THAT "CONTINUAL CALL FOR MONEY."
By W. N. Glenn
THERE is no service which calls for such absolute and abiding devotion as that which is due and required in the service of God. Ancient Israel was not only the church of God for its day, but was typical of the church for all time. Though some of its outward forms were done away, they contained principles which were permanent. They were given by authority of Heaven, and besides serving a special purpose in that dispensation, they were, like all the Scriptures, "written for our learning." In the twenty-first chapter of Exodus there are directions given concerning servants: "If thou buy a Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve, and in the seventh he shall go out free." But if the servant should prefer to remain in servitude, then it was provided that "his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him forever." Here is illustrated the absolute, permanent service required by our Master of all who become his servants by accepting the terms of his purchase. There is no six years, or any other definite time contemplated; it is a service forever. "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." Some church-members complain of the expense necessary in the work of the gospel, and say, "I thought the gospel was free; I have always heard about the free gift, and salvation being without money and without price, but now there is a continual call for money." My brother, how came it to be a free gift? Was it not at someone's expense? Didn't someone make a great sacrifice that salvation might be free to you and me? I read in that "golden text," John 3:16, that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." What money could equal such a price? It cost God a sacrifice of infinite value. Again, Jesus, the "good Shepherd," says, "I lay down my life for the sheep." Who can conceive of a greater price? Verily that free gift, without money and without price, was a costly one. Now, ye that are claiming the benefits of this free gospel, consider for a moment the relation of the reclaimed sinner to the Master who has purchased him at so great a cost. Have we not, in accepting the proffered boon, promised a life-long service? If our conversion was genuine, then the Master has bored our ears ("digged," as David says in the fortieth psalm, sixth verse, margin), and we have become his servants forever. In that case we can hold nothing in our own name—all belongs to the Master. If he allows us to retain nine-tenths for our voluntary usage, are there not some obligations arising out of the privilege? Again, what is the evidence of that thorough conversion which entitles us to be called Christ's servants or disciples? It is that ye "bear much fruit." For ourselves? No, for him. How can we be "good and faithful servants" for Christ, unless he receives the profits of our labor? But there is another test: "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Rom. 8:9. Then if we are Christ's we will do as he did. We will not be satisfied with the joys of Heaven for ourselves, but will have a burning desire for the salvation of others. Christ could have stayed in Heaven and had it all free, "without money and without price;" but in order that others, who were shut out through the deceptions of Satan, might enjoy the same blessings, he was willing to pay a great price on their account. Now suppose that we have salvation laid before us at no cost to ourselves, can we retain our claim of being Christ's, while turning our backs upon all efforts to save others? No, certainly not. That disposition would at once cut us off from him. The moment we show an unwillingness to lay down all, even life itself, for the salvation of our fellow-men; that moment we fail to manifest the Spirit of Christ. Salvation was sent to earth free of cost to the fallen race; but everyone who receives the good news is thereby made "debtor" to his fellow-men, to enlighten them also. Rom. 1:14. The obligation is laid upon him to use every available means to give the gospel to all the world. His own salvation depends upon his having this spirit of Christ. This principle here set forth was recognized by the first converts under the preaching of the apostles after the ascension of the Lord. The record says: "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul; neither said any of them that aught of the things which he possessed was his own." Acts 4:32. "Neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet." Verses 34, 35. Thus, by a recognition of their true relationship to the Master, they avoided the unpleasant sound of the "continual call for money," and saved the ministers of the word the mortification of continually having to make the call. W. N. GLENN.