The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-11-27
IT IS A GOOD WORLD
SERMON AT HOLY COMFORTER Br
 MR. MsoUEEN.
uumsrfty should Net Fail to Realise Int This world is Gods werD--A Beauti-
 ful World.


 the Rector. Rev. Stewart Mcqueen. preached from the text. ''Use this world as nal abusing it, for the fashion or this world passeth away.
 MT. Mcqueen said:
 "A e.w words first with regard to the world itself. Let us not fall to realize this is Gods world and not the devils world--as many seem to suppose. More over, it is a good world and beautiful world. Especially is 1t good to those who see God in His world. who see Him bringing good out of evil. and making the world His own, for its beauty is His. and its joy Is His. And. further. the beauty and joy of this world are but a, foretaste of what God, who Is infinite love. has in store for us. if we, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, do use this world as not abusing it,.
 Next, see how Holy Scripture presents our relationship to the world, for as Christians, we are not to flee from the world, nor to live discontentedly in it. Our Savior's prayer to the Father for His disciples applies to us also, 'I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from the evil.' The world is place of trial for us. place for our development that is growth in Di- vine grace and growth in Christ-like character. It is a battlefield where only God and angels are spectators, for we must take an active, living, straining part. From day to day we grappfe with duties of various kinds. We are as- sailed continually by temptations of all sorts and from every direction. We sustain a relation to the world from the Divine side, and the human from the spiritual side, and the social, for we are, in our natures, Divine and human, spiritual and social. Amid it all our constant aim, purpose. effort is to use this world as not abusing it for the 1ashion of this world passeth away.
 You note in the text St. Paul sets forth great principle and one plainly taught in the Gospel It is that Chris tians have right to use the world. We must maintain intercourse and connec- tion with it. We live in it as members of the human family. By virtue of our characters, talents or other gratifica- tions we take the rank and place due us among our fellow men. Therefore it Is no part of our duty to seclude ourselves from the world, leading a thoroughly selfish life. passing from our homes to our places of business and back again, as is the case with most men; or becoming virtually slaves to husband and children. as is the case with so many women. Such persons are usual ly intensely narrow, cold. selfish. un- sympathetic, for only through social and neighborly intercourse can many of the higher virtues be acquired. Such per- sons are not using the world. They are abusing it, because they are not mak- ing the most of it either for themselves or for others. They ignore the fact that we are members one of another, and not isolated individuals. but are bound together by Divinely made ties, which involve social as we'll as other duties.
 Again: There are people everywhere who say 1t is wrong for Christians to engage at all in the pleasures and amusements of the world. and affirm that those who take part in them are not Christians. The result is they re- tard the progress of religion which they honestly desire to promote. by present ing under a false aspect, an aspect of unscriptura1 and unreasonable auster- ity utterly at variance with the teach ings of Christ and His apostles. They also fail to turn to good account their own influence by countenancing social gatherings and amusements which thereby would be tempered and regu- lated, instead of being delivered, as is too often the case, into the hands, of the young and the giddy at the risk of being carried to excess. Why? Chiefly because older people, people of standing and character, are so selfshly absorbed in their own affairs they take little or no interest in the young. Such people are not using the world. They are abusing it in their way just as truly as do those who give themselves up to excessive pleasure.
 St. Paul tells us in the text the es- sence of Scriptural teaching as regards our relation to the world and the req son therefor. It ia this: We may use the world but we must not abuse 1t, because the fashion of the world pass eth away. It is heeting. There is nothing permanent about 1t, and we should not fix our affections too strong 1y upon passing and temporal things. We may use them but we must not al- low them to use us. Of course, we cannot abuse the world without using it, but we can by Gods help, use tho world without abusing 1t. Alas! only too frequently we do abuse it. There is always that danger. Hence many good people condemn entirely lawful things as sinful in themselves, merely because they become sinful through abuse, that Is, when carried to excess. But this is utterly unscriptural. un- reasonable, unphilosophical, in a word untrue. Because a thing may be abused does not make 1t a sin to be used. If so, almost everything in the world would be sinful, talking. for in- stance. Nothing Is more abused than that. There is no sin in using the world, that is, enjoying in moderation and under proper conditions, its pleas ures and beauties; its glories and amusements. True, there are many sincere and well-meaning persons who bitterly condemn this view of life chiefly, perhaps, because 1t does not appeal to them. Possibly. however they prefer to give themselves over te the cares of life, or to money-gettine or to selfish absorption in their own petty affairs. Therefore, criticism oI others comes with an i'll grace from them. Let such remember that accord ing to St. Paul. sin does not consist ir using the world. but in abusing 1t, that is in using 1t badly. Pleasure or amusement has it's place in life as truly as religion, for we have bodies and minds as truly as we have souls. More over, our social natures are divinelJ given. They are not, as a great many people seem to fancy, snares of the devil
 How pitiful a thing it is that thou sands of earnest Christians should take a narrow, bigoted view of using the world and its pleasures, thereby missing half of life. That they arS thoroughly honest in their views w . may not question. But that they have a comprehensive knowledge of Divine revelation and human life, we canno admit. They do not seem to realize a all the fact there is infinitely greater danger to our spiritual welfare in th' worship of Mammon for instance, ol in the cares of life than in the pursui
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