The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-12-05

eutics. he did not allow any one to b-nd
his conscience by mystic and superficial
interpretations Of the Scriptures. And
he was especially severe upon all fanclful
exegesis and scholastic subtilties. lie
regarded a search for strange texts out
OF which to get commonplace things as
waste OF mental force already limited
in Quantity. He was the opposite or
Talmageism. or course he was too
great to be pedantic. ! never detected
in him the least effort to air his learning
He had a very decided faith in the doc
trines of his church. He preached the
doctrine of Holiness with great power;
ard declared his belief that this, accori-
ing to the Bible, aud following the an
alogy of the mental and physical world,
was a life and therefore growth. But
lot us be careful here. There is no OBJ
lection to ones being as good as one can
be. Indeed, this is a duty, not to pro-
fess 10 be better than he is, but to be
good. And ! ann sometimes fearful that.
discarding as an absurdity certain views
OF holiness. some may gradually come
to discard holiness altogether. Let me
say with all the emphasis that can be
impaired into words, that TINS IS not Il
aay for relaxing the demands Of Code
word for holiness Of heart and life. Oh,
to he able. with humility, and without
ustentadion. to Eft up clean hands ana
a pure. loving hear before God and men,
u an unsEeakabie blessing! The sum OK
holiness is love. Holiness is not cleaa-
ness of heart only. since that could only
- = neSSsiya rUnditoT--h R foe negative
basis of holiness. But holiness in its
entirety is love, because love is positive
and active, and manifests itself IN. the
only way possible that is, in dong good
as well as in ceasing to do evil ANA
when perfect love is attained it casteth
out all fear, since ii has pushed OUT all
taste and appetite for sin III the sense
of violating the moral law. Oh for the
religion that is Christ-like. The name
is not essential so we have the thing.
If | had to name it / would call it
perfect love-" and this would imply
hearty conservation to God. But call 1t
what we will. we need more religion.
more of the indwelling Christ, more Of
self-surrender to Gods will, more of
the humility, sweetness, meekness and
gentleness of our Lord and Master; and
we need to get clear of our pride of
opinion. of worldly ambition, of self
seeking: and to fill up the place with
the spirit that counts all things loss for
the excelency of the knowledge Of
Christ Jesus our Lord: for if we are az
lively engaged in living the sermon on
the Mount, we shall not have time or
taste to violate the Ten Commandments.
We must remember that the sin of omis-
sion is greater than that of commission.
Sin and love are absolute opposites as
dynamics in the spiritual universe. No
nd Of min no I'M 70 in mo
estimate of the value of holiness to the
Lord.
DIR. Closs's mind was both analyti-
cal and synthetical, but he never weak
ened his pablo discourse by too much
detail, nor left his hearers in ignorance
by reason of too much generalizing. He
never crammed a text with more than
it could hold, nor left out essential truth
it was intended to teach. He knew
the value OF perspicuous and rigid def
milton. 1t might almost be said that DIR.
Gloss was born logician. He was new
er in danger therefore of separating the
person of Christ from what Christ, in
life and death and word, taught. Some
fall into this fatal error. In a very
intense admira ton for the beautiful life
of Christ there may be manifested an ig-
norance of, and even dislike for, the
truths which Christ taught, and which
truths made his beautiful life and death
possible. To claim therefore to love
Christ. without loving the truths which
he taught, both in person and by inspir-
ed Apostles is nonsense! DR. Gloss had
much pity for the so-called religious
reformer who exclaimed Don't tell me
what Paul said. ! don't believe Paul:
tell me the old, old story" He knew
that the main thread OF objection in this
case was the same which has held to-
gether all the scraps of inidelity, from
the beginning namely, love of sin
and a restiyeness under the demands of
doctrine and authority The wretched
folly Of manifesting a little emotion at
a recital of the "Old, Old Story" while
at the same time discarding the teach
ings Of Paul. is to manifest either the
most deplorable ignorance, or the most
downright wickedness. Paul was either
inspired by the Holy Spirit, or he was
not. If he was not, then it is a waste
of time to talk OF the value of the re-
lgion of the New Testament. But if
he was inspired then he could not pos
sibly have taught anything out of har-
mony with what Christ taught To
speak therefore OF what Paul taught as
being untrue and different from what
Christ taught, is, to say the least,
trifling with the Holy Spirit. And it is
an alarming fact that much of the re-
cent onslaught upon Paul and his doc
trines is made by so-called christians.
Plainly, it is infdehty. The very air in
some places~is filled with a stupid cry
for liberty. Liberty from the binding
demands Of doctrine. Liberty from the
laws and regulations of the church.
Liberty from the bondage of being
''priest-ridden;" when every one who
observes and thinks knows that priestly
domination has long since died out in
Protestant christendom, and that we
have swung to the other extreme-that
instead Of the people being priest-ridden,
the priests are peopleridden. And to
such an extent has this gone, that
the pastor, shepherd, instead of being
able to require the sheep to be guided
by him, and to be led to feed where he
has a commission from the owner to
how CHI 4