The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-12-31

being brilliantly luminous at noon and
black with Egyptian darkness at midnight.
Light is not laid on in fast co.ors; neither
is the light of God, and the heavenly ra-
dance that was upon us in 1902 is no guar
antee against devilish blackness being upon
us in 1903. Even Christ's power over us is
valid only for the time that it is over us,
so that the liveliest kind of orthodoxy,
provided it is merely a mummificd re-
siduum from an extinct experience, Is no
kind of an embarrassment to the very
| liveliest kind of depravity. 1t IS all right
to believe in the doctrine of perseverance
of the saints that persevere. but that doc
trine, applied in cold liberalism. has done
as much as any one thing perhaps to pre-
vent their persevering. If the money
man has in his pocket to-day is thought by
him to be sufficient to pay all his debts,
defray all his expenses and secure all de-
mite time to come he will feel no incentive
to going out and earning couple OF dol
lars tomorrow, and so his confidence in the
absolute and everlasting suhicency OF bis
| present pocket containings may easily Is
sue in his turning pauper. Those illustra-
| tons only serve to indicate what ] mean
by saving that man may be as orthodox
as Calvin and as wicked as he knows how.
The principle we have been discussing
| also explains why it is that so many people
who show good deal of Christian zest at
the start so soon get tired OF being. Chris,
| tians. To have earnest views of Christ and
| to be intensely interested in them and con-
| trolled by them cannot, unfortunately, be
taken as certain sign of the continuance
of that interest. The falling off, the cool.
ing down of Christian enthusiasm is COM
mon experience. Even the disciples. at
Jesus temporary withdrawal from them
at cruci6xion, threw up the whole matter,
resumed their old life and went back to
their fishing. Interest is not self-sustain
ing. Enthusiasm like a burning candle,
consumes itself in it's own heat The sun.
so astronomers tell us. would burn itself
out and our systems fall back into original
darkness were not special provision made
for keeping up the suns temperature.
At the same time there are lines OF ef-
fort and employment where interest, on
the contrary. never does seem to flag,
where heat is not only maintained. but
with a mercury that is rather steadily ON
the rise. Setting aside the familiar and
rather shop worn instance of the money
getter, who, the more he gets, the intenser.
as rule, becomes his ambition to get,
that is only one of the many pursuits
where the like enhancement of interest.
mounting up in many cases to the height
of steadily growing passion, is seen to
evince itself. Examples of this are, [
should say, especially frequent among
scholars devoted to the scientific investi-
cation of nature and natures beauties and
marvels. But in the instances of such ad-
vancing and steadily intensifying interest
the particular fact l would beg you to no
tice is that what keeps the investigators
heart glowing with warmer ard warmer
fervor is not the array Of facts that have
been brought distinctly within the range
OF his knowledge, that he has been able
definitely to tabulate, and of which in
some time past he has issued a complete
and finished catalogue. 1t is the constant
stepping forward on to new ground that
keeps his thoughts alert and his heart
aglow. Whatever it be, the old is ALWAYS
tiresome, only the new is interesting. To
the naturalist the world retains its fascina-
ton, although an old world, because OF the
that world and the ever fresh disclosures
of newly discovered wonderfulness and
beauty that she thereby makes over to
him. In the same way there are certain
books that we read and re-read. In way
they are old books, but it is not their old |
ness that fascinates us but certain ever
lasting newness that lay beyond the reach
of our previous perusals, as eyes that look |
quietly and intensely into the night-sky see |
stars that are sunk too deep in the frma- |
ment to be caught by first and easy |
book. the Bible, which is always new and |
which the church always loves, because
there is that in it always which our last
reading was only on the edge of discover
ing. If the church should ever come to the
end of the Bible it would throw it away.
Some people have thrown it away al
ready; some who seem to themselves to be
Christians have thrown it away; it seems !
to them they have come to the end of it.
To them there is nothing new in it any
more. so. of course, by the principle we are
it away. The OK knows enough to feel |
when it is dark, but never sees sunset.
All of this leads up easily to an eXplana-
ton of the fact stated moment ago that
so many who have begun to be Christians
get tired of being Christians after a while;
it has ceased to offer them anything new
to which interest can attach and by which
therefore enjoyment can be kept alive.
They reached a little convection as to the
tain amount Of relation with Him, had a
iegre of experience of Him, learned little
Of what He could do to strengthen in weak
ness, brighten in darkness, comfort in sor-
row and disappointment, and then every
thing stopped. Instead of going on to
know the Lord" drawing closer and closer
to Him, and pressing forward into the
deeper and deeper meanings involved III
His Spirit, presence and comPanionship,
they drew up all that part of the matter,
ruminated only upon such little prospect
as had opened to them, till they became
weary OF it, drank the old cup of eonsola,,
ton till its waters became stale, naunched
the drying crumbs of light, strength and
comfort till they were moldy, strained
themselves to keep warm by a FIRE that
had gone out, and ended, of course, by con-
Guiding that whatever might be the theo-
retical value of personal religion it was
nothing if not uninteresting, and people
will not, if they can help it, permanently
commit themselves to course OF drudgery,
even if that drudgery be baptized by SO !
honorable a name as Christianity
Closing this morning with the prayer
that we may all of us feel ourselves moved
by reverent and holy ambition to break
free from the burden and ENHANCEMENT OF
all the petty and now w.thered experiences
carnered long ago, entering into ever new
prospects, into larger discernments, into an
ever wider world Of knowledge, comfort