Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-08-03

HoN tHc Knew u put HIS
finger on the sore spot. The young
man had comet OHM very boastful.
very sure that if any one in the world
was seeking to be in harmony with the
Divine arrangement he was that one
He came to the Masters approval, that
he might hear him say, You are the
one exception to the rule" The Lord
did not say, IF you love your neigh
Dor as you love yourself you will at
least put forth an effort to make that
neighbor as comfortable as you desire
to be comfortable" He was content
to be very rich while some of his
neighbors whom he thought he loved
as he loved himself were very poor
abjectly. sorrowfully so. When
Jesus discovered to him the difficulty
of his situation. he grasped it at once.
He saw himself as never before. 1t
became new test with him. Thus it
is with all. A previous lesson showed
us the Kingdom as great prize.
pearl of great value, a treasure, which
to possess, will cost all that we have;
and this lesson points out the same
fact
Let us not make the mistake made
by some, and suppose that the young
man who lived so honorable life and
failed to gain heaven, would be thrust
down into eternal torment because he
did not sacrifice his all to become the
Lords disciple. His loss of the King
dom was a sufficient penalty without
suffering eternal torment in the future.
Such members of the human family.
under the blessed conditions of the
;,I NIL &C
make very rapid progress and will OBJ
tain eternal life on the plane of hu-
man perfection. though not worthy of
the Kingdom honors which belong only
to the elect. And the elect are those
only who are gladly sacrificing their
lives and their all to gain the great
prize.
Our Lord commented upon the mat
ter to his disciples and added that the
rich must have great difficulty in con-
nection with their endeavor to enter
the Kingdom. He said. sympathetic
cally. rather than in denunciatory
manner, 1T is easier for camel to go
| through the needles eye than for the
rich to enter the kingdom of Cod"
This astonished the disciples very
greatly: for they knew that the ma
jority of the religionists of their day
belonged to the wealthy class, the
Scribes and the Pharisees. They re-
piled. who then can get into the
Kingdom, if these cannot?" Our
Lords reply was, With men this is
impossible, but not with God" Men
would be inclined to say that God
would find no one for the Kingdom at
all if he rejected the rich.
In word, no rich man can get into
the Kingdom. He must give up
everything to the Lord or else be
barred from a place in the Kingdom.
The terms of acceptance are the same
to the rich as to the poor. He who
would have the pearl of great price
must sell all that he has in order that
he may obtain it. The rich must give
up all to the Lord. and then as
stewards of their riches will be held
responsible for their stewardship.
The following little poem describes
the needles eye, or small gate beside
the larger gate, through which the
camels might pass into the walled city
after sundown and without any OF
their burden. So the rich by unload
ing and becoming poor may have ac-
cess to the Kingdom
THROUGH THE NEEDLES EYE.
Tall was my camel and laden high,
And small the gate as needles eye.
1.-The city within was very fair.
And [ and my camel would enter there.
"'Y You must lower your load" the porter
cried,
You must throw away that bundle of
pride
"This | did. but the load was great.
Far too wide for the narrow gate.
Now said the porter. to make 1t less.
Discard that hamper of selfishness.
Il obeyed. though with much ado.
Yet still nor camel nor | got through.
"'Ah,' said the porter. your load must
hold
Some little package of trust-in- gold
'"rhe merest handful was all I had,
Yet Throw it away the porter bade.
Then 10. a marvel! the camel tall
Shrank to the size of the portal small.
And all my riches, a vast estate.
Easily passed through the narrow gate!"