The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-10-07
On, Y. Herald.)

tism, mystery which o, ly the learned
are able TO penetrate.
1t is an old fact that when you &c
to the scholars TO find out what re
ligion consists in you are in danger o
getting into a labyrinth from which
escape is we'll nigh imp ,ssible. Wher
you 90 10 the New Testament, on the
other hand, and read about the re-
quirements of God, you are covered
with surprise that men should have
made so complicated what the Lord
has made SO simple. We shall never
recover from our astonlshment until
all speculative conclusions, formulated
in the shape of various creeds, are
abolished or regulated TO the realm o
private and personal property, my text,
with the many others of the same kind
to be found in the sacred Book, are
made the only foundation of a Chris
tian life.
Eye hath not seen nor ear heard
nor the heart of man conceived the
kind of world this would be if our rul,
ing motive were genuine and all con
trolling love.
Poets have sung about it and phil
osophers have prophesied concering il
but we are still wandering in the des-
ert of selhshness, and the Jordan, with
the Promised Land beyond, are scarce
ly visible above the horizon line. We
are marching that way and every age
bea1s witness to our progress, but the
distance between US and the perfec,
social organization in which brotherly
love prevails is simply incalculable
We are only half way as yet between
tie barbaric man of the past and the
perfect man of the future. AS for the
ideal Christianity, the kind of life
which He alone of all created men has
ever lived, We dream of it and have
visions of it, but SO far it seems to be
utterly impraticable.
Some of our so-called advanced
thinkers assert that we have outgrown
Christianity, and they are peering into
every corner of the globe to find scme.
thing better, whereas the plain truth
IS that We have in our possession the
priceless Kohinoor, but uncut and un-
polished, and therefore unappreciated
The New Testament is a book fol
twenty centuries from now, and al,
though we have learned something
from lis pages which we have embodied
IN our philanthropies, we are just as
far from exhausting its wisdom as we
are digging the las, nugget of gold
from the bowels of the earth. There
is hardly perfect Christian man on
the earth today. Society at large is
a long way from being ideally Chris
tan it is SO crude, SO unjus', SO CrueI
in many of its Judgements aud SO unfair
toward those vino have fallen and are
renitent that we sometimes despair.
Think of a world fo ded with
brotherly love! 1t would be strangely
unlike the one we are now living IN
If man suCCumbs to an O.erwhel lining
temptation, do we surround him witt
our solicitude and bring the omnipo.
tence Of tender sympathy To bea: upon
him until he is reclaimed and rem.
jstated? Are we ChristianlIke in nul
treatment of him1 Nay, do we no,
trample him under our feet and with
our scorn and contempt make his
recovery we'll nigh impossible? Does
public opinion, and, for that matter
does the Church, the representative o.
Christ on this earth, take HIM by the
hand? Do the ninety and nine saved
men and women care what becomes o
the los: one? Love! Nay, we are sub
merged in an indifference which is al.
most the equivalent of hatred, and
mighty little care we if We are not put
to personal inconvenience or called Oh
to sacrifice our comfort.
If a woman takes false sep, pos
sibly with no criminal intent, what /:
our attitude toward her? Do we move
Heaven and earth 10 bring her back
to the path Of virtue? Do we fo'ce
her by our pity 10 climb the rugged
height from which she tumbled IT, hel
ruin and support her with our enc"ur.
agement until She has regAined he1
moral strength. Are we not ra,he
barbarians, untu,ored savages, heaplns
our curses upon her tears and and rem
dering her position absolutely hope
} less? Would the Christ do that If II.
were here, and would our boastiul SO
ciety if it had the taintest glimmel
Of what Christianity means9 That whole
side of our human nature wherein love
resides is of yet undeveloped, and ,h'
sad truth is that We Judge much NOR
harshly than God Himself will do OIL
, the morning after resurrection, for Coz
is Father and men are Pharisees.
There is nothing that ,ransilgure
as love does. He who is consciou
that he is loved is bound as river is b
its banks, flowing with lordly curreD
toward the sea. Love is constan
D restraint, because the respect and con
6dence Of dear ones are worth NOR
: than the pleasure Of vice.
And he who loves has a happine:
), beyond the reach of measurement. Th
q silky corn rIpening IN the sunshine
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