Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1881-06-30
SOUTH CAROLINA, THURSDAY JUNE 80, 1881.

" 10 oo ~ 'ho Ieulu VI science, IL le 30 also
10 the domain of morals.
Now tho aim which Paul set before him
self, and which he sets before us as the
Christiab's mark Is perfect holiness. Says
ho, "not as though had already attained,
either wore already perfect, still / aspire to
this, tliis is my aim, I press toward this
mark '",a "Be' ye, therefore, perfect even
as our Father which is in heaven is perfect"
II is Decessary, then, that you be not con-
tent to como abreast Of the average standard
Of piety 10 your family, or your church, or
your day. nor that you oyon surpuss it.
You ere not to be sstisfied with being even as
meek as Moses, as putleut as JOB, as deyo
tionnl as David, as faithful as Abraham, us
intrepid ias Daniel, as pepitent as Peter, as
loving ssJohp, orras orthodox ns Paul.
The markat Which you must aim is that
oharacter.ot perfect excellence so distinctly
limncd 10 Gods word, and so beautifully
exemplifed in the life of his Son.
Now It may sound parudoxical to say
that nothing less than this must be your
aim, and yet at the same time that it IS au
aim unattuinubIc in this life, and it is easy
to sec bbyit must be so. Souc ono has
woll enid "faultessness is conceivable,
being merely the negative of evil; but
perfection is positive, being the attainment
of all excellence. 1t is therefore long as
eternity, expansive as God. Perfection is
our mark, yet never will the aim be so true
and 55steady us TO strike the golden centro."
"Pras.ice what you preach" is rroyerbial
preoept which seems to have all the force of
fairness. Yet even Paul confesses that he
fell below his own standard aud had not hit
the mark he felt bound to set before him
self aud others. From the nature of the
case hS was obliged to preacl, pober ex-
celence thaa he had attained, to urge upon
men degree Of sanotity which he found
not in thimsclf, to speak severely Of weak
nessesl from which he hiuself was not
exempt, and denounce passions of which
he himself felt tho fearful tyranny. Chris.
tian life, then, is not completeness, but an
approximation iu this life. There is in
mathematics section dcnomiua.cd sin.
finite decimals," ia which the problcms
arc incapable Of complete solution, and vet
each division brings you one etep nearer to
the answer. So "th tho Chlistian life
II aims at giving practical solution to the
problem of perfect holiness; each uccrcton
OF grac', each advancing step in holiness
bringsus nearor and nearer to that bIissful
solution which finds ita completion only
wherc tho <6nte morees into the inGuito.
"The fouls Of believers are at their death
made perfect in holiness and do immediately
pass into glory" Let all your aims 10
life be high aud noble; the higher your pim
the higher will be tho range of your en-
deavor aud the grander your success But
IN your religion aim at nothing less than
perfect likeness to Christ, and bo not dis
couragcd when you discover that mighty
stretch ever seems to lio between you and
the glorious goul. The vital matter is that
you keep your eye upon that mark and
step by step approach it.
III. The second condition Of this great
law Of growth in grace is concentration Of
effort to attain the mark set before
U.s. The Apostle mentions threo things
that seem to attend and promote this con.
centration of energy (A.) Oblivion of
the past--"Forgctting the things that arc
behind" The past is in Gods keeping
Inc time past of our lifo We cannot rccoli
and revise Much of the time of youth
perhaps has been wasted. 1t hos been
said 'it almost seems one of the signatures
of our immortality that we squander iimc
as if there wero dim consciousness that
We possess an eternity Of it, But to
brood over time wasted is a waste of time.
We have made many mistakes, somo of
them perhaps irreparable. Our education
was misdirected perhaps, or the profession We
have chosen is not the Gttest for US. But
"man's misdoing and Gods doing often lie
closer together than We think" 1t may be
that many mistakes lie across tho path
of our coming to what We are and where
we are. But there is divinity that shapes
our life and where We arc and what we are,
we arc under tho hand Of an All Wise
Providence.
"Lcd by kindier hand than ours,
We journey through this earthly socno,
And should not 10 our weary hours,
Turn to regret what might have been.
"Forgive US, Lord, our little faith;
And help US all from morn till cen
Still to believe that lot tho best
Which is not that which might have
bcen."
IT'S through many blundcrs that wo reach
up to the good and true. "What student
knows not that the history of the inductivo
sciences is just history of erroneous
theories replaced in time by theories less
erroneous and destined still to bo supplanted
by theories still moro exhaustive and truc?"
Itis said that life, like war, is series Of
mistakes, and he is not the best general
who makes tho fewest mistakes, but who
has the will and skill to orgapize victory
out Of aud in spite of mistakes. Thon
"let brave toll Of tho present over.reaoh
the crumbling past.