Religion and Life

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23809, 9 November 1940, Page 6 (Supplement)

Religion and Life

THE pages of the Gospels give evidence how often the word "treasure" was upon our Lord's lips. In His Sermon on the Mount it stands for the chief good which men seek to possess. Some, He says, lay up treasure "on earth," They love the stuff of life for its own sake. They are happy in possessing gay clothing, costly houses, broad acres, ample balances, expanding businesses. To these and their like they give first place. They may or may not pay tribute to religion and conform to its ordinances, but their j "treasure" belongs to the earthly ! realm. It can be weighed and measured by material tests. "Money is our god and we worship it six days a week," said one not seldom seen in church to the writer a whilo ago. The candid confession reminds us of Silas Marner and his pot of gold. He ran his fingers through the treasured sovereigns in secret hours, a miser to his heart's core. Thero is an easy mistake to be avoided here. Jesus is certainly thinking of the prosperous worldling, but not of him alone. His audience that day were largely humble folk. They lived on plain food, dressed in modest garb, dwelt perhaps in mud houses, as "dig through," the expression in the original, seems to suggest. These are the people whom Jesus is warning against laying up "treasure" on earth. Worldlinesg is a spirit and the bumble may be _enslaved by it as well as the rich. For it is not money hut the "love of money," the making of it a final good, that is the "root of all kinds of evil." Imperishable Possessions Now, said Jesus, that is a mean and mistaken view of what "treasure" really is, and wise men seek their chief joys elsewhere. They set their hearts upon a treasure laid up "in heaven." They scorn to toil and play the miser merely for material ends. They know tlic value of material good and do not despise what it can procure, but money is not their god and they do not worship Mammon six days a week. They lay up treasure "in heaven"; that is, in the heavenly sphere, in a World .of; true V values .and .imperishable

By PHILEMON

possessions. What is this heavenly and enduring treasure? Money we know, lands we survey, shares and markets we discuss, but what is this which our Lord sets far above them all ? A striking phrase supplies the answer. Jesus. once said a man might be "rich toward God," rich that is in spiritual possessions upon which the divine favour rests. And all His teaching shows that this treasure of the heart is what we call character. It is the wealth of a sincere and cultivated mind, of a pure and affectionate heart, of love in its most gracious charities, of willing service rendered to all humankind, and there is none by whom it may not be laid up, nor is any impoverished because another possesses it. Such treasure Ho possessed who had not where to lay His head. Such treasure, too. His chief disciple had, the tentmaker who laboured with his own hands. The Good Samaritan and his kind are of this same company; and Wesley, who transformed his England and left "two silver spoons and the Methodist Church"; and John Coleridge Patteson and "Tamate" and John Whiteley. And what shall I more say, for space is lacking, to extend the shining roll. Treasures of the Soul Hero alone is the treasure whose worth never fluctuates, whose security no envious hand can disturb. Rust and the moth consume our costliest possessions, the thief "digs through" and steals, and should the walls prevent him there is a Inst Thief whom 110 barrier can withstand. The grim proverb has it: "There are no poekets in a shroud." Material treasure has no lasting quality. But that which is laid up in heaven "wo hold secure wliilo all things else arc turned to dust." Little-Fpith, in Bunvan's allegory, was assaulted and robbed in Dead Man's Lane and lay stunned and bleeding. But when ho came to himself lie discovered that the thieves had taken only his spending-money, his treasure on earth. The place of his "jewels." bis treasure in heaven, they found not. "so he kept them still." They belonged to Buskin's fourth order of treasure and wore safe: treasures of the court which the moth mav treasures of th<? camp, imperilled by rust; treasures of the counting-house, which thieves may invade; treasures of the soul, which are "beyond the scathe of robber and of rust." "Thus faith and liopo and love last on." j