Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-06-18
In The Religious World
(REvIEw OF SUNDAY SCHOOL LEssoN)
" SCHOOL LEssoN.)

full allegiance to Christ and the king.
dom, must be sacrificed. Often-and
usually-what Is given up to Christ is
given back by Christ. increased many
fold. Thus, a general offers his sword
in token Of surrender, and always a
m~agnanimous conqueror gives 1t back
again.
The test was too hard for the rich
young ruler. But his c~ountenance
fell at the saying, for he was one that
had great possessions" He was not
willing to pay the price. He wanted
sacrifice of his possessions.
Once to every man and nation comes
the moment to decide,
In the strife Of Truth and Falsehood.
for the good or evil side;
Some great cause, Gods new Messiah,
offering each the bloom or blight.
Parts the goats upon the left hand,
and the sheep upon the right,
And the choice goes by forever 'twixt
that darkness and that light"
Through tho Needles Eye.
The tragedy Is repeated daily. It
is as old as the world, as new as this
mornings paper. Never was It more
accute than in our W money-mad
day. Last night I heard a minister de.
liver to young people a lecture which
has made him famous, and the burden
of 1t all is, get rich, get rich. get rich!
He poured scorn upon poverty. forget
ting in his worldly wisdom, that this,
and q dozen other unmistakable pas
sages in the bible, use strong speech
on this subject. The Apostle Paul
says that coveteousness Is idolatry.
One characteristic of Jesus was that
he was never led astray by the mood
Of His time. Wealth could do more.
relatively, in his day than In ours. But
Jesus frankly faced the fact that there
are more cases Of real manhood smoth-
cred by wealth, than starved by pow
erty. Using n of his strong oriental
figures OF speech, he declared that 1T
Is easier for a camel to go through a
needles eye, than for q rich man to
enter into the kingdom of Cod" That
is terrific, but 1t is true.
Look about you. Every reader Of
these lines ca ngive names and par.
t~iculars Of young men driven to the
devil by the possession Of money.
Homes are wrecked by 1t. Ideals are
suf1ocated beneath a golden store.
It should give pause to the pros
porous that, in the clear words of
Jesus, 1t is only the miracle working
grace Of God that can saw a rich man.
For wealth is Of such a nature that 1t
makes of itself a god and demands the
soul allegiance Of those who own it.
It possesses its possessors. The hope
held out to those bound by golden
chains Is that Cali things are possible
with God" even the salvation of the
wealthy.
The Price Of DIsclpleship. !
Those very human disciples of Jesus
could not refrain from calling attention
to the fact that they had left all to fol
low Christ. We have all heard the
preachers telling how much money
they could have made had they entered
business. Probably most Of those dis
ciples Of Jesus would have remained
common place, unknown, poverty stric-
ken fishermen, had they not been call.
ed into a larger life by Jesus.
In this connection the general propo-
sition was laid down by the Master
that God rewards in this present life
as we'll as in the future. A moments
observation proves this true. The
Christian people are the happy and
prosperous people. Character works
out in material blessing: for every
self denial in dtscipleship there is new
fellowship, new horizon, new service
and new rewards. Discipleship costs.
but It pays.
Possibly as a caution to the disciples
who might begin to plume themselves
on their special merit, Jesus warned
AL1~o sNforr $ho$ - frc$ shall ho |
last. and the last first"
In heavens final adjudication great
surprises await. 1t may not be the
distinguished preacher or the famous
evangelist or the eminent philosopher
who will be most honored In the next
world, but the unknown saint who has
bravely borne and sweetly served for
the love of Christ.
The unmistakable teaching of Jesus
is that this worlds currency cannot
----l--z l,,o,,~-S. ANY rHo