The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1895-02-13
RELIGIOUS READING.
GROWTH UNDER PRESSURE.


Sub pondere cresco" (I grow under weight
was motto on the crest Of John Spreull. of
Glasgow, who for his defense OF religious
prisOned on the Bass Rock. in the Firth OF
Forth. This is the great motto OF the world.
Nature is like huge watch, whose move
ments are caused by the compression OF the
handspring. Onlyby restraint is life possible.
The forms of all living things, from the
smallest moss to man himself, are determined
by the extent and degree to which the force
Of life overcomes the dead forces OF nature.
The simple principle of growth under limita-
ton will account for the shape Of every leaf.
and the formulation Of every organ of the
human body; for the termination of
seed. and for the beating Of the heart
within the human breast. :. Have
you ever watched a bubble of air rising
up from the bottom OF a clear pond to the
top? II so you cannot fail to have noticed
that it ascends not in a straight line, but in
corkscrew or spirit form. The force which
draws it upward to rejoin the native air from
which it has been separated would do so, if
left to ITSELF by the shortest course; but 1t en-
counters continually the resistance OF the
denser element of the water, and this press
ure DELAYS its ascent through 1t and makes it
take larger zigzag path. If you understand
the reason of this simple phenomenon, you
will understand the way in which every herb
and tree grows in the air, and: why their
shapes are what we see them to be. They all
grow in the most varied and complicated
spiral forms because they. grower under re-
sistance. This Is the simple method OF ma
lures working, the law which determines all
her forms.
The same law obtains throughout the spir-
itual world. There, too, growth Is under re-
sistance. The law Of the spirit OF life in
Christ Jesus contends against the law OF sin
and death. The laws in the members war
against the law Of the mind. The most es-
genital character of spiritual life is that it de-
pends upon the resistance of one form OF
moral force by another; its tension is holi-
ness, righteousness, self-control. We grow
in grace as the trees grow in space, under
limitations and the various forms and de-
grees of spirituallife which men exhibit are
due to the extent Of these limitations. Spirit
ual life does not assume stereotyped pat
tern. The Pharisees of religion have always
endeavored to cast 1t into one mold, to prune
all the trees of the Lord into pollards. In
this. happily, they have not succeeded. The
individuality of men and the circumstances
Of life have been too strong for them, and
human beings have developed spiritually as
they have developed naturally, according to
the sum Of forces that have been brought to
bear upon them. And thus by this SIM
pie law in the spiritual world as in the nat
ural, the law of growth under pressure. God
has produced that wonderful variety OF Christ
ian character and experience which strikes
US as much in the kingdom of heaven as in
the field of nature, and which is one of the
most powerful factors of human progress. {.
Sorrow is the commonest OF all pressures that
cast down the soul. This experience belongs
to no class or condition of life exclusively. 1t
is shared at some time or other by all human
beings by virtue of their humanity.
God has ordered that sorrow should be the
most powerful factor in the education OF our
race. "Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things and to enter into his glory?"
That was the law OF Christ's life, andit is the
law OF ours. That Christ, though holy. harm
less undefl;ed and separate from sinners,
should, nevertheless, be the Man of Sorrows,
makes sorrow sacred, and associates 1t with
the dicipline of heavenly Father and with
the training of blessed and glorious life
Hugh Macmillan, D. D.