Evening journal., 1916-02-18

Of salvation. and call upon The Name
Of the Lord. J viii pay my VOWS un-
to all His people"
David was king. not only AFTER
the order OF men, but also he was
king in the higher royalty, the arls-
tocracy OF character More than any
other man OF his own day. yea more
than almost any man of any day- he
seemed TO enter into the spirit OF
the divine life TO think Gods thoughts
after Him. Only two ways have ever
been devised by which man has en-
deavored to come into right relation
shin with his Creator One is inc
way OF the law the other is the way
OF grace. The way Of the law was the
method of Jacob. the trader and bar
gamer. who said. "if God viii be with
mo and help me and bless me then ]
will serve Him as long as ] i've ne
knew that by this plan he was gel
ting by far the bigger end OF the
bargain. But the way of srace was
the way of David who. realizing the
love and mercy OF God. is filled WIN
the spirit OF gratitude. and in his re-
sponse exclaims. "What shall rem
der INTO the Lord for all His bene-
ets toward mcg" The way OF Jacob
was 10 be good and do good, in order
that God MIGHT love you. But the
wav Of David is the Christian way. TO
do good. and do good because Goa
loves you.
n is one OF tho strangest facts there
is so little gratitude to God In human
hearts. This is due first OF an 10
thoughtlessness. Those two Veros, 10
think and "to thank as IN the 1er-
man "denken" and 'danken, were
oririnally the same word That is. TO
he thankful. we must first be think
ful and thoughtful Mrs. Browning
said that almost everyone would ne
charitable II he would stop to think
about ia So also we might say al.
most everyone would be religious, Il
he would stop to think. about IT, na-
con. the philosopher, said. a llt''e
learning tendeth toward iniidelity, out
much learning tendeth toward Chrls-
tianity" .i,,.
Ingratimde is also due 20 mashny-
ine our misfortunes No matter nov
many pleasant days there may nave
been. vet if the clouds come over 'ne
e,,v and the day is dark and gloomy
,hore arc many who forget all about
thc brightness and grumble at the
oloom like that song, count your
MANY BLESSINGS: name them one by
ono n YOU will only sit down ana
enumerate the gifts and mereles .,
God TO YOU. You will be amazed anu
overwhelmed at the marvellous EVIL
dences OF His affection.
This unthankful spirit is also due TO
depreciating Gods efforts and eNait-
ine our own. So many men, II they
have achieved any success worthy OF
nraisc will take all the credit 10
themselves. But on the other hahd'
n there is anything worthy OF blame
fhen they will charge 1T to God or
someone else. but never to them
selves Il is like a husband saying
when the children are good. There
wife. see what my children did" But
81 the children are naughty ne VIII
rrowl out. There wife, sec what youi
children did
This ingratiude Is also due to their
beinr so absorbed IN other things that
they have entirely forgotten and neg
lccted the spiritual thing. Christ mas
been crowded out Of their lives. Ihey
have been SO busy with their plans for
society and politics and business, so
interested in pleasure and money
making. that they have little thought
or interest in the kingdom of God.
Also ihev have Judged things from the
xvronr standards. and looked at them
from the wrong perspective Pi1arro,
in his conquest of Peru, tells ABOUT
those simple natives trading on SOLID
nggets OF silver and gold, for rev
caudv beads and other tinketss H. IS
fhe old story OF Esau hartering away
his birth-right for a mess OF potiage..
But whatever the cause OF inSiau-
fude. the result Is always the same
n n,cans disaster There can he no
eodlinoss without gratitude. Our Lord
never accents drafted soldiers into
His service-it is always volunteers
II vou are saved. II will not be be-
cause YOU have TO belt Will be be-
cause Won want 10 be. not through
ccmpuisiou. but through choice II
order TO make man the highest type
OF created heing il was essential ina
his Creator endow him with the rae
ultv of will and the power OF choice
n is for this reason that the wore
saws that God created man in his OWL
imaee. II He had not given to mai
fhls faculty. he would have been
mere automaton. Of no value TO him
self. TO his fellows. or to God. bu'
having endowed humanity with tins
mower of choice. it naturally followed
that some would choose evil rather
than good. and therefore sin came IN
to the world, and spiritual death ns
sin
Now how is sin TO be eradicated
ONLY by one of two ways The hrsi
would be by destroying mans Will
But that would be fatal TO human
progress and hopes and character.
The only other course is TO allow
mankind to retain this faculty Of will
and decision, but to endoavor TO bring
him. Of his own volition, TO choose the
good rather than the evil. to WOO him
form the wrong course to the right.
80 an through The centuries. this has
been the plan and purpose of Cod