The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-07-06

being, social, intellectual, moral. religious.
They all are evidence OF reality some
where answering to them. None Of these
is more fundamental and imperative than
the religious. that which demands GODS
care. A most pathetic manifesting Of this
longing is idol worship. The heather.
Gods ignorant children, like ours, demand
object lessons that can Je apprehended by
the senses. To make God in their image
is the nearest they can get to the sublime
consciousness that they are made in His.
Better, it seems to US, no God than q
wooden one. A spirit of negatio1 and in
di ference would save them so much USE
less sacrifice and cruel practices and bar
barous acts of superstition by way Of sup
posed atonement. But whether better or
worse atheism is not a constituent charac-
~teristic of man. Strange, is it not, that 1t
is never innate, but always an acquired ac-
complishment. always the sad result of
culture else of sin. By nature. and that
means by right, God is always the rightful
occupant of the throne. But as our self
importance grows, as We become con-
sciously great in thought and. achievement
we become ALL great in arrogance, as Is
all science falsely so called, and the King
is asked to vacate the throne, and God Is
not even bowed out Of the universe, but
heartless,,y banished. Oh. no. denial is not
better than affirmation of God. however
superstitiously that affirmation express It
self. It is evidence of Gods care much
needed to offset a threatened evidence that
He has not interest in the human race.
Notice the two possible results to which
these religious instincts lead. They are
the receptacle into which Christianity fits.
Without them the Gospel OF Jesus has no
appeal. They cry out for God. Chris
tianity introduces God to them. They
want an assurance of Gods care. Chris
tianity assures them God cares for men to
the uttermost, ever enough to die for
them. Creation thus prepares for revela-
ton, and welcomes its benehcent approach.
There is another result that shows the
h%elpfulness of the religious instinct unlver-
sal among men. It is the sorrow that pos
sesses us when we are told it is all a delu-
sion. The moment you convince man there
is no God, or. if there is, that He is indlt-
ferent to mans welfare, that moment the
face loses it's complacency, the heart its as,
surance, the spirit its ~buoyancy., the mind
its sense of satisfaction. Doubt, dlsap'
pointment, despair set in. Little to live
for. nothing to die for is the cry that will
not be comforted. A stolid indifference
results that brushes out the hearts music,
else wild despair that dethrones reason
and inhicts self injury. Let me make a
prophecy more dismal in its outlook than
that one we are considering OF a future
discovery that God does not care, a pro-
phecy that if ever that dark day dawns
moor humanity in despair will in an hour
fall back from all h~opefulness. aspiration,
ioyousness, and by one despairing plunge
reverse the life satisfactions of a thousand
years.
Greatest of all these is the presence and
worth of Christianity to be accounted !or.
Christianity is a very unyielding fact. 1t
has become too deeply rooted in the earth
to be waived aside and crowded out by any
discovery, however authentic, that would
invalidate its claims. 1t has been con-
fronted for centuries with conflicting be-
liefs and scientific evidence against its IN
tegrity. The more it is opposed the more
fearlessly it asserts itself, comforting. the
heart. lighting the dark mind, inspiring
and reinforcing the spirit. A fact so help
full to humanity in every conceivable ne
cessity when SHINING and needing forgive
ness, when weak and needing strength,
even when suffering martyrdom at the
stake, in the amphitheatre of wild beasts,
in heather lands, midst prosecutions too
numerous to be mentioned, but not too
many to be valiantly borne, must be con-
fronted with stronger, surer proof than IS
at present conceivable that 1t ~reilnqulsn
it's hold upon mems esteem; 1leid 1T must
if it were even proven God did not care;
for Christianity was rooted IN Goos es-
TEEN before it found a place IN man $.
God not only cared, but so cared that He
loved. else Christianity, that superb bios.
som and ~fruitage OF Christ's life and teach
ing and death, had never existed. Chris.
tianity not only embodies Gods care, 1t
enshrines Gods heart. And the surest
thing about it all is that we who have
welded to Gods word. caught the bless
ings of the revelation through Jesus, have
ali the evidence necessary for the reality
of God and His care. What value is proof
against Gods interest in US, however
scientific, to the man who has seen the
Lord, whose sins are forgiven, upon whom
God is each day lifting up the light OF HIS
face? When once the spiritual life has en-.
tered the human heart, all cold, external
evidence is ignored, and wisely. Then,
again, the peace Of mind that results from
belief that God cares for US enough to
share His eternal home with us by and by
is evidence that will die hard, II 1T ever
die at all, before any external evidence
that this world is all, and that our BRET,
storm.tossed existence IS forever nusnea IN
deaths long sleep. A man said to me dur
inc the week, at pays to be religious, even
though it be discovered at the last that
there is no eternal life" The idea was
that present satisfactions are worth the
having. whatever the future may reveal.
When the divine spark that we call the
spirjtual life once electrihes the heart,
Stimulating new loves, imparting new
ideals, revealing Gods love and Chr!sts
mastership, all OF which produce blessings
of satisfaction and joy unspeakable,. all
external evidence to the contrary weighs
little with that mans belief. And that IS
exactly what Christianity does: 1t
parts life. As Harnack puts it, 1T ID
eternal life in the midst of time, under the
very eye, and in the very strength OF
God" As Jesus puts it, Il am come that
We might have life" Lie is a difficult
thing to argue against, and even to prove
the fallacy Of when men possess 1t and are
reapinc manifold blessings from its pres
ence each day.
This is why we affirmed that God must
be discovered through internal revelation,
rather than through external lnvestigation.
The necessary approach, to be successful,
must come from Him to US, instead OF
from us to Him. God must grappie with
and subdue man before man can reason
ably expect to grapple with and conquer
God. Mans attitude is, Let me under
stand and l will reverence; let me KNOW
and I will love. Gods attitude Is, You
must reverence that you may understand;
YOU must love that you may know. Mans
attitude is as yet in prospect, only the
dim hope of the scientific few. Gods at
titude is daily being verified and proven TO
the worlds sin sick, sorrow filled ma'tl'
tudes. All valid external discovery OF the
future will, l think, be along the line of
and in harmony with revelation. Even
now there are scientific evidences in this
direction. Immortality is being scientifi-
calIy proven, not the fallacy of it. Much
verifcation of Christianity's content and
assertions may be expected from scientific
research. Gods universe is one. His crea-