The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-07-20


in mountain cave. 1t matters not
( whether the worshiper be white or
black. whether he worship on his knees
or on his feet or on his back. so long rs
he worship in spirit and in truth.
Christianity so far as it consists OF
visible performance at all is the most
natural and spontaneous outgo OF the
religious instincts to God. and religious
worship is essentially 4 personal COM
munion with God. and III such form
and place as is best suited to the wor.
Shiper and most III accordance with the
will OF God.
Hence. YOU will see. one of the prime
chara, .e:iStics of the church triumph
AM is perfect liberty. Get religion
said Augustine. "and do rs YOU please
Ey which he meant if You truly get re-
i"i0n yOu Will always please to do
rieht. Paul means the same thing
when he says. If We be in the spirit
We are not under the law" And Jesus
meant the same when He said, Make
the tree good and his fruit will be
good" And hence. the ideal Christian
life is perfectly pontaneouS. ODc-
dicnce is not by compulSion OF law. hut
hy impulSiOn of love. "All the law is
fulfilled i'll one word, Thou shalt
love.
We have heard not little about
"the consent of the governed ana we
are likely to hear more. The state
ment as it stands in that famous docu-
ment will not bear literal application.
But there is good reason to believe
that our fathers knew what they were
talking about. If they had said. gov
ernment derives its potency from the
consent Of the governed" they would
have been uttering the exact truth.
Statutes are imperative until the SUD-
jectS consent Perfect society lmplles
perfect acQuieScence IL the will OF the
superior or law making power. The
more society progresses toward unity,
the simpler and more eQuahle Will gov.
ernment become. because the more gem
eral will be the consent % acQuiesence
in the government Paul says. Il con-
sent unto the law that it is good, and
in the perfect society of Johns vision
each man enjoys perfect liberty be-
cause the will of the governor and the
governed are in perfect correspond
cnce. Each individual does as he
pieaseS and at the same time does as
He pleaseS.
In some such way the perfect com.
munity is characterized by perfect
unity without uniformity. Each per.
forms his own duty in his own way,
but is all the while i'll perfect har.
mony with his neighbor. Again. in the
perfected society there is no distinc'
ton between the religious and the sec.
ular. Here we have our times and
places of religion. We gather here in
this house Of prayer. believing that
God is present here as He is not in
other places, as. indeed. He has prom.
ised to be. 1t is Gods concession to
our limitations and infirmities. But
it is far from the ideal. We are apt
to identify religion with the means OF
religion. rather than religion itself.
We get grace by our religious exercises
to keep Gods commandments in ali
our walks of life. and that issreligion.
The members of the church triumph.
ant are equally religious every day OF
the week and every hour Of the day,
and hence. church-going in our sense
of the word, is forever abolished. In
that society. one does not need to say
to his brother. Know the Lord for
all shall know Him from the least to
the greatest There is no more preach.
ing. mo temple therein
Once more: it is obvious that the
more faithful and devoted we are to
the means of religion here the sooner
we shall be fitted to do without them.
Your child, learning to play the piano,
finds it hard labor to spell out note by
note. conforming to the rules and rudi.
ments of practice. By and by she will
20 beyond the rules. She will acquire
the genius of the skilled performer.
And the more diligently We observe
our religious duties here the sooner
we shall get beyond them. The raore
faithful we are now to the times and
places Of religious worship the sooner
shall We be ready for that society
where all life IS religious.
Zachariah had tnat vision ages be-
fore John had it. when he saw "Holi-
ness TO the Lord" inscribed on the
bells of the horses and the pots in
the Lords house. as sacred as the
bowls of the altar: yea, and every pot
in Jerusalem as holy as the vessels OF
the sanctuary. That was at least q
glimpse of the templeless city of God.
And now shall we not keep before
us that ideal? Let us not be discour-
aged by the great disparity between
that far-off perfection and present
reality. The poet well expresses our
feeling:
Oh, Land of Promise, from what Pts
gah's height
Can 1 behold tby stretch Of peaceful
bowers,
Thy golden harvest flowing out OF
sight.
The nestled homes and sun-illumined
towers?
Gazing upon the sunsets high-heaped
gold.
It's crags of opal and of chrysolite.
It's dceps on deeps Of glory, that un-
fold.
Still Frightening abysses.
And blazing precipices.
Whence but q scanty leap it seems to
Sometimes glimpse is given
OF thy gorgeous realm, thy more un-
Stunted bliSSeS.
Gazing upon that vision. let us be
faithful to our temple duties here that
we may be fitted for that city where
there is no temple, "for the Lord God
Almighty and the Lamb are the temple
of it,
10 troubles are so great that they
ho h,,i1 n a a