Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1899-04-12
WHAT is TRUE Rell6l0N5
When Brought to You It Sheds Lurid
Light Across Your Path.

When Brought to You 1t Sheds a Lurid
Light Across Your Path.
It is not a time to lose faith in the
verities Of religion. It is not time
to doubt that God IS IN the world, rul-
ing the nations, and preparing them
for the acceptance of a religion whose
foundations were laid once and for all
time. Religion never had greater re-
suits to show; religion never had more
beautiful characters to illustrate the
saving and purifying power of the Cos
pei; religion never produced broader
and more phiIanthropic spirit; it never
commanded the loving assent and the
anxious endeavors of SO many people.
THAT which has done so much in the
long centuries of the past, is doing so
much in the enlightened present, and
has so large and prosperous an out
look, must rest on an enduring basis.
1t must be the word of the Lord en-
dureth forever.
But as long as you are looking upon
religion as a series of precepts which
you feel you ought to obey, the more
will you feel a reluctance to have any,
thing to do with it; when it is brought
to you you will feel that it sheds rath-
er a lurid light across your path; you
will fight against It. As long as that
is the case, you have not entered into
the spirit of Christ, you have not IN
derstood the power Of an indissolubIe
life. When you look at what real relig-
ion is, you see 1t should be a living
thing. I see it in Christ my Master.
All that He does is simply the out
come of what Ills very nature is. The
life is within Him and He lives accord
ing to it. 1t is His JOY to do the Faith
ers will. He applies Himself for the
weII-being of mankind. The very vir-
ture of the sacrifice Of Christ lay in
this, that it is by His will that He Of
fers Himself unto God, it is the love in
it, the willingness in 1t. And this is
what religion ought to be-a joy; it
ought to be our nature; it ought to be
our freedom, delight to US. IF you
say ooh some day I will turn over
new leaf, I will bring my life in har-
mony with the Deealogue, and begin to
act in the way in which the minister
says I ought to act, according to the
precepts of the Ten Commandments, +"
as long as that sort of spirit exists,
you look through a dim glass, you do
not see the real significance of faith
and religion.
Religion is life, and ought to work
out from you as q life, and therefore
should be yeur Ye9G= nature.
The religion Of the Bible is a posi-
tive religion. It deals with certainties.
1t tells what is, and what shall be. 1t
rests upon fixed and definite princt-
pies 1t has to do with what is true.
1t has an undertaking standard OK
right. It prescribes rules Of conduct
as well as articles Of faith. It has
promise for the life that now is and
that which is to come" It proclaims
God, and sets forth with cIearness His
character, His viii, His requirements,
His promises, His curses and His bless
ings. 1t pl esents the nature Of sin and
it's consequences. It insists on & per-
soDal holiness, and pictures the result
ant benefit. 1t proTides a Saviour for
sinners, and requires faith in Him in
order to the enjoyment of His redemp-
ton.
1t tells of His person, life, death and
work. It reveals the Holy spirit and
the Offices which He performs: 1t dis
closes a Heaven to be won, and hell
to be stunned.
In it there is a divine will to be fol-
Iowed-a revelation to be received and
needed. He who accepts it in its en-
rirety is assured and responsive. He
has a faith which prompts Him to ac-
ton.
lie has a love which gathers about a
living Lord and Fedeemer. He has a
cause to uphold, and work to engage
His sympathies and activities. He has
hope which rises above the present
and revels in the future. He is ever
on the move, and presses towards the
realization of His expectations.
He has a sure guide in life, firm
support in death, ard a guaranteed re-
ward in eternity. The Christian re-
ligion, rightly and fully apprehended,
never fails to develop positive charac-
Adelaide Nay Thompson