KING.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 13983, 14 August 1909, Page 6

KING.

In chess the king, of course, is the most valuable piece; for tHbugh he cannot be taken, he may be checkmated, and to be checkmated is to lose the game. The whole game centres round the king. Every move in chess is an attack on the king. So it is in life. The greatest factor in your life and mine is the "King of Kings and the Lord of Lords." Life derives its importance and quality from its relationship to theDivine King. .When Pilate brought Jesus forth after his trial, he said to the Jews, "Behotfl your King." They answered, "We have no king but Caesar." There was some excuse for their rejection of Christ as their king, for they knew not as we do, that Jesusis the King of Angels, King of men. We know it, and the man who rejects the Christ checkmates him : the game of life is lost. The Christless life i» impoverished of moral quality. To re•fuse Him free course through and over our lives spells irreparable loss to our characters. For he is in us the dynamic that mates for righteousness of life and beauty of character. If a ruffianly iconoclast were to shatter the Apollo. Belvedere in the Vatican, or the Venus, de Medici in. Florence, the whole world of taste would grieve over an irreparable artistic loss. But if we destroy the image of Christ in our lives, who shall replace Him? The sovereign ideal would be lost and all character suffer impoverishment and eclipse. But thank God the Christ cannot be destroyed, though he may bY checkmated. You may draw your blinds down over your windows and keep' out the sun. but yotr cannot destroy the sun. You m»y spurn the Christ hut you cannot dc> away with Him. You may treat Hin>with' studied neglect but you cannotcool the ardour of His love, for He is the "King of love." And therein lies the hope of the human race, that all our sins can never change nor cool the love of Christ for us. Lastly there is the piece called the