Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1905-10-05

loving and sympathetic humanity has
the largest place of any other instru-
mentality. 1t is a continuation Of the
ministry Of Jesus. His ministry was
not in His words alone; it was chiefly
in His wonderful personality. His
gentleness, His faith in man, inspired
faith and hope and courage in those
He ministered to. Men are sought and
found through goodness and love and
pity in their fellow-men. Jesus said:
do good, despairing of no man." "Be
merciful, even as your Father in
heaven is merciful;'' IF ye forgive men
their trespasses, your heavenly Father
will forgive YOU" Make the heavenly
Father real to men by being incarna-
tons of His love and goodness.
The love Of God is seen chiefly in
love and pity in the heart Of man.
In the ancient liturgy of the Church
there is phrase that says, "God hath
given power and commandment to His
ministers to declare and pronounce to
His people, being penitent, the abso-
luton and remission of their sins"
There is a wonderful truth in those
ancient words. God hath given such
power, not to ordained ciergymen
alone, but to every sympathetic and
ministering soul. The law Of divine
forgiveness and spiritual renewal is the
central law Of the evangel Of Jesus.
I stand by the side Of man in the
spiritual agony of remorse. He has
drunk the horrible cup Of iniquity. He
is sin-siek. He feels the crushing bur-
den of his own wrong.doing. He longs
for deliverance, for ease of conscience,
for sense of divine forgiveness. He is
sorry for his sin. The inward dark
ness of his soul has projected itself
upon the heavens. He thinks that God
is angry with him. He is afraid of
his Father.
Love re-creates the soul, and the
man becomes "a new creation" He
begins to live a new life and to fight
a winning battle with sin and tempta-
ton. He knows and feels that a power
is in him that is all sufficient for every
need and every emergency Of his life.
All this is Of the free grace and love
of the Father. "Not by works Of
righteousness that we have done, but
according to His mercy He saves u.s.
The relation of child to father does
not stand upon any legal formality; it
is not conditioned upon any service
lldI u1dy UC uOAG Ny tAC O0A1Os = Lis
is pre-eminently true Of the relation
between the Heavenly Father and His
human children.
The love and grace Of God come
through no contract. st. Paul tells
of those who live as servants in the
Fathers house. Their spirit is one Of
bondage, not of joyous trust and spir-
itual freedom. The effort to obtain the
sense Of forgiveness and spiritual peace
and joy by diligent discharge Of duty
leaves the tender conscience in doubt
and fear, because "the commandment
is so exceeding broad that at best
mans endeavors must be imperfect, or
else it leads to Pharisaic self-com-
placency. It turns the moral life into
a legal routine of duty. Between that
kind of legal service which we may
render under hope of winning Gods
favor, and the free service to which we
are constrained by the sense Of divine
sonship and love, the distance is i'm
mea surable. It is to Jesus that the
world is indebted for showing us this,
and enabling us to pass from the state
of servile obedience to God whom we
fear, to the joyous service of q Father
whom we love. We accept this view OF
the ToldUlOu between our SUulS duu NJOu
upon the authority of Jesus as our
great Master and Leader in the things
| of the spirit, as from one who stands
supremely above us in spiritual insight.
Love creates a loving and obedient life.
It destroys selfshness from the heart.
It makes character; and character is
salvation, in this and in all worlds.
The kingdom of heaven on earth is
| the kingdom Of love, society Of men
and women who live the loving and
Christ-like life; who believe that this
| is Gods world, and who live upon this
principle every day; who believe that
all men are brothers and sons of God,
and act toward all men as It they
really believed this.
These principles Of the religion OF
Jesus are gaining more and more in
the world, in spite Of all that appears
to the contrary. The kingdom Of God
is surely coming on earth.
The Fatherhood Of God, the Brother