The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-07-29

or trumpet tney neralu tueii o~h ooo9
| mindedness, but if they had their way, and
| If tl.ey could sweep religion from the facd
of the earth, burn lib the Bibles, dynamite
| the churches, it requires no prophet to
ioretell what a dreadful situation would
cnsue as the result of their havoc. Jhe
man who puts agnosticlsm against tue
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 paganlSm
Il little later Of rank barbarlsm. Inc
skeptic is no more an apostle Of llbera!ty
than is the anarchist an apostle or liberty;
With great regret it must be confessed
that there are and have been multitudea
of narrow minded Christians. lnasmuch
AS human nature finds it difficult to attain
uuto libcrality, It is not to be wondered a.
that so many fall snort OF the breadth OF
our holy religion. Christians have not
only been prosecuted, but they have &C:
tna!ly prosecuted one another, because OF
have they failed to recognize tine COM
preheHsiveness 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
extenuation OF their gricvous ottenses along
this line. They have restricted their God
and their Bible and their creed, and
have stood up stoutly to resist the large.
not really affect the issue which we have
in hand. 1t does not at all impair. our
contention that the gospel of Christ itself
not Professionalism or Puritanism or
Medievalsm. but the gospel-contains the
hroadcst doctrines, the broadest ideas OF
God and of man and Of destiny, and the
broadest working principle OF thought and
Of life. =.
Coils commandment j. exceeding
broad in its practical application to mans
conditions. It breaches Gods Fatherhood,
tellectual life. and mans brotherhood3,
which makes the scope OF moral obhgatioE
Gods relation to US is most assuring, AID
our relation to Him and to all our broth
ers makes the theatre of action and sets
forth the sphere CT conscience, sympathy
and eadeavOr. One OF the miseres of ir-
religion is that it despoils humanity of aHI
tlfis. The heart which cares not for the
doctrines of Christian belief is sadly inn
ence to a small affair, for it has nothing
to say Of the higher things or Of IN eternity
of blessedness, 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 came eX-
pressly to lift human nature out OF its
smallness and to place it in an environment
where the sons Of God rightly belong; He
revealed the model, which is nothing less
and called all the sons of men to royal
life; He disclosed 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
Lord has given broadminded religion tor
men when they pray and work and suffer,
and He, would inspire them to rise up
to the obligations and opportunities which
wait upon them every hour in the day.
How narrow is the average man! Mod
ern conditions are not an unmlxed boon
| to the masses. There have 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 inevi table
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 peo,,
restricted bv the demand for specialization.
T..e 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 ha can scarcely hope
to develop into his best SELF This effect
is one Of the dcplorable ills of the. times.
The rules OF Offices and factories and shops
which encourage experts is rulnous to the
individual who indeed learns to do one
thing perfectly. but who is thus hindered
ole n1fc nf
daily task. Then, too. the spirit. OF the
business man that makes him ambitious
and satisfied to become man of business
and thus reduce his life to the level Of
mere monev-naEer, is likely 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 situation
which soreiy requires crusade IN favor or
broadmindedness- crusade that will ex.
hort the people, in spite o., discourage
ments to the contrary. to find leisure for
considering topics and rcsorting to occu-
pations 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
in list for ourselves that the most import
ait things are not meat and drink. but the
kingdom of God and His righteousness.
We need the broadmindedDess 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 saYe rs
from pettiness and ilEberality. 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-