The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-08-14

Wuflu thhk pl0ttas.a " ''alit tue allegiance
OF everybody IL has the length aud
breadth and depth and height of the love
of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. It does
not give as views or conlectures. but only
the commandment Of God which is lex
cceding broad"
The clever pettiiogger can make Il dlni.
cult for us 20 defend anything, though wo
may be- inlalibly sure OF its truthiulness.
The cross.examincr may succeed as far as
10 bring his 10 the verge OF doubling The
testimony 0l our own senses. Even SO are
doubts easily possible concerning the mat
tiers of Christian belief. 10 is not the pur'
pose OF this discourse, however, 10 discuss
the grounds Of skepticism except m so lar
as they would impeach the breadth OF
Christianity. Several forms OF unbeci,
or of Indifference, which is in a sense the
same thing logically, present q sorry spec
taclc in the presence OF the incluslyencss
of the Gospel What are the truths for
which they stand. and how real are those
truths? They talk perhaps of their intel
]. .uality, but they should remember that
the men who are responsible for the Nj
Gene Greed were pastmasters as meta
physicians. They refer to the liberty
Of which they are the champions, but the
liberty which they advocate is IT. essence
the very doctrine OF nihilsts and onarch-
lists in society and politics. With bare
mindedness but ii they had their way, aud
If tDev could sweep religion from the face
of the earth, burn 40 the Bibles. dynamite
the churches 1t requires no prophet 10
foretel what a dreadful situation would
ensue as the result of their havoc The
man who puts agnosticsm against the
creed has nothing to give this world except
what would make men more narrow than
they are and would speedily plunge them
80 81 arr n lam
a d little later Of rank barbarism. The
skeptic is no more an apostle OF llberaiity
than il the anarchist an apostle OF liberty.
With great regret it must be confessed
that there are and have been mutltudes
of narrow-minded Christians. lnasmuch
as human nature finds it difficult to attain
unto libeIality, Il Is not to be wondered at
that so many fall snort OF the breadth OF
our holy religion Christians have not
only been prosecuted, but they have ac-
/ tually prosecuted one another, because OF
differences of opinion. Only TOO frequently
have they failed to recognize the com
! Drehensiveness of the Gospel, and they
prefer their confessions to the catholic
tath and their sects to the catholic
church. 1t is simply impossible to apollo
yize for them or to offer any argument IN
extenuation of their gricvous ottenses along
! his line. They have restricted their God
!
! nave stood M stOutlv to resist the large
/ nindedness of their Lord. But this does
| lot really affect the issue which we have
! n hand. It does not at all impair our
contention that the gospel of Christ itself
| not Professionalism or Puritanlsm or
| Medievalism, but the gospel-contains the
/ 9roadest doctrines, the broadcast ideas of
| God and Of man and Of destiny, and the
| oroadest working principle OF thought and
! If life.
Gods Commandment is exceeding
broad" in its practical application to mans
conditions. It breaches Gods Fatherhood.
/ which is a mighty foundation for The in
! ellectual life. and mans brotherhood,
which makes the scope Of moral obligation.
! SOd's relation to us is most assuring, and
)ur relation to Him and to all our broth
.rs makes the theatre of action and sets
orth the sphere of conscience. sympathy
md endeavor. One OF the miseries Of ir-
'e)gion is that it despoils humanity of all
his The heart which cares not for the
doctrines of Christian belief is sadly i'm
)overshed and reduces this present exist
snce to a small affair, for it has nothing
y sav Of the higher things or of an eternity
II blessedness, and nothing that ayails for
The enlargement OF aspiration and the re-
Increment of energy. Christ truly dis
covered the individual, He argued that a
gain of the whole world; He came ex-
oressly to lift human nature out of it's
mallness and to place it in an environment
where the sons Of God rightly belong; He
revealed the model which is nothing less
than the character of the King Of kings,
and called all the sons of men to royal
life; He disclosed large meaning for du-
lies and griefs, pleasures and possibilities;
He would have His people stand on the
Mount of the Ascension whence they can
see the present in its perspective. and have
IN expansive outlook for the study OF them
selves and their lives The broadninded
Lord has given a broadninded religion for
men when they pray and work and suffer,
and He would inspire them to rise up
10 the obligations and opportunities which
wait upon them every hour in the day.
How narrow is the average man! Mod
arn conditions are not an unmlxed boon
% the masses. There have been many
rains, but there have been MANY losses
ilso Among the losses in the world as we
Snow it to-day is the almost inevitable
tendency of orr wav of living and our
methods of business tn curtail the indivd.
AL in the living of his life and the doing
IF his work. More and more are the peo-
ole of the workaday world hampered and
restricted bv the demand for specialization.
lie individual is being called upon to do
some one task and to do il over and over
AGAIN three hundred days in the year, all
IF which is equivalent to shutting him
within confines where he can scarcely hope
10 develop into his best self This effect
is one of the dep'orahIe ills Of the times.
The rules of Offices and factories and sh0Ds
which encourage eYnerts is ruinous to the
individual who indeed learns to do one
thing perfectly. but who is thus hudercd
from knowing anything else outside OF hi,
daily task. Then, too the spirit of tht
business man that makes him ambition,
and satisfied to become man of bushes,
and thus reduce his life to the level of a
the same direful result. No one SHOULD
= willingly become a machine. In spite o
: the advancement which is one Of the won