Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-05-26


ehcent enterprises of the Christian church
in all the world were never so intelligent
and sympathetic and efficient. Whatever
abatements we must make, because of GER
tain obvious and perplexing facts, these
propositions are, IN the main, true.
On the other hand there is an absorbing
devotion to the pursuit Of riches. The
haste to be rich is like an epidemic fever.
| There is an exaggerated appreciation Of
mere materialty. This widely affects COM
| mercial and industrial enterprise. Many
corporations strive, by attempted monop-
oily, to increase profits already large, or, by
combination and the promotion of vast
schemes for further consolidation. seek to
| turn paper securities into money. Many of
| these schemes, in effect, If not in intention,
| are fraudulent. Labor unions, overstep-
ping their legitimate purpose of protecting
| laboring men from oppression and securing
| for them just share of the products of la
| Dor, are seeking to create a labor oligar-
chy and to extort money from employers
| in excess of what many industries can bear,
and limiting the opportunities of the un-
| skilled for entering the ranks of skilled ar
tisans. Fraud, bribery, extortion, and even
blackmail have become starthngly common.
Society is full Of unrest and discomfort
| because of the exaggerated estimate put
| upon material possessions. Side by side
with great strenuousness in the pursuit of
wealth there is, on the part of many who
have achieved or inherited fortunes, in
creasing luxury and self-indulgence. This
| is reproduced, in varying degrees, in every
| stratum of society, from the most to the
| least wealthy. There are also, apparently,
an increase of irreverence for what is sa-
| cred, an indifference to tradition that
| amounts sometimes to contempt for long
established principles, and growth OF
| race prejudice and selfish passion mani
tested in frequent eruptions OF furious OF
| l. Qo1I nnyofn
with dogma or ritual, is held by many in
little esteem, and the church is neglected
| by thousands who once gave 1T their sup
| port and by thousands more who, in the
natural course of life, should be among its
supporters In the churches there is a
lack of spiritual fervor and decline OF
| faith in God.
I think that have not mis-stated the
actual conditions. With no taint of pessi-
mism in my mood; on the contrary, with
high appreciation of all the good in the
present life Of our country, I am forced to
the conviction that there is great need now
| of a revival of true religion. What does
this mean? What is the religion revival
of which we need? It is great and con-
trolling sense of God, as the Creator, Sow
ereign, Father and Saviour of the soul.
The nineteenth century was distinguished
by the emergencies of new and deeper
sense of the worth of man. This dramatic
ally began in the upheaval of the Freneh
Revolution. 1t was manifested IN the
growing demand for popular liberty, in the
rise Of the workingman, in the extension
of political suffrage, IN the development OF
popular education, in the rapid growth OF
the Sunday y-school, in the spread OF the
missionary spirit, in new care Tor chill
, dren, in prison reform, in the breaking
down of religious e1cluslveness and the
tyranny of dogma, and in many other
ways. The twentieth century calls for
fresh awakening of the sense Of God as the
j, source and law and goal of human exist
ence, both individual and social.
We need a reperception of the reality o1
God in the world Avowed atheism, the
positive denial of God, is rare; practlca
. atheism Is common. Many men have moi
| God 'sin all their thoughts They have
widened idea of law in the universe, but i
is vague and impersonal. They need to re
r alize afresh the integrity of the divine gov
2 ernment There is divine government O
/ the worldxa government that makes TO-
good and against evil, that is the founda
$ ton and source of all just human law, tina
e is the ground of individual and social re
sponsibility and that rewards righteous
!, ness and Furnishes wickedness.
This sense of God as sovereign mus
Y be yitalized by the sense of God as the In
t finite Person. If [ seem to limit the oil
vine Being by using terms that are prop
1 erly applicable only to finite being and hu
: man modes of thought, it is to be sail
: that the term personality does not neces
t sarily imply any limitation. We must thln
t of God under forms of our own ratlona
e and moral being, and our very nature dc
e mands the answer of divine person t
r the persistent and illimitable needs OF tn
human person.
/ For a time many have lost the persona
God in impersonal law and impersona
. | force. The divine immanence is grAspe
q q in a way that excludes the Complementary
). idea of transcendence.. There cannot Q
] real transcendence without personality
> > The being who thinks and wills and loves
u u even in finite limits, is greater than an IN
personal universe. Man is greater tina
> God, if God be only law. But he Graves
deity whom he can revere and trust an
love with all the force of personal being
! Finally, we need new sense OF the r.
+ alitv Of the soul Once men ignored tn
! body, save as they INDUCED or abused !
- We have come to appreciate its importane
and to care for it in countless ways, but
bulks too large on our view. 1t is not
Il Il end. but an instrument. The soul is IN a
tv =, organism, but is not it nor a mere afh'
y - ence from it.: The soul is the man. re
~ sonality is the crowning fact. 1t NEAR
a knowledge, power, character, lmmortallt
- IF man is only cunning organism /
~ needs and asks no Immortality. But, b
III IL cause he is a persona spiritual beln
:e with power to think and will and Low
"a "a with memory and forecast, with unmea
If IIff ured capacity for JOY and sorrow, with
~ ~ sense for truth and Righteousness and Ge
a. q. in his best moments he requires immo
- tality that he may have scope adequate
- his consciousness of power, actual or
- - tainable; and he takes his hunger for 1t
~ Gods assurance that the promise OF pre-
ent experience will have fulfllment IN Il
ny future In his baser moments, having
oa -, hausted his body by labor or by dlsslp
ta tn ton. he longs only for rest from wearlne II,
.se .e of nerves or the tyranny OF appetite. IN
Sc, Immortality has no charm, and belief IN
use sinks into doubt and often into den1
,oi oi It is not science, but subjection to sens
la3 nd ton till it rules us. that breeds the dou
nu of immortality. When we live on the hle
at las er planes of our being we feel the real s
c.e niGcance of life, and catch glimpses OF
,os os far stretching horizon.
ew The reality of God as sovereign
as father, the reality of revelation as p'
and present experience of divine commu
to cation, the reality of salvation as fulf
It ment Of life, and the reality of the soul
7 the imperishable person = these, fresl
tes seen and felt as the great and permIane
ali elements Of human experience, viii II
to- create the august and commanding SCI
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