Newark post., 1913-12-31

himself in all the various activities of
his trade. So must the Christian apply
himself to all the requirements of the
Christian life. He must be so devoted to
it that the outside world will recognize
him as having set up business for his
Lord, as were the disciples at Antioch.
The business of being a Christian re-
quires constant and untiring attention
during the whole of one s life. No man
has ever been able to complete his Chris
tian characterize is still working on it
while he breathes his last.
When a man becomes a Christian he
is far from perfection. He may be a
diamond but it is diamond in the
rough. He may be gold but it is the
gold just rescued from the mountain side
with the rock and dirt still clinging to
it.
Our entrance into the Christian life is
an act-not an act of our s, but Of God s
grace. 1t is done once and for all time,
but our Christian life is work and
goes on until the end of our life. We
have never vanquished the last enemy; ;
we have never resisted the last temptation
until we close our eyes in death, and then
the "souls Of believers are made perfect
in holiness and do Immediately pass into
glory and their bodies being still united
to Christ do rest in their graves until the
resurrection.
No, the Church militant is not made up
of perfect people. They may be called
saints in the sense that they are the re-
deemed of the Lord but they are very
imperfect saints. They are engaged
in the work of developing Christian char
acter.
ned; who has never had an evil thought;
who has never done an evil deed? There
is no place for such an ones name on
the Church records; there is not an inch
of space in the Book of Life where that
name can be inscribed. The church re-
cord is only for the names of the peni
tent sinners. The Book of Life contains
only the names of those who have wash
ed their robes and made them white in
the blood of the Lamb.
The thief on the cross and the apostle
Paul enter heaven on the same terms.
each enters because he accepts Christ.
Neither could have entered had he not
accepted Christ.
Paul did not gain admission because
he fought with wild beasts at Ephesus or
because he endured untold hardships or
because he preached marvelously eloquent
sermons.
Nevertheless, what one does in this
world is of vast Importance and has far
reaching results, while the useless and
fruitless life of the thief on the cross is
no barrier to his entrance to Glory by
faith in Christ; and the wonderfully rich
and productive life of Paul gave him no
advantage in gaining admission.
Our acceptance of Christ secures our
admission to heaven, our deeds and acts
of goodness determine our position in
heaven.
Thus the thief on the cross and the
apostle Paul are as far apart as the poles
in heaven. Not that they are not happy.
Each has as much joy as he can contain.
Every deed of kindness, every act of
Christian love here increases our capacity
for the happiness of heaven. Every en-
durance of hardship, every trial, expands
our power to receive. Thus Paul's suf-
fering of the present time are "not
worthy to be compared with the Glory
that shall be revealed and they work out
for us far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory
The judgement is not, therefore to de-
termine our destiny. That destiny is de-
termined when we accept Christ. But the
judgement is to determine our position
in that destiny. That the destiny has been
determined by the one appearing at the
right and the other at the left in the
judgement. "And the books were open
ed and the dead were judged by the
things that were written in the books.'
The Christian IS work is to try to do
the best he can. So we find great va
riety Of Christian character in the
Church just as we find in the worldly
callings. There are good and Indifferent
farmers; there are good carpenters and
that botch their work; there !
are good painters and painters that daub
and splash.
And all the variety of Christians we