The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1898-02-03
OUR Weekly mons.
PREPARED ESP LILY FOR
THE FAMILY FIRESIDE.


| THE FAMILY FIREsIDE.
| Tie Eleventh. OF tiie New Enrk IIera'd's
Campe.itiye Sermons il on "The sin
of DespisiuG OiherS"-Dr. TGlmaGe
breaches on Craps For the Cnwary."
| Gle that iespiscth his neigh5orsi sinpeth.'
Prov. xiv, u.
There is Il great deal 9t sin in the world
| which the ordinary conscience neither
| recognizes nor condemns. With most OF
Us the standard OF right and wrong is
| purely conventional. II wo do not break
| the letter Of the Ten COMMANDMENTS: II
| we keep clear Of acts which public opinion
| forbids; IL we maintain, n character Upon
| which society sets no brand, then we feel
| at peace within ourselves and MAKE sure
that We are Gods elect.
We do not see what snbtie and far-reaci-
! Ing things good and evil are how they in
| terweaye themselves into all our acts. our
| words and motives, ana secret thoughts
even: and how they depend. not upon the
[ fashion OF the hour or the place, but upon
| eternal and Interchangeable principles. An
| enlightened and sensitive conscience would
see sin in thousand things which pass
with the majority as indifferent, il not
| actually praiseworthy. It is not in nice
| points OF religious observance that places
| our moral character above suspicion half
so much as in those weightier matters OF
| Justice and mercy and truth which are In
volyed in all the business and intercourse
of daily life. Thousands who would trem-
BILE to participate in any Of the so-called
amusements OF society. and who are
| as strict and ostentatious as the
| Pharisee5 in regard to prayer
! and other duties. are yet living in such an
atmosphere Of uncharitableness and wrong
J that they are actually further from the
kingdom Of heaven than the very pubii-
| cans and hSriots. In terse, direct and
emphatic way form OF guilt is pointed
out by Solomon which we seldom think OF,
yet which we are all very prone to fall into.
and which is one OF the peculiarly beset-
tings sins OF that large class OF men who
are disposed to be religious without being
| godly. The chief characteristic OF these
| people Is to trust in themselves that they
are righteous, and to treat others in way
which Enthusiastically declares, "Stand aloof,
for we are holier than you" and they are
so far from thinking such spiritual haught-
| mess sinful that they regard 1t as an actual
| proof OF their divine sonship. Such con-
| duct never fails to insure moral resentment
and to elicit the rebuke, "He that despis-
eth his neighbor sinneth."
The parable OF the Good Samaritan sup
| plies most beautiful explanation OF the
| word ''neighbor." 1t teaches that every
| man with whom we come in contact or re-
lation is to be regarded and treated as our
"neiGhbor" The fact that know OF a
| mans existence, and that can In any way
teach and influence him, is enough to bring
me under responsibility In regard to him.
The broad Atlantic may roll between US;
whole continents and burning deserts and
deadly swamps may separate US; but IL
there Is any channel OF communication be-
tween us-any electric current, so to speak.
by which sympathy may bs created and
| love may act-that man Is as truly my
neighbor as II we met In the same market
OF lived in the same street. Hzt
Notice what 1t is to despi5e our neighbor.
| To entertain mean and contemptuous
thoughts OF our neighbor is obviously to
/ despise him. We Should always remember
that there is vastly more in common than
| there Is OF difference between the highest
and more cultured and the lowest and most
ignorant. Frequently, however, we forget
this, and from mere diversity OF outward
circumstances we look upon each other
with feelings OF naughty superiority and
contempt. As consequence the rich and
the great sometimes undervalue and insult
! the poor and the lowly; and the poor and
the lowly In return hate the rich and the
great, and ascribe all their Importance
solely to their wealth and rank. Surely, in
both cases, this Is despisinS their neighbot
| forgetting their common humanity, their
common dignity and their common origin.
To treat your neighbor with Indifference,
as IL there vers no ties binding you to-
gether. and no sympathy due from one to
the other, Is to despise him. The af1ni-
ties Of human nature are such that 1t Is
i A~ao "a AxelA cafx IN
tion from the race to which We naturally
belong, and gaze upon the suferings and
helplessness Of our kind with stoical in
difference. Such conduct Is not only rep
J rehensible, ir Is actually sinful. It Is sim
l ful because II Is great wrong done to
| humanity. II rouses within man bitter,
bad, resentful feelings, which sets class
| against class. Its tendency Is to destroy
self-respect, and let a man once lose that
and there Is no telling what he may be-
come. IS
Again, to despise ones neighbor Is On
offence against social unity. The social
organism can only be held together by o
true and proper recognition OF the useful
ness and necessity Of each individual to
the whole. Society Is one body. Its men,
bers are manifold, but they are oil knit to-
gether In the closest bonds.
There Is no such thing as real independ-
/ ence. And hence for any man to despise
his neighbor Is just as wrong and foolish
rs It would be for the head o'say to the
feet, II have no need OF you;" for his In
fiuence, as far as 1t goes, operates to the
DISCRIMINATION OF society-to the break
ing up OF that unity aud sympathy upon
which the general happiness and we'll being
| depend. Despislng your neighbor Is to
sin against your own soul. BY such con-
duct the great forces ever operating for
the formation Of your own character and
the shaping OF your own destiny are un-
deryalued. We depend upon each other.
This offence Ia also sin against God,
Humanity Is His child-the outcast anf
the sinful as;well as the poor. II you def
pise his child, He says: "Inasmuch as]Be
have done it unto one Of thelesst Of Bse,
ya have done 1t unto Me-"
". II. KERsH%.
Pastor First Congregational churS6, Park
Ridge, NJ.
TRAPS FOR THE uNWARY.
II