The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1915-04-09

restrain him.
There he sits In his narrow cell.
chained to Roman guard, writing
letter to Timothy: BE not ashamed
he writes, ''of the testimony Of our
Lord, nor Of me his prisoner" Yea,
Timothy, all that will live cody In
Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution
And, as the iampness Of the cell
causes him to shiver: when thou
CONTEST bring the cloak 1 left at
Troas,'' and the words OF our text,
"Demas hath torsaken."
The significance Of this statement
Is realized, when seen in the light OF
the circumstances which called it:
forth. Denas, Christian, friend
Of Paul, 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 his loyalty to Christ, the con-
temptible coward fed for his life. He
could not stand the test, and in this,
was the forerunner of many Demases
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 Christ 1t Is
one thing to shout at Fourth Of July
celebration: It is another thing to
shoulder a gun and march to the
front.
It is easy to shout ''hailelu1ah"
When everyone's saying "Anen;"
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 forsaken me, 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 the 9th
er. Ye cannot serve God and Nam
mon." tMatt. 6:24). Does this mean,
IL we are to be loyal to Christ we must
give up everything in the world? That
depends upon what Is meant by every
thing. Surely. anything that comes
In between Christ and US must be
given up. And IL we are loyal to him
we Will surrender an, that he may in
turn give US richly all things to en-
Joy" AS those who love him and 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 1t Is for us
not to permit anything to enter our
life that will weaken any part and
cause us, when the stress and strain
come, to be disloyal to Christ.
John Conlon, walking on the rail-
way, caught his foot in a 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
but without avail, and the merciless
monster crushed him to death. One
thing, only one, held John Conlon, but
It held him as securely as If he were
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 in
the case Of John Conlon. may prove
fatal.
Harry Moorehouse, the irish evan.
gelist, used to tell how one day ne
went with his younger brother to mar
ket. A huckstress had thorn stick
with which she kept the naughty boys
away. John pleaded for the thorn
stick and the hucRstress interceded
that he might have it. Finally he got
the desire of his heart and down the
street they went; John with his thorn
stick, infiicting injury upon Harry and
himself. AS he could not be per-
suaded TO give it up. happy thought
struck Harry. John. don't you want
q drum?" he asked. OF course he
wanted drum. It was purchased and
suspended from his neck. The shop
keeper gave him the drum sticks. but
he still chung to the third stick. With
1t in his hand, he tried to drum. but
it didn't work. He changed 1t to the
other hand, but that didn't work.
Quickly turning to Harry he said.
Here. Harry. you can have the thorn
stick" That is what Doctor Chalmers
called 1.-THE expulsive power OF new
affection"
Let Christ in aud the love Of the
world will be displaced.
There is no death. What seems so
IL a ransition.-Longfeil