Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 176, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1916 — MAN'S DUTY PLAIN [ARTICLE]

MAN'S DUTY PLAIN

God Has Bestowed on All the Privilege of Helping Souls to Him. "And as thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone.”—l Kings 20:40. These words are taken from an Old < Testament parable. The prophet who used them had disguised both himself and his purpose. . He appeared before the monarch with a mask of ashes upon his face and with a mask of uncertainty upon his words. Indeed the prophet disguised himself so thoroughly that the world has never found out who he was; he also disguised his words so that their first import is by no means plain. But, lifting them out of their Immediate connection, we shall quickly find some application for ourselves and for our present work. There are several things that appear at once on the surface of the story. A man had been made responsible for the keeping of another; this responsibility had been imposed by a high authority; for a reason plainly stated he had failed of his trust; when he came to himself he looked about and found that his prisoner had fled; certain disasters and penalties followed upon his negligence. All these points, which do no violence to the ancient meaning, ffiay well be fitted into a parable of the Christian life. Without further explanation we shall seek for the lessons of the simple word. “First, then, we ' have been made responsible for the reaching and keeping of the souls of men for a higher authority—God himself. It is difficult for us to realize the full Import of such a suggestion. Perhaps at times we have wished that God had put us In a world of relations and had still left us without responsibility for others. But in our better moments we feel the goodness' of the ties that bind us to men, and we glory In the divine partnership that our human help fairly implies. In his ways God has put us in each other’s keeping.

Bringing Men to God, It may not always be easy to say just where human influence ends and the divine calling comes in; not possible to say just where the free will of the other man takes up our work and completes it by his own loving surrender; but that God gives'us the fearful privilege of bringing men to him there can be no doubt. In the Christian view, every man must appear to us as a candidate for the divine grace; nor do we dare to set limit to that responsibility. Vast as is the task of bringing about a universal discipleship, it is just this duty that the Lord has set before us. The rest of the world is in our charge. What can the Master say if we fail of our very reason for being and come home at the end of our season of harvesting without any sheaves for the heavenly garner? The truth is that we do not want any person to be lost. We do not deliberately allow men to be lost. The greatest thing Is simply crowded out. We are “busy here and there.” Our carelessness in reference to souls grows out of our busy-ness in reference to things. It .is this matter of commerce; it is that party; It Is the reading of this book; it is that lecture; it is this social call ; it is that committee meeting. Life Is so complex. We are so busy—God help us! —that ere we know it our spiritual chance is gone. But One Poor Answer. Is not all this the transcript of your feelings? You are not heartless ; you are merely busy. Some day the king of the kingdom eternal stands before you and says: “Where is that one that was your special eharge?” Your j?oor answer comes up to him, the best and only answer you can give, and yet a shameful answer, “As thy servant was busy here and there, he was gone." And this brings us to the thought that the result of carelessness through busy-ness is the same as that of deliberate neglect. The prisoner has gone, Just as surely as if the guard had broken the chains, pointed the path of escape, and said: “Go; I will not molest you.” The result is one; the man is gone in either case.

Evil Is wrought for want of thought As well as want of heart. The lesson may be applied also to each individual. God has put Into your charge one person whom he requires that you shall hold for himself. That person Is you. It may be well to ask if you are not escaping from yourself, if the fine, sweet nature that loved God in childhood, prayed to him each day, believed in him and rejoiced in the story of his love, is not Slipping away from yourself. It is possible for a man to be so busy “here and there” that his very best self shall escape and go off into the far country. "• Call back that best of self powi It is a trust from God. Let it not be that in the end you shall have to say of yourself: “As I was busy here and there, he was gone.” —Bishop Edwin IL Hughes.