Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-04

the JUST ana the pure tHdt are III t'Ae
world those 0 Lord, are my delight
"There Is no better way for man 10
measure himself than the opportunity
that presents itself to you and to me
when We find ourselves in some great
city All restraints are removed. We
realize. as never before. what freedom
means. Saloon and dance hall, cathedral
and church. theater and hospital-eVery-
thing is thrown wide open to the free
soul, and we are almost staggered by
what it means to be free men and
women. There is no better test that
comes to you and to me than the tesI
that comes to us in the use we make OF
ourselves at such . time as that JUDAS
went to his own place and every man
goes to his place. and it is terrible reVe-
lation to us sometimes when We find out
the kind of a place that Is congenlal 10
us when the world is not looking at us.
The power of attracting. and the power
Of being attracted: the sense Of unuttef-
able joy that we find in being about our
Fathers buSineSS-theSe are some OF the
marks of the Christ within us.
But there is one that overpasseS ana
overluarks them ALL which is the dlstin-
gushing mark of the Christ spirit in the
man. It is the JOY he feels i'll daily lay
ing down his life for others
The law of the physical body seems to
be the struggle for existence. The law of
our spiritual life supplements that and is
the law of the struggle for the existence
of others. No longer concerned with our
own salvation. but immensely concerned
with the uplift and the perfection OF
others. This is the meaning. undoubt-
eddy. OF that profound paradox Of the
Master when He says, If any man would
save his life, let him lose it. 1t IS true.
if any man shall lose his life. risk his
life adventure his life. for His sake and
for the Gospels. he shall save it. The
Christ spirit must suffer. must lay Itself
down, must shed its tears when in Jeru-
salem, must share its life with others.
and realize that ii came. not to be min
istered unto. but TO minister and to give
it's life to a continuous process of redemp
ton for all who need II.
and does one ask why all this is so
interesting and might be of value if one
were ready for it, but is it not. after all,
an unreal thing? Does religion under
take to do this? Was not Paul indulg-
ing simply in some OF his fiery and trop-
ical rhetoric when he said that his one
concern was that Christ should be
formed in peoples minds: that the i'm
maculate conception should be to them a
reality? Is it not after all, overdone? Is
it possible for YOU and me in any way to
touch this larger life. to call into our
lives this heavenly pattern which was in
the beginning with God, In accordance
with which all things were made. and
without which nothing in the world WIS
made? If that is impossible then religion
is without vocation. and the sooner it
discovers it the better for all concerned.
If Cnlv chosen souls have the spiritual
germ in them, if it is only the wise who
are the sons of God, then the heavenly
family is small.
X ;;
~ il is only the good who people
heaven, Their it is a solitary place. No,
Paul says until Christ be formed in you,
you body of people who have broken
away from pagan traditions. whom I
have urged to keep all that is good in
it. l am laborng with you until in every
one OF you this 1ogos' shall become in
carnated again. And religion sys+ema-
tizeS this. SO 10 speak, to bring about
this very result.
Time permits only the mention Of two
things which our religion from the first
has urged AS the condition upon which
this Christ life shall come into dominance
in our life. The first condition is that of
faith. We shall see how much that means
for instance. when we take 1t in our home
life. Your child comes to You and says.
Mother, it is 50 happy and so joyful to
be ten years Of age; I do not like to grow
any older. | want to be as I am forever.
But the mother says To herself (she does
not say it to the child, L know that all
growth brings with it pain. but l also
know that growth is the law of life. and I
have faith that womanhood will he more
to the child than childhood has been The
same thing comes in spiritual develop
ment. We say to ourselves we are so
busy with learning, we are so preoccu-
pied with buSineSS-is not this the whole
of life? Is not this life itself? But i'm
some rare moment an experience comes
to you that shows you that these things
have no power OF satisfaction In them
selves at all: that at best they are only
means to an end.
1T was George Macdonald. you remem-
Der, who makes one of his characters say
to a young woman. want you to be as
good and as beautiful as God meant you
to be when He first thought of YOU That
is the supreme test Of a man. How far
does his business and his education help
him to body forth in his everyday life
that idea of a Christ. that 'logos which
was in the beginning with God, so that
now it could take flesh, pitch its tent on
the earth and reflect something of the
grace and reality of its source? That is
religion. Religion says by faith, by real
iZing that this is all nominated in the
bond. that this is a part of our nature
that though life at thirty. forty or fifty
years may seem to be complete with its
joys and satisfactions SO overpowering
that they may seem to be all, yet there is
more to come. A man who has not
tasted the joy OF a continuous current of
consciousness of being a child of God.
speaking from the religious point. has not
as vet reached his maturity.
Il wish TO read just one or two sem
fences from one of the greatest physicians
we have. DR.. Isadore koreat. He Is not
preaching, he is simply speaking about