The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1892-04-28

n5au 10 death for picking mp sticks o.
the gsbLatA day azsd the God who sale
70 the wo.aan taken in sin. Neither d.
/ condemn thee; 90 and sin no more.
which of these contains the truth o
Gods nztare7 They cannot both b
0ra-e,lar utteraaces good for all t71He
Try another combination: Kings II, 8
"tud Solomon had seven hundred
wives" LIKE vi. Is, do ye also Ike
VII Combine those two passages o
Scripture and you have the code Of tn
Mormon world. It VIII not work.
1frgEz or COPS REVELATION.
That Is 70 say. the test Of all progres
ave revelation l. the end Of tie reyela
ton. not the process. There nay be in
reflections and incouplsteness of neces
affy in the process; but the test must b
sought in the end. nos the process. The
On ion j., What l. the result Of thu
revela- ion. which extended over 1,Gy>
years Of timer Does it tend to mako
slaves, does it corrupt men, or does u
purify, ennoble, strengthen, save: sup
nose | want to investigate the spirit Of
the civilization Of the city Of New York
{ want TO see whether New York Il
a fit place il which to live. The fol
lowing advertisement / read, which ap
peared in a New York newspaper:
Just arrived from Great Britain and are ID
BE- sold on board the ship Alice and Elizabeth
Captain Paine, Commander. several Hkel!
Hel-h and English Servant Men, most of then
Gradesmen. Whoever incInc5 TO purchase any
Of them may agree with said Commander o.
Mr.. Thomas Noble. Merchant, az Mr.. Hazard 5
in New York, where also is to be sold seve-a
Negro Girls ard Negro Boy, and liAewist
good Cheshire cheese.
| read this advertisement IN a New
York newspaper, and | say that is all
want to know about New York. A city
IA which men and women are sold or
the block along with Cheshire cheese as
a commodity is certainly the embodi
ment Of barbarism and cruelty. 1t is
not fit place for Christian to live.
denource and curse the whole city OF
New York, and charge the city with
being the rendezvous of slave traders
and its citizens as the oppressors OF
humanity. But the trouble with that
conclusion is that there is date to that
advertisement, and the date it bears is
September i, 1872. The date of the ad
vertisement gives the key to the situa
ton. My conclusion is wide of fact be
cause | have lost the sense Of historic
setting Such is the condition of the
man who charges the God of the Bible
with responsibility for slavery.
Let Us remember these facts:
First-The morality Of the Bible is its
final morality. The book must be taken
thus as a whole. That final morality il
the morality of Christ, who was the eli
max of Gods revelation.
Second-That eternal life is found not
in the Bible itself, but in the Christ
which the Bible reveals.
Third-That the Bible, and the Bible
alone, is the religion of Protestants sim,
ply and only because the Bible reveals
Jesus Christ the incarnate word.
Fourth-The character of revelation
must lie Jndged blythe results that flow
from the revelation.
A MORAL GULF STREAM.
The Bible may well be compared tc
the Gulf Stream of the ocean Of human
history. The Gulf Stream is river that
flows through the ocean of water. II
has its own peculiar history, its own
warm, lie giving current. There are
doubtless eddies that burst into this cur
rent from the cold water without.
There are vigorous currents that some
times collide with it and make impress
sions upon it. 1t is thus affected by the
impurities and chill of the water through
which it passes, but the Gulf Stream in
its character is to be judged not by the
inlperfections, but by the results. What
IS the result? The result is that CONT
nents that otherwise would be frozen
blossom with beauty and bear their
glorious harvests for the world. It
washes the shores of America and brings
warmth and civilization. It washes the
shores of Spain, Of England, and on into
the far north, carrying with it the his
tory of civilization. Its results are gar
dens, fields waying with harvests, flow
ers, spring.
Into this stream OF sacred history
there may he now and then found cur
rents projected from the ocean through
which it has flowed. There may be
countsrcurrents of chill waters that
have made impressions upon it here and
there. But what Of the result? Here is
the test. Where it has flowed deserts
have been made into gardens. Harvests
have been reaped from desolate wilds.
The law of hr71ta STRENGTH has heap ra
versed, and weakness has ruled strength
and love become the supreme principle
of life. Men have become free where
they were once slaves, and the great,
dark, vulgar masses of mankind have
been lifted up by its power into new life
and new hope. We will cling to the
Book, therefore, as the source of life,
and of beauty, and of hope, of cheer and
Of salvation.