Pine Bluff daily graphic. (Pine Bluff, Ark.) 1893-1942, 1899-04-12
WHAT is TRUE REEl6lONf

WHAT is TRUE RELlGlON7
When Brought to You 1t Sheds a Lurid
Light Across Your Path.
It is not a time to lose faith in the
yerities of religion. It is not a time
to doubt that God IS in the world, ru1-
ing the nations, and preparing them
for the acceptance of 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 philanthropie 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.
It 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 1t is brought
to you you will feel that it sheds rath-
er a Iurid 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 indissolub1e
life. When you look at what real relig-
ion is, yea see it should be living
thing. I see it in Christ my Master.
All that He does IS simply the out
come of what His very nature is. The
life is within Him and He lives accord
ing to it. It is His Joy to do the Faith
er's will. He applies Himself for the
well-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 It. 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 @Oh some day I will turn over a
new leaf, I will bring my life in har-
mony with the Decalogue, 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 a life, and ought to work
out from you as . life, and therefore
should be your very nature.
The religion Of the Bible is a posi-
tive religion. 1t deals with certainties.
1t tells what is, and what shall be. 1t
rests upon fixed and definite princi-
pies It has to do with what is true.
It has an undertaking standard OF
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 coae." It proclaims
Cod, and sets forth with clearness His
character, His viii, His requirements,
His promises, His curses and His bless
ings. 1t p1 esents the nature Of sin and
its consequences. It insists on & per-
sonal holiness, and pictures the result
ant benefit 1t proTtdes a Saviour for
sinners, and requires faith in Him in
order to the enjoyment Of His redemp-
ton.
It tells Of His person, life, death and
work. It reveals the Holy spirit and
the Offices which He performs: 1t dis