Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-05-08
TRUE CHRISTIAN e A

Patient and Long-Suierlng, ConserVa-
tive. -~.s.
Bishop Taylor said, nearly a century
ago: This is Christian zeal, the zeal of
meekness, the zeal of charity, the zeal
of patience" These are golden words.
Even now, with all our talk about
Christian union and brotherly love,
there are Jehus who drive %furiously,
and cry as they drive: "Come with me
and see my zeal for the Lord" Such
zeal is not the clear flame of holy love
that goes Heavenward in its brightness.
1t is smoky with earth damp and it's
light is lu1id and fitful. There may be
good in it, but it is so mixed with evil
that it neither blesses men or glorifies
God.
Before his conversion Saul of Tarsus
was "zealous towards God" and he
manifested his zeal by prosecuting into
death. (Acts xxi. $40 After his con-
version he was more jealous still. but
how different his spirit towards those
who differed from him! Then he cried:
II could wish that myself were &C
cursed from Christ for my brethren, my
kinsmen according to the flesh" Then,
though he was abundant in labors
and in sufferings Tor the Gospel than
any of his contemporaries, he was the
meekcst of them all. He said that he
was the least of all saints-that he was
not worthy to be called an apostle, and
that when he gloried it was only in his
intirmities, G Cor. Xii. 81 and Paul's
teachings in regard to zeal correspond
with his example. He writes to the
Galatians: sit is good to be z%ealously
affected always in a good thing" He
believed in Observation-Disclosures"
If the Gospel is Gods most glorious
revelation of Himself, and His best gift
to men, it should not be received coldly
but with heart aglow-it should not be
proclaimed with frigid formality, but
with flaming zeal. On the day of Pente-
cost the tongues like as of fire sat upon
each of the disciples. This symbolized
the spirit in which they We're to labor.
The world has never witnessed such
zeal as that of the primitive church. Its
members, few and feeble, went every
where preaching the Word. They ran
to an fro as with flaming torches, and
kindled a blaze that has burned on to
this day, and is spreading around the
world.
There is. then, no incongruity in the
union of these two words, 1"Christiani-
ty' and zeal" They belong together.
The sun that lights the world warns it,
too, and qulckens to life all the germs
in its soil. When you have light that
neither warns o WHITES, you know
that it does not come fresh from the
SUM-, but is reelected from the moon.
Her beams are pale and cold. They
delight a dreamy sentimentalism, but
40 not wake men up to earnest toll.
Christ is the Sun of Righteousness. He
proclaimed Himself the light of the
world. But when His beams of truth
and love fall on a human soul, they do
not play on it like m%oonshine. They
penetrate, they warm, they kindle life,
they arouse the hottest emotions and
energies. So great was the power of
the Gospel upon the heart of Paul that
ne CLAIMED to have been crucified with
Christ, and to live a new life of which
Christ Himself wa the source and CEN
ter. And we learn from this anostle
not only that zeal is a normal outgrowth
OF Christianity, but that it is connected
with and nourished by intelligence. He
finds the fatal defect of the zeal of
the Jews in the fact that it was
mot according to knowledge" (Rom.
X. ~. 1t was the zeal of Ignorance. of
prejudice and of passion. Hence, it was
not only impure and unholy, but bitter
n relentless. True zeal is kindled bv
the study of truth. The more fully We
comprehend the great facts in the Cos.
pei, the more will our hearts burn with.
in us. There is no saddcr error than
mat which relegates Christian zeal to
the ignorant, and claims that cultivated
plety must eschew it as vulgar and de-
grading. 1t was not so that Paul and
Luther II Knox and Duff learned
Christ. 1e"ineu
We learn from Paul's letter to T;t,s
that zeal is to be manifested not hy
flaming words but by good works Tb9o
Pecuilarlty OF Christians is that thew
are Jealous of good works. Titus i,
~. What zeal there is in the scholar
" Plety of our day is largely expended
IN loggomachy-the war Of words. II is
yea 1or orthodoxy; meaning thereby
our doXy," rather than earnest rivalry
IN Christian enterprise and effort
mere are learned men not a few Who
VIII night harder against a theoloo;cal
critic than they will fight against Satan
al sG s ereea = soul t%a 1t is time 70 apply to
know them by their fruits" IF 49,
Promulgates a new doctrine or \ new, new
interpretation, we should tell him to trv
it in evanggelistic work. II by breach.
ing 1T It ne can do more good than we
e1an ~ preaching the old, we will then
examine his claims, but not before.
Paul teaches us again that Christian
zeal is intimately connected with god.
~ sorrow. humility and a vehement d. Ja-
err 10, Si;, Personal Pc y, holiness: Read ,
picture then, from that Of the zeaInt
with whom We are all familiar real1e
mar whose every look and tone tells Of
pr;ae' conceit and sclf-righteousness, u