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

what must christian refrain! is This
amusement to be enjoyed or is it to be
avoided? With these and similarques.
tions, the Episcopal Church might deal
in two ways. First, --She might select
certain pleasures or epjoyments which
the earth offers and, branding them as
worldly, prescribe rules for the govern
ance of her members and in so doing
assume the position Of the individual
conscience; or she might enunciate the
great principles upon which the christ
ian life is founded, seeking to quicken
the individual conscience and thus
leave all free to do their own thinking
and to apply these principles for them
selves. The latter method is chosen by
the Episcopal Church in preference to
the former and the choice subjects her
to the criticism of being worldly
Church. We will look in vain within
her formnlaries for any regulations re-
speeding the conduct ofthe individualin
the world; none can be found; true it is
that she exacts from all seeking her
membership, a renunciation OF "the
world, the flesh and the devil,n but she
declines to be more explicit in her de-
mands and thus permits each one to de-
eide for himself as to the meaning of
''the world.n Many think this dam
gerous measure of liberty and wonder
why the Church does not adopt, what
appears to them safer method,
the prevention of worlGliness by rules
and regulations. To this the Church
would reply that she follows In the foot
steps of her Founder and Head, Jesus
Christ, and of the great Apostle to the
Gentiles, St. Paul. While the Master
spoke again and again of worldliness,
cautioned his followers against becom
ing worldly, reminding them that
"they are not of the world" yet care
full study of His life will fail to reveal
any instance in which He said: ''Yon
may do this, but you must not do that.u
His way was the eDunciation of prn-
ciples, not the formulation of rules d. |
rected against certain things OF His own |
own selection. Nothing can be found |
in his ntterances tending to support
that system which seeks to pick out /
some amusements and pleasures of life
and to place them apart ana call them
"worldly.u "Avoidn St. Paul, we
may justly think, gives glimpse into
the mind of Jesus in his Ist EpistIe to
the Corinthians, when he declares that
''all things are yours, whether the
world or life or death, or things present
or things to come; and ye are Christ's
and Christ is God's.u In fact, upon
that very principle did Christ live. 1t
was owing to his refusal to abide by the
rules of the Pharisees and Scribes that
he was accused of being wine-bibber
and glutton. He seemed to leave
higher, broader view Of life than that
which sought to identify certain things,
acts and deeds with evil itself. st.
Paul, undoubtedly, followed in the foot
Iteps of his Lord in his utterance quoted |,
above, where the Corinthians are in.
ormed that all the things of earth and
ife are theirs. Although the people
addressed by the Apostle had been
utility of great excesses, be did not hes
tate to tell them that this world with -
is products, its forces, its Beauty; that
ife with its joys, faculties, it's society :
J theirs, and theirs to use and to enjoy. =
lie desires to emphasize one of the
most glorious truths of the Gospel, that =
lan is lord of creation, that the world !,
5 his, that he is truly monarch of all =
e surveys Christ had come TO free =
be world from the yoke ofthe Law and 4
D proclaim the advent of Liberty in the
iopsel. This is the welcome message IL
f Christianity, that man is not the sc
port aud prey Of the world and life, d.
ut their master and their ruler. And e.
ecause the Episcopal Church apDreci- Of
tes this fact, she assumes the position of d
er Lord ana declines to define what lie
Ie has not defined, to draw a line h
here He drew none and instead, as dc
,rts with st. Paul that "all things are IN
Irs," interdicting noue to her mem
srs. But it may be asked "Is not this
le view taken by un-christain men? WI
0 they not declare themselves priv 70
eyed to use the things oflife and the ga
orld? Do they not say Life is ours. Oh
1T US eat, drink and be merry, let as an
Joy to the full and so glorying in 81
cir liberty, do they not forget their lik
od?" 1t is indeed true that this is the
ew Of worldly minds, a view strictly
posed to that advocated by the Epis-
pal Church, although both agree in a