The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1894-01-31


the spontaneous expression of character.
We take the life of Christ and look it
through. Here was one who knew the
truth and taught it, we say-and we
reverence him as a teacher for his wis
dom; here was one who felt the pulsa-
tons Of reverence and faith and hope
and love and went everywhere inspir-
ing feeling in men he touched-and we
reverence him for his feeling; here was
one who went about doing good, heal
ing the sick, bringing sight to the blind.
giving comfort to the afaicted-and we
reverence him for his brotherly love.
These Things saith he that is holy, he
that is true. II know thy works: be-
hold, have set before thee an open
door, and no man can shut it.: for thou
hast little strength, and hast kept my
word, and hast not denied my name.
because thou hast kept the word Of
my patience, / will also keep thee from
the hour Of temptation.
DOING AND BEING.
Religion does not consist in doing
things. If a man goes into the market,
saying, am going to be honest, you
would better watch him. The man who
has to watch himself needs to be watch
ed by his neighbor. It is not enough to
do honest things-one must be honest:
it is not enough to tell the truth-one
must be truthful; it is not enough to
do deeds Of love-one must be loving.
Between the man who simply tells the
truth and the man who is truthful, be-
tween the man who simply does what is
honest and the man who is honest, be-
tween the man who does charitable
things and the man who is charitable,
there is an enormous gull, snd we all
know it. And no man has come into
that state in which any man should be
willing TO be until truth and honesty
and charity flow spontaneously out Of
him. The conduct of man ought not
to be like water in we'll, when one
has to pump hard to get little out; it
ought to be like spring that flows
spontaneously out of the hillside, and
you cannot stop it if you try, and if
you stop it here it will find some new
vent elsewhere. We all know this. To
be is more important than to do, and to
do is more important than to feel, and
to feel is more important than to think,
and thinking and feeling and doing are
of very little value except as they tend
to make character and are the express
sion Of character.
The other summer, while sailing
along the shores of the sound, I landed
at little cove; there were a lighthouse
tower and a fog bell, and the keeper
showed US the fog bell. and how the
mechanism made it strike every few
moments in the darkness and in the
night when the fog hung over the coast,
and said, That is the preacher; there
he stands ringing out the message Of
warning, ringing out the message Of H.
struction, rigging cut the message Of
cheer; j. IS great thing to be a preach
or. And we went up into the lighthouse
tower; there was q tower that never
said anything and never did anything
it just stood still and shone, and said,
That is the Christian; he may not have
any word to utter, he may not be
prophet, he may not be a worker, he
may achieve nothing, but he stands
still and shines, in the darkness and in
the storm, always and every night.
The fog bell strikes only ON occasion,
bat all the time and every night the
light flashes out from the lighthouse.
ALI the time and every night this light
is flashing out from you if you are Gods
children. Let your light so shine. Do
not flash it-let it shine; just have it,