The Pleasantville press., 1923-12-22

affairs of this life without religion az
well as with it. With some, to be
a Christian is simply to line up with
highly respectable people. With 9TH
ers, 1t is the question of playing safe,
for, they think, if one is Christian
It Is no difference whether there Is
hereafter or not.
We are accustomed to say of some
things, they are not matters OF life
or death, but this is not such Ques-
ton.
What is life2 What will mdn not
give to prolong it? The heart OF every
man leaps when he hears Of some new
discovery or sure-eure for tubercu-
losis, cancer or diabetes. or of some
new discovery as to the lengthening OF
life. On the other hand, what Is more
dreaded than death? While now and
then we hear of reckless suicide. the
mass Of men flee from death.
/. There is life and life. One is
real and the other is only existing.
The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ
offers to man something that Is so
different from what he is by nature
that coming into its possession Is
passing from death to life. Life, how
ever, should be ordinarily considered
from the standpoint of quality rather
than quantity, although the latter
must receive consideration. Some
people merely exist. They are like the
tree whose leaves are withered, barely
living, and affording NO shade from
the heat Of the sun nor fruit for the
husbandman. You will see hundreds,
even thousands Of men, the majority
Of them not old, clothed in rags, uR-
shaven and broken in body. These
are alive, but they do not illustrate
true life. Man can have abundance Of
life If he will. Young people have life
overiowing, and you cannot repress 1t.
There are others, however, who
have something even beyond this life
that was given them when in their
poverty and wretchedness they looked
away to Him who said: "The water
that I shall give him shall be In him
q well of water springing up into
everlasting life" These are Chris
tians, and they are the only people on
the earth that have life indeed.
2. But life must be considered from
the standpoint of Its quantity. Men
are now seeking to lengthen human
life so that the seventy or eighty years
Of the Psalmist shall be extended to
ninety or q hundred. Life that has
no end should be the aim of every
man, life In the spirit, which means
not life Of quantity only, but Of quail
ity as weal John Banyan's pilgrim
ran, with his fingers in his ears, cry
ing: Life, life, eternal life!" The pill
thing about him and wanted life, and
ran from the place of death. Who is
now very much concerned about the
death Of the soul? How many are
now crying out for the life OF the
soul? Much of this indifference to the
prevailing death and to the promise OF
life, is perhaps to be laid at the feet
of many ministers of the gospel, for
rarely do they present life and death
as it Ia in the mind Of God and pro
claimed Ia His Word.
What is death, the death of the
soul? 1t is being sent away from the
presence Of God ferever-death never
ending, with no hope Of life. Whe
now fears hell? Mem and women
laugh at Jonathan Edwards, john
Wesley and George Whitfield, a. they
portrayed the death Of he'll in terms
that sent tarrSr into the sosis Of their
hearers. And II ysu seek for those
who plainly speak Of death, who
speaks more plainly than the Son OF
God Himself He who yearned over
men who were sinking TO the death Of
heIl7 Let all beware Of sneerlnE At
hell of which Jesus spoke.
On the ether hand, who hears much
about heaven, the place Of eternal
Hfe7 Baxter's Saints Rest" dees not
have great vogue in these days.
Heaven is described in the Scriptures
and by holy men of the centuries, but
Is now made butt OF ridicule. Heaven
Is the place where God is, where the
risen Christ is, where for ever and
ever will be the multitude of the re-
deemed through the blood Of Jesus
Christ. and it will be a place where
the tree OF life shall forever furnish
It's choicest fruits