The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-04-08

NOT to be swayed BY religious excitement.
IL Is not, under the uplift of fine music,
nor the tender sentiment OF keen sorrow
to catch some celestial glimpse of truth.
and conclude you are henceforth a relig-
ious man. To be Christian is nothing
other than Christ within you the hope of
glory.
Then there is the other mistake of maxi
ing the visible church identical with the
reality. Indeed, symbols are important.
We can never tell how much satisfaction
the religious devotee receives from the pie-
ture of the Virgin or the image of the
Christ The line between the symbol and
the spirit may be less attenuated than we
think. More symbols may lead to more
realities than we dream Of An object of
sense may, however, oftener hinder ac-
cess to the spirit than be viaduct there
to. Many person joins church for the
sake of being church member rather than
to be better Christian. Many person
worships their church and minister rather
than the Christ the church represents and
the minister breaches. Being a good de-
nominationahst is not necessarily being a
good Christian. although if we are good
Christians we ought to be denomination
alists, and better denomiaationalists than
we are. Denominations give form and con-
tent to Christianity which some souls
would never otherwise perceive. But on
the other hand, denominatonalism should
have no content to boast of except what
the Gospel imparts. Don't think that to
be Methodist. Presbyterian or Baptist
is equal to being Christian. 1t may be
So 1t may not be SO. 1t depends whether
your denomination intensifies or material
ICES Christianity. You may have the form
of goodness, but your very devotion to the
form is denial of the power thereof. L
have in mind a member of former
church who would sooner give up
Christ than his immersion and COM
munion. His unspiritual life shows he
has done that very thing He has per-
mitted these two sacred rites to steal away
his Lord, and he knows not where they
have laid him. Scriptural warrant for &C.
clesiastical forms is good. But no eccles-
iastical form should take the place of the
pure heart, the Christ spirit. Christianity
is a Christ impaired divine state of life.
All within the charmed circle, whether Of
my church or yours, or of neither mine nor
yours, are my brothers because also of
Christ. "Other sheep / have not of this
fold" Don't forget that. Christ said it.
Therefore, it must be true. There shall
be one flock and one shepherd. Not one
fold, as it is translated. There may be
many focks in one fold.
By and by boundary lines will fade
away. We think then they will all be
Baptists. The Congregationalst thinks
they will all be Congregatonalists. And
the Methodist is sure they will all be
Methodists All, brother, better still, they
will all be Christians. And as some saint
in glory ten thousand years asks, Who are
these? as they all come trooping home like
tired children after the tolls of the day are
over, so some John will answer: 'These
are they who believed in the Lamb of
God which taketh awav the sins of the
world" Who knows, Jesus Himself may
say, "These are they for whom I died."
These? These? These are they who came
up through great tribulation and have
washed their robes and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb!