The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-01-07

dance that was unon US in 1902 is no guar
antee against devilish blackness being upon
| US in 1908 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 mummlhed re-
siduum from an extinct experience, is no
kind of an embarrassment to the very
liveliest kind of depravity. It IS all right
to believe in the doctrine of perseverance
of the saints that Dersevere. 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-
sired comforts and luxuries for an indeh-
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 sufhcienc" OF his
present pocket ,containings r,ay' easily IS
tions only serve to indicate what ] mean
by saying 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 a 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
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 burning candle,
consumes itself in its own heat. The sun:
| so astronomers tell US. would burn !tself
out and our systems fall back into original
darkness were not special provision made
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 maintaiLed. but
with a mercury that is rather steadily ON
the rise. Setting aside the familiar and
rather shop worn instance OF the money
eetter, who, the more he gets, the intenser.
as a 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
evince itself. Examples of this are, l
should say, especially frequent among
scholars devoted to the scientific investi..
cation Of nature and natures beauties and
| marye}s. But in the instances of such ad-
vancing and steadily intensifying interest
the particular fact. I would beg you to no.
| tice is that what keeps the investigators
| heart glowing with warmer and warmer
| fervor is not the array of facts tlat 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. It 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-
! tion, although an old world, because of the
deeper entrance he day by day gains into
that world and the ever fresh disclosures
of newly discovered wonderfu'ness and
beauty that she thereby makes over to
| books that we read and re-read. In way
| they are old books, but it is not their old
ness that fascinates US but a certain ever
Listing newness that lay beyond the reaca
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-
mens to be caught by a first and easy
glance. And that suggests the old hoy
book, the Bible, which is always new and
L
| 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 1t.
| To them there is nothing new in it any
more, so, of course, by the principle we are
/ 11,,o& $ha1, IN M fhrNyV
| it away. The OK knows enough to feel
when it is dark, but never sees sunset.
All OF this leads up easily to an eXpiana-
| ton of the fact stated moment ago that
! so many who have begun to be Christians
get tired of being Christians after 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 little convection as to the
| real import of Christ, entered into GER
tain amount of relation with Him. had a
dsgre Of experience Of Him, learned mite
| 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 IN
| His Spirit, presence and companionship,
| they drew up. ali 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 conso.a.
ton till its waters became sta,e, munched
the drying crumbs of light, strength and
comfort till they were moidy, strained
! themselves to keep warm by 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 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 withered experiences
garnered long ago, entering into ever new
prospects, into larger dscernments, into an
ever wider word of knowledge, comfort
and anticipation. To this end may we
have with us in our Closets and in our
sanctuary gatherings the abounding Sp,rit
! of God the Father and Of His Son Jesus
Christ, to whom with the Blessed Spirit be
gwen our obedience, alteration and love
! forever and ever. Amen.