Arizona republican., 1917-01-18
CONSERVATION IS.
THEME Of TALK.
BY EVANGELIST.

milton of conservation He roundly
dashed reconsecration as sunScriptural,
and declared that .'reconsecration' i'm
piled that the preceding conservation
was a failure-an incubation that
didn't take" and summed up the whole
in the statement: IF you don't crown
Him Lord of all, you don't crown Him
Lord at all"
The evangelist centered his message
around the admonition of the Apostle
Paul, when he wrote to the Romans:
present your bodies living sacrifices,
that We may prove that good and ac-
ceDtable and perfect will of Cod" The
Biblical symbol of the relationship of
the Christian to Christ as that of the
marriage union was employed, among
others, but probably with greatest eff
fectiveness, in arriving at the definition
of conservation.
The song service led by Chorister A.
S. Magann was filled with snap and
vigor.
paul leaves the doctrinal and comes
to the practical in these words, was
the first utterance of the preacher
after announcing the text. and he
thereby voiced his conviction that the
suggestion of the text is more than
symbol, more than figurative, but an
actuality He added:
And to those disciples to whom he
addressed these words they meant
what we have come to term cOnSecra-
ton. They became martyrs, thrown to
wild beasts to be torn asunder, burned
on faggot piles for the entertainment
of the multitudes-but they could have
saved themselves. They need but to
recant their faith to save themselves,
but they barred their breasts to the
70
brutes, shouting the praises of Christ.
Different Ways
ITS different with the sinner and
with the believer in the way in which
they come to the Christ. The sinner
comes to Him in fear in conviction
of sin. with terror of judgment and
condemnation, suing for mercy and
pardon. The believer comes to Him
with thanksgiving and praise and lays
his all at His feet The sinner is
rebel He is dead. He has nothing to
give, and no power to make a will be
queathing anything to God. He's a
bankrupt but when he comes to Christ
he receives light and pardon and saliva
ton and adoption. The believer comes
to Him with heart filled with joy and
thanksgiving, surrendering to Him all
that he is and all that he possesses.
That's conservation.
But we've been playing fast and
loose with conservation. The thought
of RECONSIDERATION is unscriptural. 1t
signifies that the first conservation was
a failure: that there was hitch some
where and that we held back something
the first time, but this idea of recon-
secration has become so fashionable
and so common that we're kept trotting
back and forth. We've trifled with
~, fiD1, rat hnr han
II the first conservation was real we
made life contract.
THE old Jew had a deeper idea of
the meaning of conservation. He offer
ed a complete sacrifice. No Jew, after
offering his sacrifice to the priest,
would have dared to have withheld a
part of it. but we give our dollars
and our dimes to the movies and for
fine clothes, and our pennies to Cod
we give hours to worldly pleasures and
moments to God. Then, too, not only
was the Jewish offering complete, but
it was without bemish. The lamb
must be the failing from the flock, the
best, without blemish, and alive, and
the priest dedicated it to God forever
Few see the depth of the marriage
covenant used in the scriptures as the
symbol of conservation. 1t is, in the
old and in the new testament, employed
as a picture of complete abandonment.
A young man meets young woman at
a church gathering and they walk home
together Nobody thinks anything
about it, They are at church next
Sunday and no attention is attracted,
but when they are attending church
regularly, and are spending much time
together-well, somebody's going to
talk Pretty soon folks are specializing
WI ha 70 no
then comes the time when he asks her
to marry him. and with joy if their love
is of God she accepts him. and he places
upon her hand the ring that is the sign
of their betrothal But ere this she
has thought of what this is to mean,
and comes to know that it means sac
rifice, eparation-sacrifice of the old
home. separation from loved ones, pos
.iibly to go to another city or another
land and never see them again, but
with JOY she is ready to make the
sacrifice
But suppose the next day she should
walk down the street and on the cor
ner see her betrothed flirting with an
other woman. She would be lacking in
everything noble and womanly if she
did not tear from her hand the badge
of her betrothal; hurl it from her as
a thing despised, and never speak to
him again; for no man can flirt and
again assert his manhood, for he has
lost the right to claim for himself the
attribute of manhood | repeat that
the man who f1irts is damnable and
yet our movies TEEN with pictures of
flirtatiOns, our shelves groan with
books that treat the marriage relation
lightly, and which ought to be taken
out into the street and made into big
suggestions that are worse than the
teachings of free love.
But suppose this does not happen,
and we pass on to the wedding day
The girl, as she approaches the altar,
finds every step one of joy and victory
if their love is true and approved of
God, but yet she realizes that she is
entering upon conservation. She is
abandoning her own name, casting it
in with that of the man at her side;
she is putting her reputation into his
reputation, entirely submerging herself,
her identity. her personality, in his,
so long as you both do live; not only
through this life, but through the life
beyond. Then why this looseness in
other things in our lives The marriage
contract is life contract, although it's
true that, back east, the best society
has fixed it up so that there's a divorce
coupon on the end of the marriage
ticket
IF two persons can contract for the
years of life in this way, knowing
nothing of what the future holds; if
heathendom can SINCE its flesh to APP
pease its gods; if the mother can toss
to the crocodiles in the sacred Ganges
her babe and watch the beast crush it's
skull to propitiate her idols, it is less
than right, it is wicked. to do less for