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus
said suffer the little children, and for
bid them not to come unto Me; for Of
such is the Kingdom Of Heaven" And He
laid His hands on them, and departed
thence vs. 1s-l5) This beautiful little
passage has been made 10 do duty as an
argument for infant baptism. OF course
there is not even the remotest suggestion
Of such a thing in the passage; nor, in
deed. is there any such suggestion in the
whole Bible. The position Of little children
. in Gods sight was fully discussed in our
study of the eighteenth chapter.
..In verses 16 to q there is the stoTy OF
, the rich young man-LulSe calls him a
ruler-who came to Jesus and said; Good
, Master what good thing shall do, that
= may have eternal llfeT ". 49, This
young man is on the ground of the Law;
3 he is seeking life by doing. The Divine
: Teacher met him on his own ground, In
r order to use the Law as schoolmaster
to bring this man to Himself, that he
b might be justified, not by works, but by
faith. why callest thou Me good? There
is none good but One. that is, Cod II
Jesus was not divine-if He was not God
in the fiesh-then He was not good. In the
absolute sense. only God is good. But =
, thou wilt enter into life, keep the COM
/ mandments.' ". IL We do well to follow
closely here, lest we err in supposing that
Jesus is really teaching salvation through
r the Law. Rather. He is seeking to show
l by means of the Law, how helpless the
! young man Is to obtain life that way. BY
t the Law shall no flesh be justified, but by
2 the Law is the knowledge of sin. There
Y fore He said, keep the commandments.
He saith unto Him, which, And
Jesus said, "Thou shalt not kill Thou
a shalt not commit adultery Thou shalt not
steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness
Honor thy father and thy mother; and
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. y
. The young man saith unto Him, "Al
. these things have / observed; what lack
! / yetg (vs. 1S-2O)
Z 1T is plain that this young ruler In
4 Israel was deceived concerning his own
4 condition. Here he is actually claiming ia
= have fulfilled the whole Law, at least IN
s the second table of It. All his life long
y according to his own view of it, he had
loved his neighbor as himsefv He must
$ be awakened out of his self-satisfactior
. and shown that he at this moment loves
\ himself much better than his neghbor
z Therefore Jesus said unto him. II thou
wouldst be perfect. so. sell that thou
: hast and give to the poor. and thou shalt
: have treasure in heaven; and come, follow
\ me. But when the young man heard the
. saying. he went away sorrowful; for ht
A. was one that had great possessions (vs
r 1.22) There is a tradition that this young
o man was Lazarus OF Bethany. who after.
ward became a devoted disciple ant
= whom Jesus brought back from the grave
= We may not know as to the truth of the
d story, but it is surely to be hoped thai
. the Law Of Works did its work perfectly
e as a ministration of condemnation and
p death, and then led him back TO Jesus
: through Whom alone he could enter into
l. life by means Of the righteousness which
!. !. is by faith
! ! PREPARE |