The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1905-12-13

Ine fatueT no more tnhn Tue sun, Wv
son no less than the father, exists Tor
that home. It Is this mutual instlnct
Of being supported and supporting
which makes us sing, There is no
place like home"
So here. again. the axiom Of the
| earthly relationship we call home IS
| true for the celestial relationship we
call religion. This is the extension oil
| the old Fifth Commandment IN re-
| lIgIon-"Love your enemies and pray
/, for them that persecute you; that ye
may be SONS of your Father VINO is III
heaven; for He maketh His sun to rise
on the evil and the good, ana sendetn
! rain on the lust and the unjust
Like God the Father, the Son must
hive n love that Is boundless, ungrudg-
| ing and gratuitous. The family, not
one favorite here and another there,
but all the members must receive Win
ont bias, be blessed without prejudice.
| be cared for without favoritisnl. Ihe
son must live 80 that no man can be
! poorer, no woman sadder, no child
more wretched for aught he has done
or left undone. He must live so that
| through his words and deeds men may
| see truth, reverence, purity. and pos
sess the means of happiness. and he
popularity; he must so live. though II
means Il curse, crown of thorns and
q cross.
And If we seek to know what that
means. what sonshlp involves. we go
! to Him who taught us to say "Our
Father" His life is just spent in go
| ing about doing good: He does so much
| for the imperfect. the defective, the
| degenerate, that He gets the nickname
| of 'frlend of publlcans and sinners
He never bears grudge. He never
| remembers an insult, He never seems
| to see anything in the men about Him
| but their need of the good things He
has TO give away. And He gives. gives
until when He comes to die He has
nothing worth gambling for but His
cloak-the one that was pure white,
woven without seam. That day. the
| day He died, the men He had lived
for led Him away like a lamb to the
slaughter. And while they We're max
| ing the wounds for Him to hang by He
prayed, Father, forgive them, they
know not what they do"
In the last place, it is serious thing
| TO believe in the Fatherhood of God,
because 1t means that Gods perfect
ness consists in His impartial love, and
love is the most awful thing in the
world. 1t has been said, BE afraid of
the love that loves you; it is either
your heaven or your hell. The lives of
men are never the same after they
| have let themselves be loved: If they
are not better they are worse. For this
| Is the mystery of love, its paradox
while it is the greatest thing in the
world it is the most helpless" For the
| ~ h,r child urttbonf thnupht of
the cost, q mother would give her
own life in exchange; and yet she must
stand at its death bed with helpless
hands when the heart spring unwnds
and the little life runs down. A father
would give his fortune, his blood to
keep his sons heart clean and white,
but all his paternal passion cannot
check that sons mad pace, If the boys
lust take the bit between his teeth
and drag him along the edge OF the
moral precipice. A son may leave
home: a despot might compel his sub
ject to come back, a father can only
wait, and watch and keep open the
door.
We shrink to apply all we know OF
the weakness of human love to the
divine. Yet it was through man the
Father made His love plain to MS. He
came, the Christ, to His own and they
received Him not. He loved His own,
loved them to the end, and yet at the
end they deserted Him, betrayed Him,
hung Him on a cross.
You remember the Tuesday before
The Friday when they nailed Him be.
.ween two thieves. He was standing
n the temple at Jerusalem. Did He
love that fair rebellious city? You
may never know how great was that
Iove. Could IIe save that imperilled
city? Jerusalem had bound loves
hands with Indifference so that He
could not reach out to rescue her; she
had tethered His feet with hate so that
He could only stand still and watch her
sinking into the gulf that Titus was to
dig. Stand close to the Christ rs He
speaks-you see He is draining love
bitterest cup; He is realizing loves
helplessness, sit is the wall of n heart
wounded because its love has been
lespisedr and 1t cannot avert the doom
which impends over those 1t loves
oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem! how often
would I have gathered thy children
rs hen gathered her chickens, and
We would not. Behold, your house is
left unto you desolate."
To sum up, It is n serious thing 70
believe in the Fatherhood Of God. be.
cause this belief involves sonship, and
sonship involves brotherhood, and
brotherhood involJes living for the
spirit behind things. for the higher
life, the eternal kind, on which death
lays no hand, on which the grave has
no claim.
For this higher life, in the Fathers
name l claim you. You have perfect
pattern of it in Jesus you have n per-
feet helper in Gods Spirit, which Ia
yours for the asking. You begin to
live the life by doing something for the
man next you just because God is his
Father and yours.
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