The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-07-27

feSSs nB EiLE COLSLILuLeB the Dh6lb noe
the carrying out OF the college plans.
Thus, the speaker explained, a Chris
tan who generously uses in the Lord'a
service his financial stewardship islay-
ing a foundation for the futuxe--@
foundation for spiritual wealth; ank
the more OF time, influence and wealth
any n can lay up thus in doing good,
In forwarding the interests OF the
brethren and of the Lords work. the
more Is that n piling up treasure in
Heaven The advantage of this pro-
cedure, he asserted, is that 1t helps to
center the hearts affections ON the
things above. and to YEA them from
the things OF earth; for where our
treasure Is. there will our hearts be
also. And thus, says the Apostle, we
shall be able to LAY hold On eternal
hfe," now proffered to us.
at first many are inclined to say,
What difference does it make to the
Lord what / do with my time, money,
influence, talents? He Is able to sup
ply the needy without in the least Inn
poverishing Himself. Why, then,
should He desire His children. who
are far from rich In the worlds estima.
ton, to sacrifice their little all Of tai
ent, money, time, influence? And why
should He make this u test to deter
mine whether or not they shall attain
the Kingdom? What is the philoso-
ply Of it2 e..
The philosophy was declared to bQ
this: AS originally created In the Di-
vine likeness man was tender-hearted,
sympathetic. But after sin had enter.
ed the world and the strife for a livfli3
began, selfshness gradually became.
the predominant influence, producing
Observation-Disclosures or the
interests of others-self-love.
~Take Away the Stony Heart"
b speaker pointed out that during
the thousand years of Messiah's Reign
Satan will be bound, his aIlurements
ended and the curse lifted. Then the
earth will yield its increase. The stress
being removed, 1t will be easier for
mankind to learn the lessons of love
and Observation-Disclosures, and to rise out
OF their present condition of meanness,
Observation-Disclosures and selhshness-back
to b glorious image of God.
This will mean the dissolving Of the
stony-heartedness OF the human race;
or, as the Scriptures put It, the Lord
Will take away the stony heart out
OF their flesh, and give them a heart OF
sh"-a heart OF sympathy. All who
then refuse to return to harmony with
God will be destroyed in the Second
Death, as set forth in Acts 3:19-23.
It was pointed out, however, that
while such a restitution under the ia
vorabIe conditions of the Messianic
Kingdom is Gods provision for tho
world, He has a different provision for
the Church. now being called and
proven. By nature their hearts were
hard and selfish, and, as the Apostle
says, they "t0ere children of wrath,
even as others" But the fact that
God has called these to j~oint-heirship.
with His Son in the glorious Kingdom
that Is shortly to bless the world does
not signify that He will accept them In
their natural condition Of hard-heart-
edness and selishness. -,
On the contrary, If the Church are to
be the kings. priests and judges of the
world, In association with their Lord
and Head, the great King. it is readily
seen that they must be rid of this con
dition themselves before they can prop
erly be capable of helping the world
up out Of its hard-heartedness.
"WO Walk by Faith" .
Several differences were pointed out
between the Lords dealings with the
Church at the present time and His
dealings with the world by and by.
These differences are due to the fact
that the Church are called to so high
an honor; and correspondingly it Is APP
propriate that they should manifest
more love and zeal than will be ex-
pected Of the world.
To Illustrate: The Church must walk
by faith and not by sight; they must
voluntarily accept the Lords provi-
dences, and voluntarily cooperate, with
Him In putting away the stony heart.
accepting instead the Spirit of the
Lord-a spirit Of love, kindness, gen
tleness, meekness, patience and long
suffering toward all. Moreover, during
the thousand years of the worlds re-
covery from sin, selishness and hard
heartedness, doubtless each individual
will have several centuries for his
gradual development. But the Father
seeks In the Church class those who
will give such heed to His instrucIg.
lions, and show such earnestness in
copying His character, that they Will
succeed In attaining a heart condition
of tenderness, sympathy and love like
unto that OF the Heavenly Father. in
the present years Of their Christian
experience.
The discourse closed with an earnest
exh0rtation that all who are the Lords
grid up the loins of their minds. deter
mining that with His help they will be
rich toward God; that each think less
and less Of earthly riches, and more
and more prize the Kingdom which the
Lord has promised to His faithful
mes All who attain this Kingdom
viii be rich toward God in the highesE
sense. Not only will they be rich in
the possession of the highest prize that
God has to give-His very best-but
rich in His character likeness, rich In
experience, rich In faith. rich in be-
nevoIence. rich in all that is good and
great, however poor they may have