Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-03-17

not to be swayed by religious excitement.
1t is not, under the uplift of fine music,
nor the tender sentiment of keen sorrow
to catch some celestial glimpse of truth.
and conclude you are henceforth relig-
1ous man. To be Christian is nothing
other than Christ within you the hope OF
glory.
Then there is the other mistake of max
ing. the visible church identical with the
reality. Indeed, symbols are important.
we can never tell how much satisfaction
the religious devotee receives from the pie
ture OF the Virgin or the image of the
Christ. The line between the symbol and
the spirit may be less attenuated than we
think More symbols may lead to more
realities than we dream Of. An object Of
sense may, however, oftener hinder ac-
cess to the spirit than be a viaduct there
to. Many a person joins a church for the
sake of being church member rather than
to be a better Christian. Many person
worships their church and minister rather
than the Christ the church represents and
the minister breaches. Being a good de-,
nominationahst is not necessarily being a
good Christian, although if we are good
Christians we ought to be denominations,
allsts, and better denominationalists than
we are. denominations give form and con-
tent to Christianity which some souls
would never otherwise perceive. But on
the other hand, denominational;sm should
have no content to boast of except what
the Gospel lmparts. Don't think that to
be Methodist. Presbyterian or Baptist
Is equal to being a Christian. It NAV be
SO. 1t may not be So 1t depends whether
your denomination intensifes or material
ICES Christianity. You may have the form
OF goodness, but your very devotion to the,
form is a denial of the power thereof. I
| have in mind a member of a former
church who would sooner give up
I,p.lSf Il
| munion. His unspiritual life shows he
has done that very thing. He has per-
mltted these two sacred rites to steal away
his Lord, and he knows not where they
have laid him. Scriptural warrant for ec--
clesiastical forms is good. But no eccles-
pure heart, the Christ spirit. Christianity
! is Christ impaired divine state of life
All within the charmed circle, whether eS
my church or yours, or Of neither mine HOE
yours, are my brothers because also ef
Christ. "Other sheep have not OF this
S fold' Don't forget that Christ said n
Therefore, it must be true. There sls,l#
be one flock and one shepherd Not one.
| fold it is translated. There may ,sss
! many focks in one fold
BY and by boundary lines will fade,
away We think then they will all be
Baptists: The Congregationalist THINKS
they viii all be Congregationalists. And
the Methodist is sure they VIII aii be
Methodists. All, brother, better still, they
will all be Christians. And as some SAINT
| in glory ten thousand years asks, Who are
these? as, they all come trooping home Hke
tired children after the tolls of the day are
over, SO some John will answer: These
are they who believed in the Lamb OF
God which taketh away the sins OF the
| world. Who knows, Jesus Himself may
say, These are they for whom 1 died -
These? These? These are they who cams.
up through great tribulation and have
washed their robes and made them white
in the blood OF the Lamb!