Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1904-08-25

educat,on-"tncy could not tell their right
hand fror, their left" That same cry goes
n, today. Only educate and train; that
ia sufficient. Your section is not so white
washed with this system of ethical culture
AS some others know. But we never can
emphasize too often or too positively the
axial tenet of Christ's creed that what
man needs primarily is not accession OF
brain. but fresh heart; not illumination,
but reconstruction, the establishment IN
him by grace of something that IS not IN
hin, by nature. illumination. OF the Dra'n
is lever clariiicaton of the heart. There
was a man in our American life who was
horn of the best family, with personal
force that commanded men and capt'vated
women. whose furnishings could scarcely
be surpassed, and yet there has not walked
across the pages OF American history
hl6rkcr hearted william than Aaron Burr.
! ~, "a far as possible from saying that
knowlcfpe makes a man worse; my. only
contention is that it has not IN itself the
powcr of making men better. Ideas. edu.
cation alone, can neither reconstruct the
life nor recrcate the heart.
This is a thoughtful age; men are
brainy; all about us there is passion Tor
new ideas; but our most urgent necessity
is not of idea but of power: What we
need most of al is not schooling, but pap
tsm. and that is to come through hltn;
What is this faith that is to give us the
supreme victory and insure our safety! ~
il IT this distinct point that we begin to
learn the real meaning and purpose OF
fa;t,,. Every little while l am told by one
md another that he would like to have
faith in this particular matter in regard TO
The Bible. or in regard ia Christ in the fu-
turc life as though if his mind could oniy
he brought intellectually to consent 10 ~
the contamination would be reacned ana d
Great rccult achieved. Being prepared to
asset sc to this or that particular statement
in REGARD to Christ, for example, is a very
distinct thing from faith: Faith Is per.
sonal attitude, personal relationship; fa'th
;s suc,, A personal yielding of ourselves to
another as brings us into living contact
with thar other and so makes lis recipient
of what i lies in that other to confer. ne
child becomes like his father by fa'th IN
his father, because his faith is that inward
surrender that makes him susceptible 10
every impression that goes 1ortn lroin mo
father A child's faith toward ms mother
ia not faith that what his mother says -
trne: it is faith in his mother, the hiding OF
himself in the one life that enwraps them
both. so that he lives in the sweep OF her
insniration and grows up toward MANHOOD
Inv The appropriation of persona vigor, WIS
dom and sweetness hourly made over nm.
And that is cast in the same mold as uos
mel faith, which is as cord by whicn .he
living Christ holds the believer to MN
self. Faith is not condition wherein We
hold To something or somebody, as that IN
which we are held by something or some
body. 1t is not holding doctrine, hut be,
inc held by a person. Il know whom l
have bcleyed."' The iron filings stick to
the magnet, not because they try so nara
to stick, but because they are mastered
by the magnet.
Faith. then. has for its very essence q
personal self-commtment, one ounce OF
which is worth a whole ton OF lnteiicctua,
affirmation 1t is this sense OF be,ng neln
Inv Cod that makes man safe and secure
I do not know how the grace OF God can
take a man like Saul of Tarsus and MAKE
him Paul the Apostle; but DO man WIZ
ouast;on his knowledge when he says -!
i've vet not | but Christ liveth IN mo.
THAT is exactly what John B. Cough cred
"a hc went like a flaming torch blazing the
way for multitude of hopeless drunk
,rds. The hope. and the only nope, ior
us all is in the grace of God. u were 10
strike a tuning fork on TINS desk ana MY MY
it to my ear not one IN 'n'S loo.n ba,.
hear the sound thereof, but ] couId near
if and tune my violin. Strike 1t again ana
instead of holding it to my ear, set II up,
an this desk. Instantly the sound won'd
h" heard everywhere. But what do You
hear Not the tuning fork, for the tun'ny
fork makes no louder sound the second
hme than it did the first what 40 you
hear? You hear this hard wood DESK,
which has no music in ltSelf, put J"S' as
soon as il comes in contact with musical
instrument it itself becomes musical ana
delights every one that has music IN ms
soul. .;Go,,t
alone by Itself; it may come from GOOD
family or a bad: it may have great force
or little; it NAV have choice furnishings so. or
not; but the safety and security OF all w WI,
depend upon the personal self SURRENDER
to the Son of God, who alone mas ,nt pow
~ 80 mako them Sons of God, which are
born not of a family or Of force or OF iur'
nishinps. but Of faith.