The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1895-06-01

than that of their Master. In contra
distinction to both of these stands tn,
Church saying, after the manner of he
Lord, and in the words of st. Paul, 'sal
things are yours, both things presen
| present and things to Gomez the gift
of a loving God, who seeks to shower
blessings upon His children; they are
| yours, take, use and enjoy them, but dt
not abuse them; remember, to quote
again St. Paul, that "ye are Christ's.i
1t is your privilege and duty to view
the world as its lords, to be free as men
to use your own judgment; we therefore
decline to become the autocrat of your
life by usurping the office of your con-
science. You are in the midst of a
magnificent world, the creation of a
God who pronounced it good" His
gift to His children, we would not de-
prive you of tin any way, but only
ask that you be ever mindful of the
fact that you belong to Christ, that you
use His gift in manner of which He
would approve. And 80, the Church re-
jects the method of the Law which
sought to prevent wordliness by means
of outward restrictions, and chooses the
Gospel, which gives liberty of choice,
and only strivesto limit that freedom
by principles acting from within. Thus
she would offer as the remedy for
worldliness ''the mind of Christ" con-
scious that wherever the spirit of God
is, rules are unnecessary; that where it
is not, rules are of none effect. And
now to avoid all Misunderstanding, let
us be very practical and apply the prin-
ciple which has been set forth. We
will take those pleasures against which
vehement philippics are Numbered and
which are accounted as being pre-emi-
nently of this world, playing:
dancing, attendance upon the theatre,
and the drinking ofintoxicating liquors.
Now against these in themselves,
the Church pronounces no curse, in
stead she asserts that for christian
''all things are lawful" that he is free
from all slavery by and in the nature
of his christian liberty, that these and
all other things are his, sanctifed TO
him in Christ, but she is equally as pos
tive in asserting that he must do only |
that of which Christ would approve, |
must use them only as Christ would |
sanction their use. Nor does she stop
here but explains the use of which He |
would approve. She is very careful to
remind her members that the enjoy |
ment of the things Of earth must not
interfere with the higher life,which all
are called upon to lead. She makes it
evident that no use which means the
coming under the power Of anything,
which is servitude and not liberty, is
o be tolerated; the individual must de-
,lare with St. Paul, 1All things are law
al for me, but l will not be brought un-
Ter the power of any" Again, when
he exercise of christian liberty, allow
BILE in itself, would lead to the hurt of
theirs, she teaches that Christ would
q no wise sanction its use. When the
njoyment of any of the pleas
res cited above, lawful in itself, would
erye to shock or induce some weak
rother to follow the example, thereby
ausing his liberty to become slavery,
he manifest duty OF christian is to
,rego the exercise of his liberty. Hence
will be seen that the Episcopal
hurch is second to none in appreciat-
lg the necessity of keeping oneself
from the world" although
lie does not approve of the method u.s.
ally adopted to bring about that end.
he Church believes that worldliness
insists in the spirit of life, the prin-
pie which rules and guides, and not
giving up this or that, whatever it
ay be. We conclude with quotation
om sermon upon which the great
and eminent thee Logan,
r. Dale, was engaged at the time of z
s death.
"Unworldliness does not consist in =
g most rigid and conscientious OBJ
rvance of any external rules of con-
Ict; but in the spirit and temper, and Z
e habit of living created by the yieion
God, by constant fellowship with
i'm, by a personal and vivid exper
ice of the greatness Of the Christian
demption and the settled purpose to
and to will all that God wills, always,
all things and at all costs.p