The Pleasantville press. (Pleasantville, N.J.) 1912-1929, 1922-05-31

This is different. Quite likely 1t Is bet
ter than the fare to which l am ac-
customed. To refuse to eat Is TO re-
ject something pleasant.
And so it is; the line must De
drawn between the pleasant, u
harmful; and the less pleasant, but
holy. The Christian is saved by one
and he follows One whose ways nj
exactly into this portion of Scripture,
for he forfeited the sweet morsels ana
the elaborate b%anquets, and accepted
the hunger. and thirst by the way
leading to the cross.
There are other dainties upon which
one may feed besides those Which are
pleasant to the appetite. Dainties OF
landscape, dalnties of apparel, dainties
of literature, dainties of abode. Not
many people possess all of these at
once and few people possess many OF
them. But Christian people have met
the crisis In which they have settled
that there are things they are willing
20 do without. Not only that they
have duly considered things they
would prefer Z do without because
over against them Is something of
greater worth than they all. Happy
the man who has fully decided that
Lazarus at the gate is richer than the
man who fares sumptuously every day.
Lazarus has tomorrow stored away in
the saf~ety-deposit box of the grace
of God, but for the man At whose gate
he lies. tomorrow spells everlasting
bankruptcy.
The Children Of Israel went after
the nations that were round about
them, concerning whom the Lord had
charged them that they should not
do like them" III Kings 1T:15.) The
Prophet Amos pictures them as a
people who abound In ~superfluities."
Thus they claimed these cheap and
perishing things while they turned
from the sure covenant and the unfail-
ing providence Of God. Through the
eye they saw and through the ear
they heard and through the lusts OF
the flesh they vent after the delusive
sights and songs and deeds exempli-s
fed BY the iaelrEonshiRaeM @hei<
4e~Ighborhood. We must guard against
the same sinful tendeney today. Since
our Lord Jesus Christ paid the entire
debt and we receive His grace with
out money and without price, we must
consider that He does not save us that
we may lightly regard His will.
Make of it what we may, the Chris
tlan Is a pilgrim and a stranger on
the earth, q pilgrim journeying home
and a stranger on a sphere where his
Lord was cruclied. There Is a vast
difference between our living in the
n~eighborhood and our allowing the
neighborhood, to live its God-defying
program in u souls.
What are those dainties when care
fully examined? Men risk all for
them, but the ardent quest Is a de-
fusion. Do they imply indulgence Of
appetite? What If with it Is the sure
loss of physical health? Is T. that
one hungers for fame? What If with
the ambition for distinction comes al
so the betrayal of the most enthusi-
astic flatterer of all those who urged
us on? Did you pay all for beauty?
And did you with 1t become possessor
of the virus of incurable disease? But
these are only illustrations Of the
fact that the many dainties of the
wicked have fellowships from which
they never permanently part com
pany. Happy the day when a man
draws the dividing line between good
and bad with flaming fire so that to
go down to the bad means to HIN that
he would have to pass through the
flame.
o, it is great to step over the line
that divides between things and Jesus.
Just to see Him with the eyes of the
heart until the glory of His face
shines upon the things men consider
dainties and reveals how easily they
decay or how quickly they leave "a or
how great are the losses they bring
with them. But do not begin by trying
to cross that line. Begin by receiving
Jesus Christ. This moment it may be
forbidden dainties, but the next /. is,
Jesus saves. The forbidden dainties
will claim you until you receive Him.
What you have may seem all attrac-
tive until He Is yours.
But l have dainties of which the
workers Of iniquity cannot partake.
Have you never partaken of them?
Then come to the feast. They will ap-
pear ut their full value one day when
we who are in bodies of humiliation
now, shall find mortality swallowed
up of llfe." There Is the grace of
God for us. No earthly field yields it.
1t brings all the bounty: Love, Joy,
peace, long suffering, goodness. fdel-
ity, meekness, temperance! Such dain-
tiesl Come to the feast. Drop your
loaded basket as If enroute to a picnic,
for here there is enough and to
spare" What you can bring will per-
ish; what God provides never fails.