The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-07-16
to bring us to the verge of doubling Inc

as they would impeach the breadth OF
Christianity. Several forms OF unbelief,
or of Indifference, which is in a sense the
same thing logically, present a sorry spec
of the Gospel. What are the truths for
which they stand. and how real are those
truths? They talk perhaps of their intel
lc-.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 II; essence
the very doctrine Of nihilists and anarch-
| lists in society and politics. With blare
of trumpet they herald their own broad
mindedness. but if they had their way, and
if tLey could sweep religion from the face
of the earth, burn up the Bibles, Dynamite
the churches, it requires no prophet 70
foretell what a dreadful situation would
ensue as the result of their havoc. The
man who puts agnosticism against the
creed has nothing to give this world except
what would make men more narrow than
they are, and would speedily plunge them
into conditions first of civilized paganism
skeptic is no more an apostle of ibcrahty
than is tile anarchist an apostle Ct liberty.
With great regret it must be confessed
that there are and have been multitude8
of narrow-minded Christians. Inasmuch
as human nature finds it difficult to attain
unto liberality. It is not to be wondered at
that so many fall snort OF the breadth ct
our holy religion. Christians have not
only been prosecuted, but they have ac-
differences of opinion. Only TOO frequently
have they failed to recognize the com
prehensiveness of the Gospel. and they
prefer their confessions to the catholic
faith and their sects to the catholic
church. 1t is simply impossible to apollo
gize for them or to offer any argument in
e~ytenuation of their ~gricvous offenses along
this line. They have restricted their God
and their Bible and their creed, and
mindedness of their Lord. But this does
not really affect the issue which we have
in hand. It does not at all impair our
contention that the gospel of Christ itself
not Professionalism or Puritanism or
Medievalism, but the gospel-contains the
broadest doctrines, the broadest ideas OF
God and of man and of destiny, and the
broadest working principle OF thought and
of life.
Gods commandment is exceeding
broad" in its practical application to mans
which is a mighty foundation for the m
tellectual life. and mans brotherhood,
which makes the scope of moral obligation.
Gods relation to us is most assuring, and
our relation to Him and to all our broth
ers makes the theatre of action and sets
forth the sphere OF conscience, sympathy
and endeavo-. One OF the miseries Of ir~
religion is that it despoils humanity of all
this. The heart which cares not for the
doctrines of Christian belief is sadly inn
poverished and reduces this present exist
ence to a small affair, for it has nothing
to say of the higher things or of an eternity
of b~lessedness, and nothing that avails for
the enlargement of aspiration and the re-
enforcement OF energy. Christ truly dis
covered the individual. He argued that .
mans soul was more important than the
gain Of the whole world; He camc ex-
pressly to Eff human nature out of its
smallness and to place it in an environments
where the sons Of God rightly belong; He
than the character of the King OF kings. \
and called all the sons of men to a royal
life; He disclosed a large meaning for du-
ties 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
an expansive outlook for the study Of them
selves and their lives. The broadminded 1
Lord has given a ~broadminded religion for
men when they pray and work and suffer,
and He would inspire them to rise uD
to the obligations and opportunities which
wait upon them every hour in the day.
How barrow is the average man.! Mod
ern conditions are not an unmixed boon
to the masses. There nave been many
gains, but there have been many Losses
also. Among the losses in the world as we
know it to-day is the almost ineyitable
tendency of our way of living and our
methods OF business to curtail the individ-
ual in the living of his life and the doing
of his work. More and more are the PEG,
pie 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 it over and over
AGAIN three hundred days in the year. all
of which is equivalent to shutting him
within confines where he can scarcely hope
to develop into his best self. This effect
is one of the deplorable ills of the times.
The rules Of Offices and factories and shops
which encourage experts is ruinous to the
individual who indeed learns to do one :
thing perfectly. but who is thus numbered
from knowing anything else outside OF his
daily task. Then. too. the spirit OF the
business man that makes him ambitious
and satisfied to become a man of business
and thus reduce his life to the level Of q
mere m~onev-maker, is likelv to produce
the same direful result. No one should
willingly become a machine. In spite Of
the advancement which is one Of the Won
ders Of the age. the people of the United
States are now face to face with a situation
which sorely requires a crusade in favor OF
observation-disclosures crusade that will ex-
hort the people, in spite of discourage
ments to the contrary. to find leisure for
considering TOPICS and rcsorting to occu-
p~ations in addition to those which belong
to their daily engagements. We must SIM
ply make time for thought and reading and
recreation; we must rise to the glorious
liberty of the children Of God; we must
insist for ourselves that the most import
ant things are not meat and drink, but tho
kingdom of God and His righteousness.
We need the broadmindedness of Jesus.
We need His outlook, His doctrine, His
model of thought and life. His symmetry
of character, His proportions of manhood.
The Saviour of mankind would save us
from pettiness and illiberality. He would
have US accept Gods largest estimate OF
ourselves. He would call us to a life which
will issue at last in the heavenly land. He
would fill US in mind and heart and soul
with Gods commandment which is SO ex-
ceeding broad.
Qrr parf Kasanffu1-