Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-12-20

not, n ei b er do
they spin; and yet
Ses1ee4zsaaeslsA zeaslg{ say unto you,
lRaallk. kU92tlll that even Solomon
in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, If God so clOthe the grass
Of the field, which today is, and to-
morrow Is cast into the oven las fuell |,
shall He not much more clothe you, o
yc Of little faith?" (Matthew 6:2S-3O)
Pastor Russell said In part:
The great Teacher, we are told,
taught In parallels and in dark sayings
mot easily comprehended). Even our
Lords disciples were in the dark con,
corning the meaning of many of His
statements until the Holy Spirit at
Pcntecost give them enlightenment, as
Jesus had promised This being true.
we are not surprised that many have
mlsnpprehended some Of the Masters
dark sayings respecting the cutting off
OF hand or foot the plucking out
Of an eye, respecting undylng worms
and quenchess fires, and even In re-
spect to the text Of today.
There are people Of fair intelligence
who interpret the Master to mean that
His followers are not to labor as do
the remainder Of mankind for the ne
cessities Of life; that they should ex-
pect to be supported by others who do
labor with sweat Of face-that they
should be maintained by tithes, col
lectiOns, etc, and toll and spin not at
all We believe that such nre making
great mistake, ns did the man re-
Gently reported In the press as having
cut or his hand In what he thought
was obedience TO the Masters instruc-
tiOn, We can sympnthi2e with these
errors Of Judgment, but should avoid
them and seek to have the spirit Of
the Masters teachlng, which was al
ways the spirit Of Il sound mind
In His discourse Jesus had called
the attention Of Ills hearers to the fact
that the Gentllcs-the heuthen-were
continually thinking about their tenn
porOlitles and praying about these
"Whut shall we eat? What shall we
drink? Wherewthnl shall we be
clothed?" But your Father know
eth whnt things ye have need Of be-
fore We ask Him" Let your worry,
therefore, II you have worries, be for
something higher and nobler than
merely the necessities Of life. Consid'
er that while you were once aliens
and strangers through sin, dlsobedl.
ence to the Divine Law, you have now
been brought bnck into accord with
God and are privileged to address Him
In prayer, "Our Father, which art In
Heaven"
If we have the faith to believe that
God through Christ has accepted us as
His children, we should as children
trust our Parent In respect to all the
affairs OF llfe-great and small-food
and raiment-everythlng But here
comes the important point--the crucial
test, Are we the children Of God2 Is
He our Heavenly Father? Has He be-
gotten us OF the Holy Splrlt7 Are our
sins forgiven Are we reconclled to
God through the death Of His Sonl
Are we chlldren-"and II children, then
heirs OF God and jolnt-helrs with Je-
sus Christ" our Lordl
Upon the answers to these questions
being In the affirmative Is the strength
OF the basis OF all our faith and hope.
II we are not Gods children, II we
have not come in His appointed way,
through Christ. then we are stlll aliens
and strangers Then our affairs are
not under His supervision; but we are
with the world shNrers In the sentence
Of death, ench doing for himself ac.
cordlng to his ability In battling
against death, and, like all Gentiles,
giving our chief concern to food, raj.
ment and hollow earthly ambitions
showing not, appreciatlng not the
higher the Heavenly, privileges In
Christ.
The Heart Of the Lesson,
We perceive then that the lesson Is
not for the world In general, except
Indirectly. The world, learning that
these words are applicable only to the
conSecrated people OF God, might prop
erly be deslrOus that they might apply
also to themselves And II they are
thus deslrous OF having God for their
Father aud His provldcntlal care IN all
OF their affairs the lesson to them
would be that they should come into
relationship with God through Christ
that they should become His children.
In order to enjoy the privileges and
favors which belong to none others at
the present time
The heart Of tho lesson Is that the
Heavenly Father Is most gracious:
and that His tender mercles are over
all Hia creatures who are In harmony