The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1912-02-23
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NOTHING CHEAP
(By John Beverly Jones)

| Wy DOin PtNtTiJ
Text Matt. 1921: "Jesus said
unto him, If thou wilt be perfect,
go and sell that thou hast, and
give to the poor, and thou shalt
have treasures in Heaven, and
come and follow Me-"
The nearer piece of machinery ap.
proaches perfection, the longer It viii
run. An absolutely perfect mechan-
ism would never wearout, IL would
need no adjustment, there would be
no place for it to commence to wear
God is perfect, not only in will but
in wisdom and power; the universe
is eternal because God has imposed
his will upon it. Anything that ex-
poets to abide forever must fall in line
with Gods will. His way is the right
way and the only way. were 1t not,
the whole visible creation would go
TO pieces like the explosion of nj
tro-glycerine magazine.
The young man was asking for eter-
nal life, asking to abide forever and
Jesus was merely trying to line him up
with the will of the Father. No man
becomes farmer by being voted one,
he first Wills to be one and then car
ries out his will by falling in line with
all of Gods laws of seed time and
harvest. The man who crosses Gods
will by planting corn in the fall and
| sowing wheat in the spring must learn
better quickly or go under the mill
stone
The young man was talking about
eternal life and Jesus began to talk
about perfection, to him they were one
and the same. He did not expect him
to be perfect mentally nor physically,
but he did expect him to pray the
Lords Prayer, and say from his heart,
"Thy will be DONE" If he wanted
eternity he must want to develope
eternal conditions in himself, must
love Gods will and love to help God
do it, Must love that more than any
thing else. And for that reason he
asked him to put everything alse aside
and thus prove himself.
There is nothing cheap about eter-
nal life, as this young man learned.
He went away sorrowful because,
while he wanted heaven, he was not
willing to go through the struggle to
be worthy of it. He really loved the
things that his wealth brought him, or
the thought would bring him. more
than he did heavenly things. He loved
his will more than Gods will.
We must be chained forever unless
we purpose to do Gods will, He
could not permit the whole universe to
be narred, as wills like this young
mans has marred this world. All ma
ture praises Him and only man is
vile
We never attain to the perfection
Jesus was talking about until we learn
to love the right-the VIII of the Faith
err The young man loved his riches
first and went back to it, he would be
uneasy in Heaven were he there now.
Telemachus, the Christian priest, SO
lothed the murderous gladiatorial
shows, and 80 loves the triumph of
Gods will to spread mercy among men,
that he leaped from the amphitheatre
and plunging between the combatants,
died, giving his life as proof of his
affection. Had Telemachus been on
the young mans place he would have
gone home rejoicing, thankful for the
the privilege of selling out. May the
day hasten when we will cease to think
of Christianity as anything cheap.
This world is paying big price for
the privilege of having its own way.
We go away sorrowful because Gods
way is not our way and the saddest
part of the sorrow Is that the
tears grow more scalding and flow on
forever.
There would be nothing cheap about
the results il this world should be con-
verted and perfectly begin to love
| Gods WILL Line fences would cease
to cause trouble, mistakes would be
overlooked In charity, harmful gossip
would cease, enmity, avarice and greed
would quickly fade away. The avar-
icious rich and the selfish poor would
Immediately become useful members
of aoniatv RarrOOma and gambling
and graft, locks and jails and police
mems clubs would speedily dis
appear from the face of the earth,
while peace and love would reign In
their stead There would be nothing
cheap about that. BE PERFECT.