The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-11-29
RELIGIOUS EDITORIALS FOR
SUNDAY

The world and the church in the BIZ
bic are not one and the same. They
are wholly unlike, and a great. deep.
wide, dividing line separates them, not
practically perhaps, but according to
the Christian Scriptures. Through the
centuries the world has been hard and
aggressive and has literally crossed the
line, jumped the ditch, "broken down
the middle wall Of partition" Then
again a large proportion of the church
membership who have not been con
tent to abide inside Of the sacred en-
closure, but nave jumped the fence,
gone over to the side of the world, AMI
hOb-nObbed with the MammOn Of un-
righteousness taken part in the amuse-
ments of the worldly and been on close
terms with the minions Of satan. The
world is satisfied with the increase Of
it's membership, While the church
mourns at the great inhuE of the un-
converted and unbelicvirg and unre-
generate into it's sacredsRrecincts. But
the New Testament is very clear as to
the world and the church. No one
VINO reads Understandings the Word
OF God can mistake here. We are told
therefore will be the friend Of the world
that "to be ~carnaily minded is death"
For whatsoever is born of God over
cometh the world" "WhOsOeVer
therefore will be thefriend Of the world
is the enemy of God" These are a few
only Of scores of passage that r
against carnality, worldliness and I'M
faithfulness to God.
When Rev. j. H. JOWett succeeded
the late very able Rev. DR.. Dale, Biz
mingham, England, he preached a
strikingly impressive sermon on the
Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus.
Let US mention here that there is no
Dives in the Bible, and ministers show
their ignorance when they introduce
such a name. He discussed the way
the world divided it's faithful, into
three classes or sections-Upper, Mid
die and Lower. This is the horizontal
line drawn. But the preacher said:
Now the strange thing is that Jesus
Christ never drew a horizontal line.
He society, and draws a vertical
line throughout the whole scale, dl-
Viding society into sections, and he
calls the one the right hand, and the
other the left. He calls one the sheer
and the other the goats. If l look at
the right hand of Christ's vertical line
I find all classes: rich and poor, work
ingmen and m~illionaires. If l look at
the left side of the vertical line | find
the same cOmmingling<Of classes. The
world ivide horizontally, according
to money; Christ divides vertically, ac-
cording to character. The man who
proStrateS his manhood before wealth
is doing what our Lord calls bowling
the knee to MammOn; and he who
does hat defiles his soul. Do homage
to character, say Christ. But before
~mOney-bare, uncOuth mOney-the
teaching of the parable tells us to
stand erect. Who needs money? The
Church? The real wealth of the
Church consists not in the length of its
purse. but in the number Of its re-
deemed and COnSecrated men and WO-
men. those who will acknowledge no
supremacy except that of virtue, good
ness and truth. Christ never bowed
the knee to rich men; but on the other
hand Christ never despised a man be-
cause he was rich. He got behind the
mans possessions to the man.