Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1903-02-08
Ea0DfhN~ EELICiOuS THOUGHT

ION the authority of the sacred
teachings. il may be said that right.
eous conduct and living is infinitely
more acceptabe in the sight of God
than hymns of praise, songs OF 4lad-
ness and elaborate and expensive rit.
uals. The righteous people who Win
eternal life are not all churebmem=
bers. Gods flock and God $ family
must not be measured by the church
lists. The faithful followers of the
churches are doing a good work in
promoting the aims of their churches
and assisting in their forms, but
these formal acts are only subsidiary
to the great essentials; they are not
tho reGgired things that separate the
iuSl from the unjust The church
mclAl ers are not the whole of Gods
family. God has people who are
hiddcn in this world. the Kind faith.
efs, good husbands, helpful neighbors
and Loyal citizens. They are the
children of the Lord whether thew
attend the churches or not Their
tions Of loud professions, feryid
prayers and wild eXhortations, but
loyalty 10 Justice purity and right
eousnc&g. They are of Gods family
because they are righteous and shall
live forever.-Rev. Dr. Edmund Duck
worth
Feeble Saints--It is AN amusing dis
tortion of a good hymn, but there was
not q little sound philosophy in it
when tie old negro preacher sang,
Judge not the Lord by feeble saints
(sense1 And yet this is precisely
what the great majority of unconvert-
ed mon are doing all the time. They
heed to what God himself says. They
have no ear for His voice of mercy
that offers them salvation for the talk
ing They do not pay any attention
10 the solemn warnings that the
| scriptures utter. they JUDGE the
] ord Ivy "feable saints They at
tempt u feed their stary ing souls on
tho inperfectious Of Chrietians-p0sr
food enough they find it! Bccane"
Gods Doople are not all that they
ought 10 be. therefore these cavilcrt
! Will keep aloof from the religion
which they profess. Becau9e Gods
believiae followers are not perfect
tboE DO not claim 70 be-therefofe,
say those unbe1icEers, there is no
power il religion. Christians cannot
claim exemption from criticism. They
do not expect IT, They know that
the ewes of the world are upon them.
8ut they say to the believer: 'lf
yen would know the truth, go to the
word 90 to Him who is the truth;
Judge not the lord by fcoble saints =
illustrated Christian Weekly.
I, &.
If religion could ALWAYS do for the
world what Jesus pictured Of il in
the story of the prodigal. if it could
keep perpetuallv before humanity in
all its Wanderings the vision of an
open door. divine heart, and the
everlasting arms, We should hear no
more about it's Worldness, and
materialiam would cease to be a me
nace.-The Unversalist Leader.
| We are confirmed more and more
| every year in our conviction that near,
| ly all the good that is done in this
| world-in the United States, to be
| spccifc--is done by men and wH-
! men who are at least Christian
| in tendency Christian in trend OF
thought and life, if not in allegiance
or profession. They ought to be iT
| the churches, but happily they car
exert a helpful influence even il they
are not 1t is an unWarranted anc
perhaps a narrow position to claim
that nobody outside the Protestant
orthodox churches is doing any gen
uine work for the cause of righteous
ness and social and moral betterment
But it is maintaining only the sim
pie truth to insist, in the light of his
tory, that the good that is done