Sunday Column.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 June 1913, Page 4

Sunday Column.

ON BEING FOOLS FOR CHRIST'& SAKE. • How Men Judge anil how God Judges. (By. Dr.J. H. Jowett). No one can go through the worlc without being called a fool hy somebody. It may bring honour or ii may bring disgrace; it all depends on the worth and worthiness of the man who speaks it. Some men's reproaches are titles of nobilityj and they can be worn with secret pride in the presence of the Lord. No man can be a faithful follower of Christ without confronting the assaults of the world. He will of necessity ' have to disappoint its expectancies and antagonise its policies and ways. By his very calling he will fling away many of its ambitions, and ignore its garlands and its crowns. We have to refuse what often appears to the man of the world to be the man's chance, and 1 in the moment of our refusal we shall hear the loud laughter of the world and we shall be victims of its contemptuous jeers. : And happy shall we bo if the contempt does not unman or disturb us, and it without bitterness or panic we can take up the indignity, make a laurel of it, wrap it round our brows, and quietly say with the Apostle Paul, "We are fools for Christ's sake." I want to look at some of theso distinguished "fools," who ma\ to-day be found to-day withifci the circle of the Christian Church. "Fools" in Money." There is a company of stalwart and- radiant fools who are ready to sacrifico money for principle. Doors of opportunity open before" them and they look upon enticing possibilities of filling their purses. But it can only be done by trampling upon rectitude at the very" threshold of the enterprise. And so they decline the inviting prospects and lose what the world regards as a main chance. They are denounced as arrant fools by successful men who stop at nothing to enrich their possessions. But what do those fools gain ? They begin to pile up riches in all that makes life luminous and strong, and that fills it with the wealth of God's wohderful peace. When a man deliberately turns his back upon tainted possibilities, when he refuses to enter the open door, if entrance would bruise the fair spirit of virtue, he begins to clothe himself with shining garments of moral and spiritual greatness. He may lose ease, hut he discovers peace. He may lose a cortain conviviality, he discovers the springs of joy; he loses temporary flare, lie finds the light- that shines through -night and day. Fools Who won'.s Sell Conscience for Office." There is another company of distinguished fools who are ready to sacrifice office for the sake of conviction. They prefer tfie fellowship of their own uninjured conscience to the honours and emoluments of high station. A comparatively poor man in the Cabinet sacrifices his seat because ho is not in harmony with the proclaimed policy of his ■party. He is regarded as a fool who has thrown away his chance, and who has tragically ended his career. A minister sacrifices Lis office in a church because he is no longer able to accept the credal statements which have served their purpose in other years. I have one in mind as I write. He was brilliant, faithful, gracious and gentle, but- he quickly surrendered his office because -lie could no longer hold it with truth and self-respect, and ho is now earning a precarious living. The man who moves from the security of office into the uncertainty of unknown ways, because truth beckons him on, finds amazincompensations along the way. '•Fools'' Who Risk Thcir ' F(lt(n . o I here is a third company 0 f apostolic fools, who sacrifice bright and weal thy prospects for the obscure un certainties of a foreign field. We iad hi the Church at Birmingham « Inghly-g.fted girl with a "brilliant co ego lecord, and exercising deep and healthy influence in the school "•hero si lo M - a , s a distinguished teacher And she came and offerer] erse 01 China. She had sciarcey learned the language before the uoxer riots broke out, and she was among the first of the martyred band who laid down their lives for Christ. \heu first she volunteered, I remember how many shrank from the apparent sacrifice, alid how tlioy regarded her as throwing her life J ~lm l )el ' foc % slll 'o young Saul of Tarsus had to bear tho contemptuous charge of folly times without number. Many would say "Your training, your attainments, your popularity with Gamaliel; their is n< uppermost scat you cannot reach, and to go and fling yourself away on the mad adventures of a young a'Kl uiikiiown Nazarene, you are a fool!"

What God's "Fools" Have Achieved. •So it has ever been. Men and women have cordially accepted tho pain and discomfiture of tho foroigr. fiek\ and have gladly left the comfort and

certainties of tlio home laud* But' what these "fools" have achieved 1 God has raightly equipped them with His own grace, and they have sat at the King's table, and they havo had wonderful table talk with their Host. But these are not real fools. We must seek the fools elsewhere. There are fools whom tho world puts its garlands upon, atnd chairs them in triumphal procession, amid the joyful outbursts of popular acclaim. Here are some of them: "They that were foolish took their lamps but took no oil in them." They stepped forward into the unknown, having made not preparation for the journey. They went forward into the crises, and had 110 resource for the midnight. "The night cometh." It surely cometli, the season of weakness, and sorrow, and death, the fool takes no oil with him. -And here is another ex- [ ample of the company of fools: "The foolish man, whrch built his house upon tho sand." We see them everywhere, building and building, hut no taking any thought of the foundation. And already the floods are gathering 011 the hills, and the storm is brewiiug mat will bring their structure to naught. And her© is one other, typical of the great number described by our Master, as pathetic fools: "Thous fool this night they soul shall bo required of thee." Not they money, not thy glittering rank, "thy , soul." And that was the meanest and most neglected portion in the man's possession. When the Lord called him hence, he left all his wealth behind and took his poverty with him.