Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Nev. County, Ark.) 1885-1???, 1892-04-07
RELIGIOUS COLUMN.
THos H WARE, EDITOR.
ECCLESIAS CHARLAT-
ANISM.

To pirate over the real or assumed
superiority Of ones ancestors, eth
er near or remote, by one who does
not manifest the spirit Of worthlness,
is rather distasteful, if not down
right contemplate. 1t shows dis
position to claim responsibility, not
upon the grounds OF personal merit,
bnt by raking up the ashes OF the
dead past. And when the discovery
is made that such ancestry never ex-
isted that the boosted elements are
mythical, then the mendicant, for
such he really is, will become a
stencil in the nostrils of respectable
ty. If there is no effort to show
himself a worthy son Of noble
sire" he will soon enjoy the unenvia-
BILE distinction of being a 'dead
beat" In this utilitarian age men
are not esteemed 50 much for their
pedigree, but for what they are, and
what they are endeavoriDg to be and
| to do.
And what is true of us individual
ly, is also true of US collectively. Ii
our ecclesiastical forefathers distin
guished themselves by their heroism
and their undying devotion to Christ,
and suffered martyrdom for their re-
igious principles, it does not, and
should not, entitle US, who may be
degenerate sons, and as far removed
from them in spirit and practice as
heaven is from earth, to the highest
seat in heaven. And to be forever
parading their bloody pathway,
as reason why we should be handled
upon the knee of responsibility, only
awakens smile Of contempt from
those whose piety is fervent, and
whose devotion is real. And when
the truth is known that our tears are
shed over relations that never exist
ed. and blood that was never split ;
that our glorying over such noble
ancestry, is a little sckly sentimen-
talsm, mere twaddle, without foun-
dation, and wholly unworthy the cause
of Christ. Such ecclesiastical charlat-
anism awakens the supremest con-
tempt of the loyal sons of Christ. 1t
is species OF un-Christlike demo-
gouery that should sink us to level of
"dead beatiom."
What the world needs and Christ
demands is not men who sit and
weep over the ashes (that never had
an existence) of the dead past. We
have already had too much of such
vain-gloring for the good of lost hui
manity.) We need men with strong
faith, and lofty purposes, who have
their sleeves rolled up and are earn
estly striving to save the world from
ruin. The demand of the day is not
an assumed relationship, by ont
ward, external fencings, with some
OF the heroic spirits of other days
but have you the spirit of Christ !!
| eff We have not the spirit Of Christ
We are none Of hiss and have you
an inner spiritual connection with
those heroes 'of whom the world
was not worthy?' Such only will
entitle you to claim kinship with
them.
Imagine a man sitting down upon
the bank of river in which hun
dreds of his fellow mortals are per-
ishing for want OF help, recountipg
the deeds OF valor some remote an
cestor in the far off ages of the past,
rendered, who used to display much
concern for mortals struggling and
perishing in the same river; that
many who otherwise would have per-
ished were saved by him; that he
finally suffered martyrdom for the
cause Of humanity. There he sits
weeping over the memory of such
noble, self-sacriicing spirit in the
long ago, There he sits, the imper-
sonation of self-importance, demand
ing recognition, and claiming respcc-
liability and patronage because of
the relation, by some outward ties,
between himself and the splendid
parsonage whose deeds have been so
pathetically paraded. There he sits
sublimely contemplating a figment,
living in the shadowy past shat exists
only in the imagination, There he
sits, n sort of Interrogation point { y
worshipping at the shrine of idolatry.
There he sits, the lineal descendant
of ancestral heroes who never had
any existence. Wouldn't it be wise
g. 4 = h. L.