The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-02-12

BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.
This is a lesson in the A
Im RAll of religion. 1t is the wise
Teachers calling his pupils
back to the simplicities or
faith. There are no subtle
- ties or intricacies here. This
is the platform of the Kingdom re-
duced to simplest terms. AS ever
the elemental is seen to be the vital:
Here are the essential teachings Oh
life: and the doctrine that TINS weary
faded perplexed world, with its care
wrinlxied face, most needs to learn.
This declaration by Jesus OF the pest
Iifa-plniIosophy is more luminous than
any comments upon it, so we extract
the lesson passage in run, IroLh tie
Sermon on the Mount
Lay not UP for yourselves treasures
upon the earth, where moth and rust
consume, and where thieves preak
through and steal: but lay up lot
yourselves treasures in heaven, where
neither moth nor rust doth consume,
and where thieves do not break
through nor steal: for where thy
treasure is, there will thy heart De
also. The lamp of the body is the eye;
if therefore thine eye be single, tiny
whole body shall be full of light. But
if thine eve be evil. thy whole body
shall be full of darkness. II there
fore the light that is in thee be dark
ness how great is that darkness! NO
man can serve two masters: for eth
err he will hate the one and love the
other; or else he will hold to one and
despise the other. Re cannot serve
God and Mammon. Therefore L say
unto you, BE not anxious for your ire
what ye shall eat, or what We shall
drink: nor vet for your body, what
We shall put on. Is not the life more
than the food, and the body more
than the raiment? Behold the birds
of the heaven, that they SOW not,
neither do they reap, nor gather into
barns. and your heavenly Father
feedeth them. Are We not of much
more value than they? And which
of you by being anxious can add one
cubit unto his stature? And why are
We anxious concerning raiment? Con
slider the lilies of the field, how they
grow; they toll not. neither do they
spin: yet 1 say unto you, that even
Solomon in all his glory was not ar
rayed like one of these. But If God
doth so clothe the grass of the field,
which today is, and tomorrow is cast
into the oven, shall he not much more
clothe you, o We of little faith? Be not
therefore anxious, saying, What shall
we eat? or, What shall We drink or,
Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For after all these things do the Gen
tiles seek; for your heavenly Father
knoweth that We have need of all
these things. But seek We first his
kingdom, and his Righteousness; and
all these things shall be added unto
You. Be not therefore anxious for the
morrow: for the morrow will be anx-
ious for itself. Sufficient unto the
day is the evil thereof"
Better Than the Notices.
Contrast these great words with the
wall notices that we see, in homes
and offices. How trivial and inane
and Inadequate the latter become.
Why not seek, as a mental and spirit
ual exercises for week, to commit
to memory this sublime passage from
the immortal words of Jesus? 1t will
make ones faith simpler and cour-
age stronger.
Let us lift up our thinking. Our
times are tainted by scrappy, incon-
sequential and rather vulgar mental
processes. We read too many period
icals and too few books. Is it not
logical and reasonable that we should
go, by way of this noble mountainside
philosophy, to loftier, purer concep-
ton of our daily thinking and read
ing? I met an Atlanta business man
few days ago who told me that he
had Cancelled his subscription to a
long list of magazines, and had taken
to reading the great books which time
has tested. The names of the volumes
he had mastered in year amazed
me: he has been delivered from the
possible thralldom of a scrap-basket
mind. OF course he gives first
place to the Book of books: no other
literature has its power to clarity
mans thinking and to elevate and
strengthen his character.
We can afford to know less about
the Vaccinations of politicians, the
banalities of Society the vuIgari-
ties of professional sport, the gyra-
lions Of the stock market, and the in
conSequentialities of much socalled
news in the engrossing study of
the great pronouncements of the
worlds wiSest Sage. the most interest.
ing personality, Jesus, the Nazarene.
A Mans Treasures.
"a ship is in the water. that is its
power; when water is in the ship. that
IS, its peril" runs an old comment.
Jesus was afraid that those who fol-
lowed his t~dching might let the world
get into them: of course. he meant
them to be in the world. An earth
tainted church is a bane: a church
tihged earth is blessing. The
Teacher established a new society. or
party, which was to be governed by
worldly standards. He meant that it
should have aims above the ordinary
The world is busy in storing UP gold;
the members of his kingdom should
busy themselves in storing up life The
supreme business of Christians is not
to get riches, but to get rich in char
acter. They are after something big
ger and better than corruDtible treas
ureS.
The point of this preachment Of
Christ is that a mans life is more thar
food or raiment or riches. He was not
concerned about mans money but
about the man. All his teachings go
right to the core of things. He saw
that treasure represents life; that what
a man covets makes the man himself
and that the chief purpose of a mans
mind is really the light of his life.
Therefore that light should be true
and clear. The man who lives for
money becomes materialistic; the man
who lives for heaven Con earth and
hereafter) becomes heavenly. 1t is all
a question OF what one loves best and
desires most. The teaching about
treasure Is the same as the teaching
abn1lt rnasters Let the main motive