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September 25, 1U12] THE I
This huge matter,?the soul, sin and redemptiou
from it. This high theme: Uud and his rights,
authority and goverumeut. Eternity, the world'
iu 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
and exalt men. lie, so, drops out of the sublime
enterprise which should lift him to share Divinity
itself; loses the very in-coming of the Divine
-Nature which would make him a Sou of God indeed.
This Christian Saint, doing all that others
can rightly do, enjoying all that they rightly >.ujoy,
a man iu all things iu which they play the
mau, leaps out beyond them, arises up above them
to be a king and prince in these grander lields,
these diviner enterprises. Boasting nothing, but
heir of all things, ho takes up the sublime work of
Bod, empowered with all wisdom and all might,
stands in the fellowship of Jesus in suffering,
in service and in joy. By his holy labor?; and
loving ministries lie 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 iSaint of my heart's love, of my highest
admiration, of Christ's ideal! He shall not be
a dim, tleshless, bloodless figure mooning like a
yuusL m wnue, aiar lrorn the affairs of men in a
delusive realm oi* eestacy. lie shall be this glowing,
liot-hearted boy, who leaps and shouts and
elaps 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
body and soul eleau and pure, and then to help
every boy about him into a manly, Christian
life, (live me that picture, enfieshed, 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, deliirhtint?
in all Kooufn ?' "1 -?? ?J
-0??0 ui > ?/v>uukj j QiauiJL'5i nilci sporij WHO
yet loves the Lord -Jesus, trusts him for t)he pardon
of her many sins and by her loving ways
wins insensibly tc 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? My
Saint shall be this man bending his line 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
lur it me applause of man and the welcome of
God.
My Saint! She shall be that poor woman, obscure,
unknown, who for her children, her sick
mother, 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 the Holy Virgins and placid Madonnas of
Medieval art as the sun out-shines all shining
things beside.
God's Saint shall be that quiet young pastor
RESBYTERIAN OF THE SO
of a feeble country dock, doing hard and wearing
work for God and man, with scant support,
breaking down the hard barriers ol' sectarian
division, turning aside from alluring suggestions
of larger lields, giving his life to obscurity for
the winning of his little community into the
larger and better life, making his church the
center of the community life, building the two
or three struggling Christian groups over into
one for self-support and wide suiritua.1 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.
Uod'.s Saint shall be, above all the rest, that
venerable ligure 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, lie cheers
on, with heart full of generous welcome and all
hail, the young leaders of the better ages that
are coming. From his uplifted hands he scatters
benedictions. The light of the new morning
shines on his hair sinH ....
? va gwuu iu xxuo lauioui
lace as lie is caught up out ol our sight iu the
Great Ascension! Farewell and all hail, O, thou
perfected and glorified!
This Sainthood lor our and for all time! It
is full of llesh 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.
UEV. E. P. DAVIE.
Among men there are different classes of persons,
resulting from differences in original or
acquired abilities, social position, inlluence, attainments,
allluence and power; even as there
are various religious denominations, resulting
from different interpretations of the Scriptures.
Xo such earthly distinctions, however, are recognized
by the omniscient Jehovah; and in the
great liual assize all men will '?]
? .. k/u AvgulUW. OUU
treated as religious or irreligious, believers or
unbeliever's. It is absolutely impossible from
the nature of the ease and from the Bible, for
a niox'al 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
fill til iinrJ ^ 1_ ' 1 ^
?..v. uuuonci. vyertainiy raitniui 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
u T H (1081) 3
bond ol' iniquity;.' and in tiit-se tinu*-> of iuti
luuinarian tendencies and superficial religious
\iews and experiences, it is well, if possible, to
disturb his carnal security by the infallible tests
of the word of God. And in so doing we must
not eon template so much his external acts as
his internal principles. Many are apparently
religious. JSo were the Pharisees of old. They,
regarding themselves as more holy than otherte,
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 sums ostentatiously and paid the tenth
of all they possessed; and yet Christ said: "Except
your righteousness 11 a 11 exceed tlie 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 lie 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
i.:.. - '
uui in> ^uuui. oesus uenoidiug him, loved him;
lmt the Searcher of hearts scanned hits soul and
found genuine spirituality wanting; for when
In* 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 sepuleher!
Thus it 'iis 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 tliem 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 aud are guilty of no
flagrant sius. Such persons deserve high eom.
U..? ... ?
lutiiuainju j uui we are compelled to atlirin that
they may do these things, and exercise these
dispositions, and still be the enemies of God;
for they may be aetuated by sinister motives,
and God 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
herself the prerogatives of Deity and sooms
other light to guide her through this wilderness
of death. Moral and religious men have so far
a community of attributes and in moral men
constitutional loveliness may be as attractive as
in religious men. liut 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.)