The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1905-09-28

"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 i'll
countless ways. God seeks man in the
very fact that sin itself IS foreign to
mans higher nature The life OF SIN,
of alienation from goodness, is disap-
pointment. Its pleasures are apples or
i Sodom. The evil course, in the end,
exhausts itself. The prodigal 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 reac-
ton of the divine. the good in man.
against the evil within and around
him. I do not know how far men may
| 90 toward destroying the possibilities
of good in themselves. No finite mind
can dogmatize on such n question. l
only know that Jesus never despa!red,
and that He teaches us to despair Of no
man.
In seeking and restoring sinful men
to their true lives. the ministry Of q
loving and sympathetic humanity has
the largest place Of any other instru-
mentality. 1t is 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 these
| He ministered to. Men are sought and
found through goodness and love and
pity in their fellow-men. Jesus said:
DO good, dcspairing OF no man: BE
merciful. even as your Father IN
heaven is merciful:" IF We 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 10 bis
| ministers to declare and pronounce 20
His people, being penitent, the abso-
luton and remission Of their sins"
There is Il wonderful truth in those
ancient words. God hath given such
power, not to ordained clergymen
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.
stand by the side Of man in the
spiritual agony Of remorse. He has
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 a sense of divine forgiveness. He IS
sorry for his sin. The inward dark
ness of his soul has projected ltself
upon the heavens. He thinks that God
| is angry with him. He is afraid OF
| his Father.
Love re-creates the soul, ana the
man becomes "a new creation. he
begins to live a new life and TO hsnt
q 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 lie.
| All this is of the free grace and love
of the Father. Not by works Oh
Righteousness that we have done. put
| according 10 His mercy He saves us.
The relation of child toa father does
not stand upon any legal Formally: II
is not conditioned upon any service
that may be done by the child. Inns
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 III tue
Fathers house. Their spirit is one OF
bondage, not Of joyous trust and sp!r-
| itual freedom. The effort to obtain the
sersa of forgiveness and spiritual peace
| and 10y 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-con-
placercy. 1t turns the moral lie INTO
a legal routine of duty. Between that
kind of legal service which we may
render under hope Of winning Goa S
favor. and the free service to which we
are constrained by the sense OF divine
sonship and 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 servile obedience to 4 God whom we
fear, to the joyous service OF Father
whom we love. We accept this view OF
the relation between our souls and COD
upon the authority Of Jesus 'as our
| great Master and Leader in the thlnSs
of the spirit, as from one who STANDS
supremely above us in spiritual insight.
Love creates a loving and Obedient Fife.
1t destroys selfishness 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
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 II they
really believed this.
These principles Of the religion or
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