The Penn's Grove record., 1910-01-07

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ambitionless man will land. He will
surely go to the wall, and he deserves
to. Whatever our life undertaking
may be, whether a business or pro-
fessional career, 1t is unreasonable to
expect profit, success, unless we put
our whole personality into that under
taking. There are a host of people
hanging on the first rung of the lad
der, and they will stay there; because
they have not cultivated Gods gift to
them. But there are comparatively
only a few On the topmost rung, and
they are there because they have kept
stirring the fame of ambition that
vas within them. You cannot keep
back an ambitious man any more than
| you can impoverish the ocean. But
when any man approaches a task
half equipped or takes in hand an
undertaking as If he were afraid of
it, he must inevitably meet with de-
feat. 1 know that life has it's strug-
giles, for l have tasted of them, and
thank God that / have, that l may
more deeply sympathize with those in
the pew. But l also know that if we
keep aglow on the altar of our hearts
the fame of ambition, struggle will
enlarge and brighten the fire rather
than have a tendency to extinguish
it. Let me emphasize the fact that
there is no substitute for ambition.
Sometimes people will thrust one in
its place, but it always proves a
failure. Religion will never accom-
plish what ambition should, and I'M
bition will never bring about what re-
ligion should. They each perform a
particular and different function in
life. When a man thinks that in EN-
bracing religion he receives the title
to success in his commercial or pro-
fessional undertaking he is deceiving
himself. One may be truly religious
and yet ambitionless, and on the
| other hand one may be intensely am
bilious, and yet void of religion. OF
course an ideal life should have the
two, but we must not place them in
their wrong sphere, as seems the
tendency at times. If then it is i'm
possible to substitute ambition, and
we fail to cultivate this God-given
gift, it is almost hopeless in this
world of enterprise to expect any re-
suit, to secure any profit. Provided,
however, that a man keeps aglow this
inward fame he will bring the sue
cess of his undertaking nearer and
nearer within reach, until at last it is
in his POSSESSION. Profit is what he
looks for and what he secures
through the channel of ambition.
There is not the slightest element of
depravity here. Then pray, why did
our Lord ask of His disciples and the
people this seaching and important
question, what shall it profit a man
If he shall gain the who'd world and
lose his own sou1?" Peter had given
the reason for the question almost a
moment before, for Christ had
uttered the singing rebuke to him,
Get thee behind Me, Satan; for thou
~savorest not the things that be of
| God, but the things that be of men,"
Peter allowed his ambition to rush
him headlong into placing earthly dis
tinction before devotion to his Mas
ter. And this has been the tendency
of human nature ever since. When a
man puts his money making in the
place of loyalty to Jesus Christ, when
the summit of achievement eclipses
the position of the Saviour in the in
dividual life, or when a man wins
fame of any kind at the expense of
personal religion, ambition-God's
great gift, has been distorted, and
been a destroyer instead of a con-
%structor. Should a man make money,
should he achieve, should he gain
fame? Yes, these are the goal Of am
bition. The more one makes, the
more one achieves, the wider the
fame, the more is the ambition
stirred, and because of this restless
ness of the ruling power within, does
our Lord bring His searching ques-
ton to us, emphasizing the danger
that we are in. In substance the Saw
Jour says, Whatever world your am
bition has for it's goal, if it should
reach the impossible position-the
gaining of the whole of that world, at
the expense of the soul, or as st. Luke
puts it, the loss of the self, what are
you proited? Here, then, is the SUI
preme thought of the text. You can
gain and lose at the same time, para
doxical as it may seem. You can so
allow your ambition to lead you in the
quest for fortune, or achievement, or
fame, that you pay dearly for these
things, for you have sacrificed your
own soul-your self. We might de-
scribe this as a process of building up
with one hand and pulling down with
the other. What then is the remedy
you ask me? Am I to give up the en-
terprises that are interesting me to-
day? Am l to extinguish the fire of
my ambition? If I gain must l lose?
Not necessarily so. The whole trou-
Bile is, that you have not given Jesus
Christ-the questioner, the right po-
sition in your life. You have left Him
out of your ambitious schemes. You
are reluctant to allow Him to be a
silent listener in your Office. You
have given Him no place in your
thought. You have treated Him as
a servant, rather than as your Lord
and Master. When such is the case
your gaining is losing. While your
ambition is all alive and you are
reaching the goal of earthly distinc-
ton or earthly possessions, your own
manhood-your soul-your self is
being sapped to satisfy your restless
thirst. The things of the world and
the soul of man are here in conflict,
and from whatever standpoint you
look at it, it resolves itself into a los
ing game. Unfortunately, however,
we play the game, we live life, before
we realize the severity of the loss.
The association of our Lord with His
| disciples was rapidly drawing to a
close. He had already begun to speak
of His c~rucifxion, but before the end
He puts to them the question of our
text. And in spirit has not the same
question again and again been put to
us when men are about to pass from
life's scene, men whom the world has
called great, men who have built up
colossal fortunes OF have won great
fame? Yes, they will invariably hold
before us as the most priceless treas
ure, not the following of their ex-
ample, but rather the safeguarding
and cultivating of the soul-the de-
veloping of the self. There can be
no conflict between the goal OF a
mans ambition and his soul when the
| cultivation of the soul is put on the
highest plane of life. This is its
rightful position, and once dethrone
it. and you give creation to antag-
onism. Ambition must still play its
part in the life, but it will be a sec