Evening journal., 1916-02-14

like traveller riding always in the
baggage car. They have become
slaves to their possessions. Some OF
you remember when you started out
in married life. Perhaps with scarce
~ enough furniture for a few small
rooms. Your business also was not
very extensive. Bnt then husband
and wife had time for each others So
clety, Tor reading. time also for the
church and for prayer. Now perhaps
you have a big house all filled with
Drlc-a-brac, keeping the housewife
exhausted in caring for it. You are
engaged IN this enterprise. a member
OF that organization. a partner in
something else You are subject to
the demands OF society. OF fashion,
OF financial affairs; now YOU have no
time TO get acquainted with your own
family. no time for friendships. for
mental culture, for the spiritual life.
The higher nature is being stifled and
starved. What has all this amounted
to? This accumulation OF things. this
madness of materialism Jesus taught
D..
Thrones may totter and crowns may
crumble. but the living presence OF
Christ in your heart and the acknowl-
edgment Of His authority over your
entire heart is indeed and in truth
the beginning of the life eternal.
Let us note in the next place the
glories and blessings that come to the
children Of the kingdom of God
Jesus spoke so frequently about "The
gospel" the good news of the king
dom. In His estimation it was the
pearl OF greatest price. He changed
religion from restraint to an incen-
tive He sought constantly to inspire
His disciples with the spirit Of buoy
ancy and gladness and zeal, from the
fact that they had become partakers
Of the kingdom. First OF all there is
the reward OF everlasting life. There
You feel you have struck bedrock. you
can begin to build for eternity. you
have entered into a realm of being
that has no limit either in time or
space Here is a value rich enough
and an opportunity big enough to sat
isfy your most intense desire It /.
the conception OF the blessings of tn,
citizens OF the kingdom that rObs
death OF all its terrors. Separation
from the physical body becomes no
a limitation. but a liberation. WheI
a man starts on journey across thI
continent he is not greatly concerned
about crossing from one state int
another. it is all a part Of the same
journey So the citizens of the king
dom OF God comes more and more {,
look upon this world as but the pre-
iude to eternal progress.
Another blessing of the CITIZENSHIP
Of the kingdom OF God is divine in
heritance. Jesus spoke to His disci
pies of becoming heirs to the eter
mai kingdom. II is beyond humal
comprehension to grasp the immen
sity of this fact. There is a stal
known to astronomers as "1S3
GrOombridge" They tell us this {
two million times as far away fror
the earth as is the sun. II is trav
cling through space at the rate o
twenty million miles every twenty
four hours. This is about $50 mile
per second This doubtless opens I
us Just a glimpse Of the borderland {
, Gods great universe. and all OF thi
: creation is to belong perpetually I
! the children of the kingdom. TIL
terms rich and poor are relative /
, their meaning. A man might ow
the earth. and yet il he took a trip {
. the dog star he might not have enoug
to pay his expenses over night. T
be an heir of the kingdom is TO hav
an inheritance permanent and bound
less
Another glory OF citizenship in tn
. kingdom of heaven is the entrance IN
: to membership Of a universal an
eternal brotherhood. This fraternit
! does not depend upon time or space
The fountain of its fellowship is 10y
J. atty to a common Lord. The ties ths
= bind humanity into families. partie
: and societies have their inceptio
from material sources and earthl
, aims. but the brotherhood that bind
together the citizenship Of the kinl
dom is like the land beneath th
oceans that unites the continents.
:. II is difficult for us with our lin
/, tied vision to appreciate the breadt
and strength OF divine relationship
: It was not for the intent Of deprecia
! ing the Importance Of kinship /
!, blood. but rather to impress upon II
: disciples the extent and importan,
y of divine kinship that caused jest
:, to eXclaim. whatsoever shall do Il
/. will OF My Father which is in heave
the same is My brother and sister ar
= mother" The picture the poet, Burn
: has drawn in his poem, "The Cotter
:, Saturday Night" stands forth in lite
!, ature as the most striking and beai
], ltiful description OF the wealth al
I. Strength of family ties. In like ma
. ner Sir Walter Scott has given I
= in his Waverly novels a delineation
!, the mystic power that binds togeth
!, the members Of a clan. II is not n
til one leaves his native land. 10 trav
: under foreign skies. does he appr
ciate the lSinship that exists betwe'
= the fellow citizens of his homelan
n If the human mind were capable
combining in one vast sum the pow
. that binds together the members Of
= family and a clan and a country al
- then multiply these by in6nity
: would begin TO comprehend what
embraced in the brotherhood amol
r the citizens Of the kingdom of God.
Still a greater inheritance than
Of these is included in the blessin
belonging to the citizens of the kin
dom: it is fellowship with the Xii
Himself The greatest thing in ed
cation is not the facts OF learnin
nor even Of the discipline OF stud