Building for Eternity.

REV. H. B. HARTZLER, D.D.,

Bible Teacher, Moody's Training School, Mount Hermon, Mass.

"W

HEN a man builds his home," says T. DeWitt Talmage, "he builds for eternity." The saying is true; yet the home itself is only for time, and not for eternity. It is only a part of the scaffolding on which the builder for eternity is doing his work of raising up the imperishable walls of human character. When the work of time is done, the scaffolding falls away, and only the spiritual structure remains, "a house not made with hands," indestructible and eternal. Looking out from the home window, upon the whole wide realm of the material world, with all its latter-day wonders of science, art, and discovery, and all its bewildering variety and complexity of appliances, we see but a larger part of a vast system of temporal scaffolding, upon which the builders for eternity find temporary footing and facility to carry on the real, abiding work of life.

One of the greatest of men, who had an experience perhaps never paralleled in human history, in being permitted to pass the line of the unseen and return again, with untranslatable visions and experiences in his heart, to climb the earthly scaffolding and carry his unfinished work to completion, declares that "the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." So the testimony of God, through all ages, has been that this material, temporal frame of nature is to serve a temporary purpose, for a season of time which to him is but as "one day," or as "a watch in the night," and then shall fall away, as the husk from the ripe

corn, as the scaffolds from the finished building, disclosing the great structure in all its details, on which all the generations of men have wrought, and of which they form constituent parts.

When Jesus, the Divine Teacher, draws the line of division between the wise and the foolish, he puts on one side all those who build their house on the sand, for time only, and on the other side those who build on the rock for eternal security. Paul emphasizes the supreme importance of bedding one's lifework on the one immovable, imperishable foundation-" Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus. Christ." He carries the thought farther, from the foundation to the superstructure, and distinguishes between the perishable and the imperishable materials which the human builders use, with the solemn warning, "Let each one see how he builds on it," for, says he, "if anyone buildeth on this foundation either gold, or silver, or precious stones, or wood, or hay, or stubble, the work of each will be exposed to view; for the day will expose it; because it is to be tested by fire; and the fire will disclose the work of each, of what sort it is. And that builder whose work shall endure will receive his reward. And he whose work shall burn up will suffer loss; yet himself will escape; but it will be as from the fire."

The really valuable, precious, durable materials, represented by gold, silver, and precious stones, which enter into the structure of a life that shall stand approved for eternity, are all unseen and spiritual. Christ specifies some of them when he calls the roll of the blessed ones-the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the hungerers after righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, the sufferers for righteousness' sake. Peter admonishes the builders for eternity to add layer to layer on the walls of character-faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, love. Paul's specifications are almost identical, showing that both had learned the art and science of spiritual architecture from the same Divine Master. They are these-love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.

A structure built on the foundation of Christ, of such materials as these, is fire-proof, storm-proof, time-proof, judgmentproof, eternity-proof. It shall stand, when the "wood, hay, and stubble" houses shall have gone up in smoke, "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Not less true than beautiful is the thought expressed by Frederick W. Robertson in these words: "Feelings pass; thoughts and imagination pass; dreams pass; work remains. Through eternity, what you have done, that you are. They tell us that not a sound has ever ceased to vibrate through space; that not a ripple has ever been lost upon the ocean. Much more is it true that not a true thought, nor a pure resolve, nor a loving act, has ever gone forth in vain." Even so, for they have all gone into the solid structure of character that is eternal.

Says Dr. J. G. Holland, "Labor, calling, profession, scholarship, and artificial and arbitrary distinction of all sorts are incidents and accidents of life, and pass away. It is only manhood that remains." As Apelles, the famous Grecian artist, wrought with painstaking care upon his pictures, he said, “I am painting for eternity." But the artist laid down his brush over two thousand years ago, and only the man remains.

Building for eternity! How startling and soul-arresting the thought! It can be done only in time, and all the eternity of the builder hangs upon the character thereof. It must be finished before the material footing of time gives way, and the scaffolding of the body, with its related world timbers, falls. The work is great and wonderful. The time for its performance is short. Nothing else, amidst all the contending claims of life, is of equal importance. Christ, who knows all about. both worlds, sets this work on the forefront of all endeavor, as the supreme and all-embracing object of the highest, holiest ambition. The man who reverses this order is branded as a fool, who loses his eternity and himself in the poor, perishable gain of a few fleeting years-buying the self-indulgence of an hour with the price of a soul and an eternity of unmeasured possibilities of blessedness and glory.

For this great work of life God has not left the poor, groping, blundering builder to his own wit and wisdom. He has not thrown him back upon his own resources of human nature. He himself has drawn the plan and given the specifications. In the Bible he has put it all down so plainly and simply, that even the fool, with that wonderful manual in his hand, need not err. He even offers to come into lowly partnership for co-operation in the work, to give power, to make his strength perfect in human weakness, to take the heaviest burdens himself. He has given his solemn pledge that not one thing of all that is necessary to the completion and perfection of the work shall fail on his part.

One by one the workmen, the builders for eternity, are dismissed from their work. How unspeakably sad and heartbreaking will it be to the foolish builders to see the work of a whole lifetime, of every toil and care, vanish in the testing fire of the day of God! "Wood, hay, stubble!" Time, strength, talent, painful application, all wasted and lost! Houseless, homeless, hopeless for evermore!

But how glorious, builders, will be the day that shall declare the work of a lifetime approved by God, and reveal the perfected temple of character, unhurt by the fire, "found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ"! Oh, blessed fullness of compensation for all the toils and tears, the sacrifices and sufferings, of this little life! To be forever with the Lord! To have a permanent place in that "city never built with hands, or heavy with the years of time; a city whose inhabitants no census has numbered; a city through whose streets rushes no tide of business, nor nodding hearse creeps slowly with its burden to the tomb; a city without griefs or graves, without sins or sorrows, without births or burials, without marriages or mournings; a city which glories in having Jesus for its King, angels for its guards, saints for citizens; whose walls are salvation, and whose gates are praise."

Into that city of God, with life's work well done, may writer and reader at last have an abundant entrance.

Our Great Ledger Account.

PROF. GEORGE S. GOODSPEED, PH.D., of the University of Chicago.

THE

HE evening hour is approaching. The day's work is almost over. We have made many entries during the busy

hours, but have not found time to sum them up and compare debit and credit, to know where we stand. It is well to do so now before we go home. Rest will be sweeter and the evening hour undisturbed, if we have made out the balance sheet. Then to-morrow we can go back to our work refreshed, with no unfinished tasks lying in our onward pathway. And if we should die, there will be no errors for our successor to correct, and no ugly snarls for the expert to unravel.

Not every one of us keeps accounts. There are some very careful people, who, in their family life, are extraordinarily systematic and laborious in the reckoning of their receipts and expenses. Then there are others so constituted that they do not know where the money goes, or whence it comes, and they do not care. But in one sphere we are all bookkeepers, and our library, if it has no other book in it, has a ledger, which we are at work upon every moment of our waking hours. It is the book which we open from the first day of conscious responsibility and close only as the night of death draws down. Then, indeed, we take it with us where we can take nothing else, and, on the last great day, we bring it before the great Master Accountant when "the books are opened," and we read out from it the record of the past, the balance sheet which determines the place and manner of our future activity through the endless ages. This kind of accounts we cannot avoid if we