The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1905-09-27

parable of the 'lost sheep" and the
"prodigal SON" How does the Good
Shepherd seek His lost sheep? How
does the Father restore the lost child?
The Divine mercy and love seeks and
influences the children of men IN
countless ways. God setks man in the
very fact that sin itself is foreign TO
mans higher nature. The i,fe of sin,
of alienation from goodness, Is n disnp-
pointment. It's pleasures are apples OF
| Sodom. The evil course, In the end,
exhausts Itself. The prodlgal gets to
the end of his resources: then he re-
calls that he Is his fathers child. 1t
is so with all kinds of sin. In the laws
of mans moral and spiritual being, 1t
Is ordained that there shall be a reac-
ton of the divine, the good In man.
against the evil within and around
him. l do not know how far men may
go toward destroying the possibilities
OF good In themselves. No finite mind
can dogmatize on such a question. l
only know that Jesus never despaired,
and that He teaches us to despair of no
man.
In seeking and restoring sinful men
to their true lives, the ministry OF a
loving and sympathetic humanity has
tht htol DldNG VI aiy OehNA -
mentality. 1t is a continuation of the
ministry of Jesus. His ministry was
not in His words alone; II was chiefly
in His wonderful personality. His
gentleness, His faith in man, inspired
faith and hope and courage in those
He minlstered to. Men are sought and
found through goodness and love and
pity In their fellow-men. Jesus said:
"Do good, despairlng 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-
tions 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 a phrase that says, "God hath
given power and commandment to His
ministers to declare and pronounce to
His people, being penltent, the abso-
luton and remission of their slns.'
There is wonderful truth in those
ancient words. God hath given such
power, not to ordained clergymen
alone, but to every sympathetic and
ministerlng soul. The law of divine
forgiveness and spiritual renewal is the
central law of the evangel of Jesus.
stand by the side of man in the
spiritual agony of remorse. He las
drunk the horrible cup Of iniquity. He
Is sin-sick. He feels the crushing bur
den of his own wrong-doing. He longs
for deliverance, for ease of conscience.
for Il 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 new life and to fight
a winning battle with sin and tempta-
ton. He knows and feels that 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, put
according to His mercy He saves us"
The relationof child toa father does
not stand upon any legal formality; 1T
Is not conditioned upon any service
that may be done by the child. This
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-
ltual freedom. The effort to obtain the
sense of forgivenessand spiritual peace
and joy by dillgent 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 ii leads to Pharlsalc self-com-
placency. 1t 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 apd love, the distance is i'm
measurable. 1t is to Jesus that the
world is indebted for showing US this,
and enabling us to pass from the state
of seryile obedience to God whom we
fear, to the joyous service Of Father
whom we love. We accept this view OF
the relation between our souls and God
upon the authority of Jesus as ear
great Master and Leader in the things
of the spirit, as from one who stands
supremely above us in spiritual insight.
Love creates loving and obedient life.
1t destroys selfshness from the heart.
1t 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
Chrlst-lke 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 II 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
hood of Man, the moral and spiritual
Leadership of Jesus, Salvation by
Character. inspired by love. the Prog
ress of Mankind onward and upward
forever-this is the faith of essential
and spiritual Christianity; and some
day it will be accepted as the true in
terpretatlon OF the religion of Jesus.
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