St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1904-09-24

ming and took upon Himself the TORN
of man and became servant unto all men
than for those who claim fellowship
with Him, who identify themselves a!
His followers and acknowledge Him a:
their Saviour and Lord and Master, tt
make distinctions between people &C
cording to the standards which prevail
In the world? What could be more dis
pleasing to Him, think you, than for one
who wears the livery of the redeemed tt
estimate and judge men by the mere ex.
ternalities of what they possess, or what
they are, and let such judgments bias
their conduct towards them? We know
such distinctions are unworthy the call
! ing and profession of Christ-man or q
Christ-wOman; we realize that we are
under condemnation because we have
the respect of persons; We know Gods
| Word cries out against the sin, and YET
what condition is more prevalent among
Christians to-day than this caste spirit
| this tendency and disposition to let the
| gold ring" and the 'srich raiment" inf1u-
ence our attitude and conduct. to the dis
| paragement and dishonoring of the poor
! brother who is rich in faith towards God
and possesses in rich fullness the hid
den graces of the heart? The Apostolic
Church came early to experience this
weak and worldly tendency among its
members. In fact before the organiza-
ton of the chursh on the day of Pente-
cost, Jesus met this defectamong His own
immediate disciples. He had to rebuke
them time and time again for seeking
preferment. and for estimating people
by externalities. rather than the internal
qualities of heart and character.
THE world judges people by what they
! possess in tangible assets, whether
they consist of gold, of power, of physic-
al or intellectual attachments which
give social and bu siness preferment. And
it is hard to unlearn the lesson Of the
world. 1t is hard to give up her measur-
ing rod and her balances, and measure
and weigh things after the Divinely ac-
curate means of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ and His 1lnfailing and unerring
Spirit of love and service. The natural
tendency is to have respect of persons.
Even Samuel the Prophet made this
grievous mistake when sent by God to
anoint the new king of Israel He
judged by the eye, he used the worlds
standards of measure, and was prone to
pour his consecr ating oil upon the finest
physical specimens of Jesse's fam
hut of,o ~ L
norance and folly, by saying:
Man looketh on the outward appear
ance, but God lpoketh on the heart"
God is no respecter of persons, when
It has to do with the possessions and at
tainments of thi Is world. In fact, how
often it has pleased God to choose the
foolish things of this world that He
might put to shame them that are wise;
and God chose the weak things of the
world that He might put to shame
the things that are strong; and the base
things of the world, and the things that
are despised did God choose, yea and the
things that are not that He might bring
to nought the things that are: that no
flesh should glory before God" How
unseem1y. nay, how wicked, that those
who are in Christ Jesus, who profess His
name, should recognize the distinctions
which prevail among men and should
be governed by them.
IT HE admonition Of James is need
full and timely. my brethren,
hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lord of glory, with re-
spect OF persons" For il We have re-
spect of persons. We commit sin"
And perhaps there is no one thing to-
day for which, the church of Jesus
Christ is blamed SO much or is SO
harshly criticised than this one sin
of class distinctions. The world can
forgive most every other weakness,
but when the rich are honored and
cherished to the exclusion of the poor
and humble brother; when the talent
ed and cultured are welcomed with
1attered and f1attering obsequious-
ness, and the untutored, uncouth saint
is despised and forgotten and ignored;
when the church counts it's success
by the numbers of it's Selects and |
bulks the rest of it's membership as |
so much necessary ballast to keep the |
ship steady and obedient to the helm
when the world sees this, its cry of |
condemnation is heard, and the church |
is denounced as an exclusive and ex-
Guiding organization, and no place
for the poor and the weak and the
And while we do not rec
ognize the right of the world to Judge
the church, and realize that the preju-
dice which prevails against it makes
the world prone to criticise and point
defects wherever they may exist or
seem to exist, still it is true that many
churches, yea, may we not say, most
churches, are tinctured with this ten
dency to class distinction. In soma
churches it is more marked than ir.
others. To the degree that the Spirit
Of God rules in the hearts of the men,
bers, to that degree is the church free
from this ma'rring and dishonoring
condition.
T HIS sin of class distinction is one
into which the Christian falls SO
and easily How much more
prone We all are to render to the