Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-02-25
Daturday Digit
0Ek q By Rev. F. E. DAWSON
/UEEaS Rutland, VT.
oIsOfO+o4osO*o..Ci,OhC4O.OtO.
CITIZENS AND ALIENS
OF THE KINGDOM.
international Bible Lesson for Feb.
27, '10-(Matt. 7:13-29.)

| thoSe who speak It's language, support
| it's institutions, love it's government
| follow it's flag. They sing, "My Coun-
| try 'Tis of Thee" They rear their
homes, and educate their children,
| and invest their money, in the land
of their nativity. They were Graded in
their fatherland and they expect to
be buried among their kindred in the
land they call home.
But in every nation there are to be
found class of people who are aliens
and foreigners. They confess that they
are strangers. They are far from
home. For the purpose of trade or
the enjoyment of travel or for educa-
tional purposes they sojourn for a
time among those in whom they are
interested, but they do not owe allegi-
ance to the government, they do not
invest their money, they do not take
upon themselves any obligations they
hold themselves ready 10 pack up and
depart at a moments notice, they eX-
pect to return to their own land soon
er or later. They live side by side
with the citizens of the country, but
the difference in the world between
them.
So it is with the Kingdom of Heav-
en-. There are citizens of that King
dom, and there are those who are
aliens and foreigners to it. The apos-
tie writing to certain class of peo-
pie said, Now therefore, ye are no
~ trnn 1N,,t
fellow citizens with the saints, and
are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets" And Christ
in our lesson to-day says, by their
fruits ye shall know them. Not every
one that saith unto me o!d, Lord,
shall enter into the Kingdom of Hoav-
en-; but he that doeth the will OF my
father which is in heaven.
Church Net the Kingdom.
1t Is evident therefore that the
church is not the Kingdom of Heaven.
Church membership may be the same
thing as citizenship and it may rot.
All church members are supposed to
be natives Of the kingdom. but their
fruits show that oftentimes they
are only aliens masquerading unEer
the guise of citizenship for some pcr.
sonal reason. A life insurance agent
Joined the church in a certain place,
and when he had succeeded in writing
insurance policies for the most Of the
brethren he suddenly had change of
heart that took him off in another di.
rection. He came in evidently in or.
der to shear the sheep. Church mem.
bership will never save anybody.
Creeds may be subscribed to, comics.
sions of faith may be accepted, the
pew may never be vacant in the
hot sc of God, and yet the individual
be an utter stranger and foreigner to
the commonwealth of Israel
InfaIlible Tests.
There are two infa!lible tests of
citizenship. The first test is charac.
ter fruit. The test of all religious
teaching is its practical result in the
lives Of those that receive it. The
answer to modern eulogists of Bud.
dhism and Confucianism is India and
China; the answer to Mohammedan-
ism Is Turkey. When men sneer at
Puritanism point them to New Eng
land; when they claim that pure rea-
son" is all that is necessary show
them the Bible trodden under foot in
Paris.
The Fruit Test.
And what is true in general is true
in particular Men do not gather
grapes of thorns or figs from thistes.
The tree that processes to be an or
ange tree must bear oranges AS
tree it may be beautiful, broad
branched, full of leaves, and birds,
and blossoms but If it bears crab ap-
pies instead of oranges it Is a fraud
in the genealogical realm. In other
words, men are known by what they
are rather than by what they say they
are. A real professor of religion on
the outside of the fence of the church
is of more value to the world, so far
as fruit goes than a sham professor
of religion inside the fence OF the
church. And that is not saying any
thing against the church fJr without
doubt the vast majority of real genu-
inc Christian fruit trees are within
it's gates And all of them ought to be.
Nevertheless, fruit is fruit wherever
you find 1t, and you sometimes come
upon 1t in unexpected places. All such
do the will of God.
The Foundation Test.
Another test is the foundation upon
which men build personal character.
Christ said, "These saying of mine"
are rock foundation, and all other
ground is sinking sand. The matter
resolves itself into a selection of gran
ite or gravel, on the rock or on the
sand. Everything depends upon the
kind of foundation you erect your
soul structure upon, and the material
you incorporate into the building. For
faith makes a Christian, life proves
Christian and trials confirm a Chris
tian. The providential Affections of
hn To -