Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-09-17
THE NATIONS in JUDGMENT.
The Int irrational Sunday School Les
son for September 20 Is 1.-THE Judg-
rent Of the NatIons."-Matt. 25:-
31.46
BY William T. Ellis.

In these great WORDS Jesus Iudhes
it clear that nations, as well as individ.
uals are to be judged at the court OF
high heaven. Every nation has an
identity before God. The implications
Of this truth are many and solemnizing
They make citizenship sacred thing,
and Office holding tremendous res
possibility. Not only in the conflict
and clash of nations, but also In the
Judgment day of God, must every
country make answer concerning Its
efficiency and It's character The King
of kings sits in judgment upon all the
kingdoms of earth.
The lesson passage itself must be
printed in full:
when the Son of man shall come IN
his glory, and all the holy angels with
him. then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory: And before him shall be
gathered all nations: and he shall sep
arate them one from another, as
shepherd divideth his sheep from the
goats: And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the
left. Then shall the King say unto
them on his right hand, Come, We
blessed of my Father, inherit the king
dom prepared for you from the founda-
ton of the world: For was an nun
gered. and we gave me meat; was
stranger, and We took me in: Naked,
and We clothed me: was sick, and We
visited me: was In prison, and We
came unto me. Then shall the right
eous answer him, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee an hungered, and fed
thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink!
When saw we thee stranger, ana
took thee in? or naked, and clothed
thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or
in prison, and came unto thee? Ana
the King shall answer and say unto
them. Verify say unto you, lnasmucn
as We have done it unto one OF the
least of these my brethren, We nave
done it unto me, Then shall he say also
them on the left hand, Depart from me
We cursed, into everlastoing fire, pre-
pared for the devil and his angels
For | was an hungered, and We gave
me no meat: was thirsty, and We
rave me no drink: was stranger,
and We took me not in; naked, and We
clothed me not; sick, and in prison,
and We visited me not. Then shall they
also answer him, saying, Lord, when
saw we thee an hungered, or athlrst,
or q stranger, or naked, or sick, or IN
nrison and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verify l say unto you, 1nasmuch as We
did it not to one of the least OF these,
We did it not to me. And these snail
20 away into everlasting punishment:
but the righteous into eternal life"
The Test.
II we try to read these sentences as
If we had never seen them before, we
find great truth starting out from the
mage. It lives, and throbs, and clutches
the imagination with all the pulsing
reality of our own day. Here we find
Ginning perfectly with the most ad-
vanced Christian thinking of our time
the startling proposition that nations
are to be Judged for their service to
mankind. The brotherly qualities In
nations are to be the standard by
which they are finally to be appraised.
Human ministry-and all that our COM
mon term social service" implies-1s
the vital and determining factor in a
nations success.
Not wealth, or commercial power,
or intellectual brilliance, or military
glory; but the simple fact of whether
or not it has been helpful to folk, to
men and women and little Children, is
the one final test of national great
ness.
The Real Mission Of State.
A public official, we say then, is not
merely answerable to the voters who
elect him; he must give an account to
the God Of all nations. sense of re-
sporsibility to Higher Power Is what
calls forth the best qualities in a man.
Likewise, nothing else so causes ma
ton to rise to it's highest possibilities
as the profound conviction that it must
render an accounting to the judge OF
all the earth.
In the light Of this luminous scrip
ture we perceive that ministry is the
mark of greatness for nation, as for
an individual. The truly great pow
ers" are those whose people have been
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