Morgan County republican. (Versailles, Mo.) 1906-1914, 1912-05-30

GOLDEN TEAL luh' necu tluJ you
DO not your righteousness before men, to
be seen OF them; else ye have no reward
your Father which is in Heaven
Matt. Ell.
Someone has called attention to the
"buts' Of God as recorded in the
Scriptures, showing that they always
lead to something good and contrasts
them with those of men that are always
the introduction to some derogatory re-
mark. In something resembling this
the words OF Jesus, Take heed" are
with import.
Doing was the greatest thing In the
Jewish religion that Jesus came to set
aside when he established his new
kingdom. 1t is easy for a man to try
to do for himself in order to merit
Gods favor. 1t is hard to let God do
for us and we to accept his finished
work.
In this lesson there is one inclu.
sive word and three illustrations. This
word is the word Righteousness" sub
stituted In the Revised Version for
the, word "alms" in verse one. The
three lines Of application or illustra-
tions used are, first, that we shall
make our righteousness secure by SO
doing our aims as not to be seen Of
men; second. that in the saying Of
our prayers We shall not, like the
h%yprocrites, desire to be seen of men,
and third, that in the keeping Of our
fasts and our vigils we do them, not,
as do hyprocrites, that the m%ultitudes
may observe and comment thereon.
In another lesson upon this mani.
festo Of Jesus we studied the subject
of the law and In 1t he summarized It
all by telling US that except our righte-
BUSINESS shall exceed the righteousness
Of these Scribes and pharisees. whom
John the Baptist designated as q gen.
Grafton Of vipers-hypocrites. we shall
in no wise enter into this new kingdom
which Jesus came to establish.
Righteousness He Demands.
In the lesson Jesus shows us the
difference between their righteous
ness and the righteousness which he
Is demanding OF the subject Of his
hihSuohh. 4 utliidilub tldI Jul li6htCs
BUSINESS shall seek its approval not
from nor among men but of God. The
motive which must govern Is the
glory, not of nan but OF God, not
mans approval but the approval of
God. In verse two the word "alms'
is retained and hence the first illus
tration has to do with u doing OF
aims" 1. e., our relations to men about
ms, our right-ncss. The doing of aims
has no fundamental connection with
any question of honesty between man
and man. The doing Of aims accord
ing to the strict Interpretation Of civil
law is no part of duty. There Is nc
reason why the business man should
give away his earnings provided he II
Just In his dealings and does not de
fraud In his transactions. Yet we de-
see men making great gifts and bene
factions to the cause OF philanthropy
Why? Jesus lays bare the secre
when he says, that they may hav,
the glory of men,"
Next Jesus takes up the subject o
prayer. Again our attention ia draw
to the fact that the exercise of praye
has but little to do with our relation
to men. True it is these relation
must be right before W. can come I,
God acceptably but prayer Is to be d
rected to God and not to man. Apar
from our belief In God, why should W
pray? Commercial or other inter-rels
tionships do not require prayer, VIII,
then pray? The keen blade OF Jesus
logic again reveals the innermost sc
cret, that they may be seen OF men.
and such an idea Of Righteousness l
repugnant in the kingdom of Jesui
We now come to the third illustrt
ton, the keeping Of fasts. Fastin
does not and never has appealed I
the natural man. Naturally 1t Ia r,
pugnant and distasteful and yet W
see men making a show of fasting an
imposing a like burden upon other
why? THAT they may be seer {
men" Is there, then. no place 70
nor ministry in fasting? Certainl
there is. True fasting, however, col
sists In foregoing and abstainlng Il
the glory of God"
God the Final Judge.
1t Is a sad fact that much Of our le
ten fasting and Of our abstemiousnei
upon Fridays is that 1t shall be see
OF men and not because Of any real a
! probation of the underlying need
sense of the principles Of fastin
This 1esson IA n great warning that
> we condition our righteousness up<
J the approval of man 1t will have no 7
ward whatever OF God, The ostent
tious or unctious display Of phi
' anAhron,, uill ~raceiya Ito raWard fro