The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-02-10
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WORTHY AND UNwdRrnY AMBu.
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lowers to be mot slothful i'm business.
but fervent in spirit, serving the
Lord" Nevertheless his teaching i'm
this lesson Is that our energies are
not to take the selfish form of laying
up earthly treasures: We are to Law
up heavenly treasures instead. Not
withstandlng the reference to moth
and rust and thieves despoiling earth
ly treasures, we understand his teach
ing rather on higher plane. though
the principle is a broad one. All will
admit that IL would be folly to Law up
clothing or food far in advance of
need, except under very peculiar cir
cumstancesi But gold might be
treasured, or money I'm the banks. or
ponds, or stocks, or farm added to
farm, and house to house. and the
same principle would be involved
Although no moth could touch the
bank account, nor rust injure'the gold
and no thieves could steal the title to
the property the principle is the
same. Treasures of every kind may
lose their Yalue--do lose their value
To us, when we die, if not before
Death, cqrruption. touches everything
earthly under present conditions, no
matter how careful or thoughtful the
provision. NAKED came we into the
world, and naked must we leave it."
Cob 1:21) Intelligent people are
generally agreed that God has pro-
vided a future life beyond the tomb
attainable i'm the resurrection morn
Ing. And the Scriptures teach that
the degree of our blessing then will
stand related To our use OF the present
life. It Is this point that the Great
Teacher emphasized In the study Of
today. All intelligent minds assent
to the reasonablehess of this.
Let us not take the extreme view
entertained by some; ier us not sup
pose that the Master taught the people
might not make reasonable provision
for their own comfort and that they
might not be dependent upon charity
in old age. Let us not suppose that
he meant that paren.f should be neg
lectful of their duties toward depend
ent members of their family. The
Bible distinctly teaches that che who
provides not for his own Is worse than
an unbcllever." The proper thought
then, is that IL Is right To oconomize
and. as st. Paul expresses II, ''to lay
by in store" for our own future needs
or that we may have to>lend to others.
In need. Gods people are 10 be frug-
al to avoid debts, to be "forchanded," ="
and with some reserve Of capital
But earthly things are not to be the
treasures of their souls, but merely
their servants, conyeniences--aiway
ready for use, for every emergency
freely. le-heartedly. He who fol-
lows this course viii rarely have large
earthly wealth. Only by making
wealth "A treasure and setting upon 4
inordinate desire can one become mis-
erly or very rich. Setting the affec~
tions on things above would signify
so loose handling of worldly riches
as would hinder the accumulation or
preservation of great wealth.
The Masters word is, that whoever
sets his affections upon earthly treas
ures will become sordid, Sc fish. earth
ly; while he who sets his affections
upon the things above viii become
correspondingly heavenly spiritual,
blessed, generous. We have two eyes
and If they be not properly adjusted
with relationship To each other our
vision of things will be distorted
Hence we seek to correct such diff
OF matters. So it is with the eye of
our understanding. 1t has both a
present and future outlook. an
earthly and n heavenly view. II is
important that we get these rightly
adjusted, so that we may see mat
ters i'm their true light--see the great
value OF the future life In comparison
with the present one, and corre-
spondingly be guided to the setting
OF our heart affections there, aud in
general balancing all the interests of
life wisely
AS I'm the natural body the eyes may
become darkened or blinded, so IL is
with our eyes of understanding. And
If this blindness come upon us after
we have once seen and enjoyed the
Divine promise our case would be all
the more pitiable. How great that
darkness would be!
Still another lesson there is for MS
along the same line. The serving of
mammon would bless us in the pres
ent life, but be injurious to our fu-
ture interests. But the service of
God would prepare us for future in
fluence. And although obedience to
God may cost us the loss of the pleas
ure of sin and the loss of some legit-
innate worldly blessing in the present
time, nevertheless thore is a blessing
even now to those who are faithful
servants of God and Righteousness.
And additionally there Is the glorious
prospect Of the. future 1t is necesi
sary however, for us to choose be-
tween the two masters. We annot
serve both We cannot get the re-
wards of both. AS Joshua did, so
let us determine, 'As for me. and my
house, we will serve the Lord. !"
The Master urges us to commit all
of our interests to God and 70 wholly
resolve to be obedlent to him to the
extent OF our ability, and then to re-
alize the Divine care which is over
all creation to be specially over us, be-
cause of having come into special
relationship TO him, In accordance
with his promises Suuh paed have
no anxiety with respect to their earth
ly affairs. but may trust all their in
terests to their Heavenly Father our
eteranl life is worth more than the
food and rament of the present life,
II wise we will seek the future life
at any cost, at any sacrifice of the