Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1915-05-06

l
the gospel, no
man forbidding
- = 49, him Now prison
walls confine him and prison chains
RESTRAIN him anf fe844 III
There ne sits in his narrow cell
chained to Roman guard. writing q
letter to Timothy. BE not ashamed.
be writes. "of the testimony OF our
Lord. nor OF me his prisoner Yea.
Timothy, all that will live godly tn
Chritt Jesus shall suffer persecution
And, as the dappness Of the cell
causes him to SILVER: When thou
contest bring 1, the cloak !, left at
Troas," and the words Of our text.
"Demas hath. forsaken,"
The Significance of this statement
ts realized when seen. In the light of
the circumstances which called II
forth. to Demas9 al Christian. a friend
iofnPaul,r with him during his first
Imprisonment at Rome has abandoned
the APOSTLE He stood by him when
everything was favorable. but when
Imminent peril threatened Paul be-
cause of hts loyalty to Christ, the con-
temptible coward fed for his life He
could notastand the test. and If this.
was the 0forerunner OF many Demases
4 Of, today who profess to be loyal to
Christ, receiving all the good things
that come from him, and who shout
aloud their hallelujahs and amens. but
when the testing time comes lack the
grit and grace to endure hardness as
good SOLDIERS Of Jesus Christi It 10
one thing to shout at Fourth Of July
celebration; 1t Is another thing to
shoulder q gun and march to the.
front. ~.se vile
It Is easy to shout ''haIlelutah"
When everyone's saying "Amen:"
It's another thing to stand by him
When they curse him again and again.
You may have wondered why many.
who profess. loyalty to Christ sadly
fail him when the testing time comes.
Paul acquaints Timothy with the rea-
son ''Demas hath forsaAen lie. hav.
ing loved this present world That
Is It; the love of the world causes dis.
loyalty to Christ Jesus taught this
when he said, mo man can serve two
masters, for either he will hate the
one. and love the other: or else he,
will hold to one and despise tie 9TH
or Ye cannot serve Coz and Nam
mon." Matt 6:24) Does this mean.
II we are to be loyal to Christ we must
give up everything In the world? That
JonnnAc NH 10 hu
thing Surely, anything that comes
in between Christ and us must be
given up. And If we are loyal to him
we will surrender all, that he may in
turn give us richly all things to en-,
Joy" AS those who love him end are
wise, we will weigh the things of time
in the balance of eternity, just as the
gold hunter in the river bottom
washes the dirt that he may find the
pure metal, SO we should carefully
,sift the things of the world that we
may find the good and true. The
builder of the world that we may find
the good and true The builder who
rears the skyscraper tests every bit OF
material that goes into the structure.
how much more important it is for US
not to permit anything to enter our
lite that will weaken any part and
cause US, when the stress and strain
come. to be disloyal to Christ
John Conion. walking on the rail
way, caught his foot in frog
where two tracks crossed. He laughed
at first but when he tried to extricate
his foot, he found himself held fast
He heard locomotive coming around
the curve and redoubled his efforts
butarwithout avail and the merciless
monster crushed him to death One
thing. only one. held John Conlon. but
1t held him as securely as If he we're
bound to the track by legion of sol
diers. 1t may be just one thing, only
one that holds us from being loyal
to, Christ, and this one thing. as N
the case of John Conlon, may prove
fatal M
I Row shall we give up the things OF
the wcr.d which ars so al!nrIng@ Il
is not by giving up but by getting
that wrong love is displaced If the
love of Christ is permitted to flow into
FOUR hearts in all its fullness it will
displace the love OF the world II
any man love the world, the love OF,
the father is not in him" This is
evident. for two opposite loves can
not occupy the heart at the same time.
The love given the right of way will
crowd the other love out.
Let Christ In and the love of the
world will be displaced.
He that sreaks even the highest