Newspaper Page Text
September 25, 1912] THE I
This huge matter,?the soul, sin and redemption
from it. This high theme: God and his rights,.
authority and government. Eternity, the world'
in which it is to be passed and the grandeur of
being in which he may spend it. These things
the this-worldling disregards, distorting and
dwarfing himself and all his ideals, deadening his
moral and spiritual nature, losing the grandest
thoughts, motives and inspirations that can stir
n.oli II- J -
aiiu uan rni-u. julu, su, urops oui ox cue suDiime
enterprise which should lift hiin to share Divinity
itself; loses the very in-coming of the Divine
Nature which would make him a Son of God indeed.
This Christian Saint, doing all that others
can rightly do, enjoying all that they rightly enjoy,
a man in all things in which they play the
man, leaps out beyond them, arises up above them
to be a king and prince in these grander fields,
these diviner enterprises. Boasting nothing, but
heir of all things, he takes up the sublime work of
God, empowered with all wisdom and all might,
stands in the fellowship of Jesus in suffering,
in service and in joy. By his holy labors and
loving ministries he lifts not himself alone, but
his fellows out of sin, above the low horizons of
earth, away from the mere life of the senses into
the life of the spirit, into the powers of the
worlds to come, into the ranges of the infinite,
into vital and holy union with the Christ of
God.
This Saint of my heart's love, of my highest
admiration, of Christ's ideal! He shall not be
a dim, fleshless, bloodless figure mooning like a
ghost in white, afar from the affairs of men in a
delusive realm of ecstacy. He shall be this glowing,
hot-hearted boy, who leaps and shouts and
claps his hands in all the exultations of his young
body and fresh spirit; who has his faults past
hiding or denial, and, knowing that, gives his
heart to Jesus for their righting, who is sorry for
his sins and quits them; who, in all the joy, play
and purpose of living, means first to keep his
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-vuj uuu ovui vxvoui uixu puix*, una men to iieip
every boy about him into a manly, Christian
life. Give me that picture, enfleshed, and I'll
set it over against all the white '' Holy Children''
in the chambers of a false art and an illusive and
bloodless piety of the ages.
She, my saint shall be this merry girl, arch,
sprightly, healthful, with the spring and sweetness
of all the world in her body and soul, delighting
in all beauty, gladness and sport, who
yet loves the Lord Jesus, trusts him for the pardon
of her many sins and by her loving ways
wins insensibly to the feet of her beloved Master
all who love her and light. Where else as in
her shall you find the very Bride of Christ? Mv
Saint shall be this man bending his fine energies
to successful work of the world, winning its honors,
riches and powers as best he can, yet unspotted
from this world, holding his Christly love and
purpose high over all, having time, enterprise
and enthusiasm for every one of the services and
great works of the kingdom of Heaven upon
earth. Give me this picture and I'll match down
with it all the hair-clothed anchorets and win
for it the applause of man and the welcome of
God.
My Saint! She shall be that poor woman, obscure,
unknown, who for her children, her sick
momer, her drunken husband, works out her
patient life into theirs, looking up to God with
penitent sighing over her sins, with reverent hope
of final redemption, toiling on towards the rest
that remaineth, never knowing the halo of an
unearthly glory that surrounds her saintly face.
Give me that picture and I will out-shine with it
all thfe Holy Virgins and placid Madonnas of
Medieval art as the sun out-shines all shhiing
things beside.
God'8 Saint shall be that quiet young pastor
'RESBYTEKIAN OF THE 60
of a feeble country dock, doing hard and wearing
work for God and man, with scant support,
breaking down the hard barriers of sectarian
division, turning aside from alluring suggestions
of larger belda, giving his life to obscurity for
the winning of his little community into the
larger and better life, making his church the
wt-xiici ui. me community me, mulcting tne two
or three struggling Christian groups over into
one for self-support and wide spiritual force.
That man's eternal fame and great reward will
eclipse the renown of all the famous ambitions
of the "great preachers" of the fashionable
churches of the proud centers of trade and
fashion.
God's Saint shall be, above all the rest, that
venerable tigure in the glory of the silver hair
who stands there at the threshold of Immortality
just waiting in perfect peace. Translation!
Looking backward there is sorrow for all the
failures and weaknesses of an imperfect life, but
they are all forgiven and of the past. He cheers
onj wim ueart hill ot generous welcome and all
hail, the young leaders of the better ages that
are coining. From his uplifted hands he scatters
benedictions. The light of the nfew morning
shines on his hair and glows in his radiant
faoe as he is caught up out of our sight in the
Great Ascension! Farewell and all hail, O, thou
perfected and glorified!
This Sainthood for our and for all time! It
is full of fiesh and blood and the Spirit of God.
'Tis sweet as heaven. But the best of it is that
it is very nigh and very possible to every one
of us. Take an instant and noble courage, a
resolute and holy will, a true fellowship with
Jesus, the proffered unction of the Highest!
These boys and girls of ours shall 'be heroes and
Saints indeed. These men and women of ours
shall be grander than the canonized saints of the
ages gone. These churches of ours shall 'be in
truth the lights of the world, the Saviours of
men, the joy and glory of our God and his
Christ, the beauty and fulness of his populous
Heaven!
Ithaca, N. Y.
MORALITY AND RELIGION.
REV. E. P. DAVIS.
Among men there are different classes of perQl\no
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wvuo} 1U)U1 uLug irum omerences in original or
acquired abilities, social position, influence, attainments,
affluence and power; even as there
are various religious denominations, resulting
from different interpretations of the Scriptures.
No such earthly distinctions, however, are recognized
by the omniscient Jehovah; and in the
great final assize all men will be regarded and
treated as religious or irreligious, believers or
unbelievers. It is absolutely impossible from
the nature of the case and from the Bible, for
a moral being to be neither holy nor sinful.
There is no neutral ground between these two
states. The line of demarcation between virtue
and vice God's moral government is distinctly
drawn; and although it often transcends the
power of finite faculties to perceive it, still it
is clearly seen by the uncreated mind.
But if all men are either good or bad, they are
not all equally good or bad. There are innumerable
gradations, both in virtue and vice, in
faith and unbelief. Certainly faithful Abraham
cannot be classed with doubting Thomas;
nor the thief on the cross with Paul. Nor can
we place one mature in all kinds and degrees
of vice in the same category with the strictly
moral man. ' But however near the beautiful
moralist, either in or out of the Church, may
approach true religion in appearance, still he
really is "in the gall of bitterness and in the
OTU (1081) 3
bond ol' iniquity;.' and in these times of intitudinarian
tendencies and superficial religious
views and experiences, it is well, if possible, to
disturb bis carnal security by the infallible tests
of the word of God. And in so doing we must
not fTOntftrrmln t.A an nninh Kio " I "
x ww uuvu mo g^tciuai aois as
his internal principles. Many are apparently
religious. So were the Pharisees of old. They,
regarding themselves as more holy than others,
separated themselves (as their name implies),
and especially condemned sinners and publicans.
They paraded their good works before men,
prayed, long prayers, fasted often, contributed
large suns. ostentatiously and paid the tenth
of all they possessed; and yet Christ said: "Except
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall
in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven."
Matt. 5: 20. The young ruler who went to Jesus
to inquire what he must do to inherit eternal
life doubtless expected to be commended for his
unusual morality by the divine Teacher. He
said that he had kept all the commandments
from his youth. Jesus beholding him, loved him;
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?? mi. uvaituci iicai us scuuueu nib soul unci
found genuine; spirituality wanting; for when
lie was told to go and sell all he had he went
away sorrowful. lie could not endure the test;
he loved his money more than Christ. He was
a beautiful corpse?a whited sepulcher!
Thus it "il? with numbers in modern times.
They are intellectual, courteous, amiable, honest,
truthful, kind, generous, philanthropic and even
conscientious, and they constantly manifest laudable
dispositions in numerous ways. They have
what the ancients called the cardinal virtues:
prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude, and
think these qualities necessarily make them religious.
They perform with scrupulous care
many of the social and civil duties of life, attend
church, listen attentively, read their Bibles,
support Christ's cause and are guilty of no
flagrant sius. Such persons deserve high commendation;
but we are compelled to affirm that
they may do these things, and exercise these
dispositions, and still be the enemies of Qod;
for they may be actuated by sinister motives,
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anu uoq judges and rewards and punishes actions
in accordance with the motives which
prompted them. The motive may be desire for
applause or desire to remain or become respectable,
or it may be the best policy to act thus,
or they may be simply acting out their moral
constitution. For if the fall did impair, it did
not annihilate our powers. A great many marks
of pristine sublimity remain. The soul still exercises
natural affections; the will is in bondage
only in spiritual concerns; the conscience approves
of virtuous and disapproves of vicious
conduct; reason, too, has survived the shock;
and so proud is she that she often arrogates to
lie reel f the prerogatives of Deity and scorns
other light to guide her through this wilderness
of death. Moral and religious men hare so far
a community of attributes and in moral men
constitutional loveliness may be us attractive as
in religious men. But moralists may possess all
these natural powers and still all their states of
heart, thoughts, words and actions be abominable .
in God's sight.
What, then, is the essential difference between
morality and religion? The answer is: Christian
love. The essence of religion, like the essence
of God, is love; while the essence of morality is
selfishness. Supreme love to God and love to
our fellow men measured by self-love are the
true pillars on which' true piety rests. The ethical
systems of Confucius, Socrates, Zoroaster,
Aristotle and Seneca were utterly destitute of
this divine principle. Christian love is the all(Continued
on page 11.)