Evening star., 1912-11-23

hot anger at the sight he saw he asked
of those at hand question which must
take rank, in this age of unfaith as In
that, as the great question of the times.
He saw Goliath stand forth and defy the
arms of Israel and he cried: Who is
this Philistine that he should
defy the armies of the living God?' Well
may the church of Jesus, Christ make
that same inquiry concerning blatant sin
in this our day.
He slew the giant and brought back his
sword and head. and as he bore these
trophies from the field two things oc-
Cured which left their impress on his
after life and in their final issue tinged
all that life with keen regret. The first
of these was that insane suspicion of him.
self reused in the king by singing wom-
en- who came out to welcome home the
conquering hosts of Israel The second
was the birth of an affection for Jona-
than Saurs son-an affection destined to
be fraught with bitterness for both. One
lost his life, his lover and his crown; the
other lost what men can Ill afford to lose,
the one great friendship of his life.
What Tennyson, the poet. wrote in his
immortal I'm Memoriam' concerning his
lost friend David might we'll have sung
concerning his beloved Jonathan. And it
is the pledging of their deathleSS love, a
love so soon to die, that marks this story
as a mighty tragedy. Here stand two king
iy men. one heir to ISraeIs throne by right
of his succession, the other, whose it was
to be because God willed it shou be SO.
They knew all this but knew no jealousy
Unselfish love finds it's high-Water mark
where kings care not for crowns, but
only for the welfare of their friends.
The other. story is Jesus definition OF
His own relationship to fruitful living
on the part of those who draw their life
from Him. He is 'the Vine," and unto
those who have for Him great, abiding
love He gives a part of His own sustain
ino frI,iff fY1lp1 10 G
of enriching and unselfish love We draw
these thoughts:
1. THE ONLY GIVING THAT Is
WORTH WHILE.
Nowhere outside of Holy Writ is the
great truth concerning the nature CT true
giving more clearly stated than in those
lines by Lowell where the Christ says:
Not what we give, hut what we share,
For the gift without the giver is bare:
Who gives himself with his a ms feeds three,
Himself, his hungering neigiibor and Me.
H. FRUITFUL DISCIPLES.
Jesus said: Herein is my Father glori-
fed, that We bear much fruit What a
wonderful old picture is this that the
Master has given. of the secret and Sc
quence of abiding in Him. We are "tne
branches" and the wonderful thing about
a branch is that, while all the life sap
flows through 1t, 1t is not selfishly re-
tanned, but is sent on to make the fruit. -
Wnen We, as 1OllOWerS or the lOWly
Nazarene, grasp the fullness Of what He
meant when He said Herein is my Fa-
ther glorified. that ye hear much fruit
when we realize that, not in the endless
reaches of space, nor in the timeless mys-
terry of eternity, nor yet in heavens sown
with countless worlds, is their Creator
glorified. but rather in the fruit W. bear,
then will We give ourselves anew to fruit
fulness of life and service.
III. THE SECRET OF JNSELFISH-
NESS.
WheD from the depths of the East river
at New York there rose those massive
granite piers on which the Brooklyn
bridge was soon to rest few knew that
far away, shut in an upper room. spy
glass in hand, lay that rare engineer
under whose guidance not only the piers
but also the airy fabric of the supers rue
ture was soon to rise. They did not see
him, nor did the to.lers at the task, but
they felt him at every move, they knew
that he was there. Back of the noble
structure of each great. unselfish life
stands the Divine Designer of such lives,
and the secret Of its unselfishness lies in
the faithfulness with which the work.
man carries his great design. GOD
HELP US TO LIVE AND SERVE UN-
SELFISHLY; THAT WAY LIES PEACE
AND FRUITFULNESS.