The daily banner. (Cambridge, Md.) 1897-2008, 1914-08-22

described as moral fitness spring
ing from careful and diligent use of
the grace of God. That there
should be a time when, after full
opportunity has been given, test
should be made to discover whe-
Their moral fitness has been attained
or not, is reasonable to suppose.
This, for substance, is the last judg
ment. The history of Israel is the
story of a great refusal. Prophets
and apostles had pressed the invi-
tation. The Messiah in person had
issued it anew. The Spirit and the
Bride had said, Come. But it was
all in vain. They would not Yet
the Jews of that age were just hui
man beings. Not more nor less.
Their faults and failings were those
incident to human nature. And so
it comes to pass that the Jewish
faults of Jesus day are being re-
peated in our age and by our race.
Glass-house jewellers must be chary
of throwing stones. The current
and all but universal indifference
makes light o. the claims, appeals
and privileges of religion. The calls
of business and pleasure are so
loud and imperious that they drown
the call of God. 1t matters little
whether the contemptuous words
of declination refer to the inviting
messeng gers or to the feast itself,
for in the final analysis the con-
tempt is of tie Lord himself, who
sets the table and sends the mes
sengers. 1t is the dishonoring and
disallowing Of infinite love pity, AM
mercy. 1t IS IN .nsensate act. 1t
is the deliberate preferring of the
devil to God, flesh to spirit. The
kingdom Of heaven in the final an
alysis is that rev order which Jesus
came to establish in the world. In
his own person he is the pattern
and lord of it The essence of ii
is Righteousness, and its effects are
peace and JOY. The establishment
of it would make earth heavenly.
OF the unavoidable mixture of good
and evil IN the kingdom on hte
earth, ST. Augustine says, 'He low
ed her foul that he might make
| her fair" The guest without the
wedding garment was a person who
deliberately, as an act of hostility,
refused the robe, which, according
to custom, the host provided. He
was really no guest at all, but an
| interlOper, with no good purpose.
| His expulsion was no vindictive act,
but a matter of necessity. He had
no part nor lot there. But being
excluded from the wedding feast is
no mere matter of privation. 1t is
attended with active and extreme
pains and penalties, represented in
the terms, darkness, weeping, gnash
| ing of teeth. The armies of Vesl
pasian and Titus, which destroyed
Jerusalem, were Gods armies how
ever little they discerned it. They
were such, because they executed
| his vengeance. Dean Trench puts
significant legend in beautiful
verse in his Monk and the Bird"
The celibate wonders if heaven it
self will not cloy with eternity ;ibut
while in the woods, he hears a bird
singing like thousand harpstrings
ringing. He listens long in rapture.
| On his return to the monastery, 10!
all was changed, and then he learn
| ed that he had been away ttiiior-
sand years. Such had been the
power of the celestial song, the
long space had not seemed an hour,
| The last dread of the monk was
| that eternity would not suffice to
| measure heaven.
Young Peoples Devotional Service.
John 10, 1-19.
Lowly Service.
"Jesus took a towel and girded
| himself" Jesus did for his dis
| ciples what they, with their Orien-
tai notions, would not have done
for him. He took the meanest
task of the lowest scullion of the
| Syrian home. He removed their
sandals and washed the dust and
sweat and dirt from their feet. In
doing that, he glorified all Iowly
tasks, of all kinds, to all people,
in all places, to the end of time.