Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1905-09-21
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: SUNDAY SERMON :
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. A Scholarly Discourse By y
3 Row. Q. Goo. ovtrie. g

III. COrlntDlanS, Va. Not lol thaI We
would be unclothed, but clothed upon"
He said:
These words of the epistle express
the important principle that wherever
there is vitality life not only adds to
itself continually, but at the same time
never throws away, never entirely loses
the essential elements that it has once
succeeded in acquiring. That is to say
that all the time that life Is putting on
raiment, as it were, or being clothed
upon'-say, in the flowers, or bush or
insect or man, for that partial that
time it keeps the essentials of whatso.
ever it has invested itself with. And
it is never perfectly unclothed of Its
fundamental gains; mot unclothed but
clothed upon" These principles hold
good in relation to life of every kind
and under all conditions. 1t Is one OF
the great keys of nature that have
\een furnished to us. and its univer'
SALTY springs from the fact that
the universe is fundamentally similar
in all it's parts. | mean to say that the
universe IS constituted in such a man.
ner that the different plans of being
the physical. the intellectual, the moral
the spiritual, all correspond to one an
| other. So that whatsoever Is true IN
one is true in all of them. Mankind
in fact has an instinct to that erect
Our ordinary words that we use IN
| talking, for instance, for physical
things are mostly the same as those
used for intellectual or spiritual things.
The word, fright" means straight, and
straight is constantly used by us III
a moral serse; the word wrong
means twisted or corrupt, and cor.
rupt" often means dishonest. The
things that are seen are, that is to say,
divinely created pictures Of the things
that are not seen; and 1t is great
satisfaction that we can have trust.
worthy picture of spiritual things that
we can see. Our blessed Lord talked
| in parallels, not because parallels are
simple, but because the truths eX-
| pressed by parallels las the loaf or
| bread or the raiment or the water from
| the well, or the sparrow having MS
food prepared for him, or the lily get
| ting its raiment without worrying
| about it, are not merely physical
truths-you must not fall into that
blunder-they are truths that reach all
the way up through all the plans to
the eternal kingdom. Our Lord talked
in that way because He saw the whole
of the plan, from the top to the bot
tom, and He talked in no other way
to the people at large: without par
able spake He not unto them The
plans, intellectual moral and spiritual,
are represented in the physical, and all
of them are fundamentally alike. That
is why lie talked in parallels.
Now come back to the general prin-
clple before us, mot unclOthed, but
clothed upon" and let us see to 1T that
we have the physical and material idea
distinctly in our heads. Here, for In
stance, is the stump of tree with the
different rings of wood of which 1t Is
composed. Year by year the tree has
put on new growth, which you can see
in the successive rings. But all the
time that it has been putting on the
new rings it has never completely let
20 of the old ones, and the first ring OF
all is right in the centre all the time.
Let me give the little folk simple IL
lustration, that they may take 1t away
with them. Children, you turn an ap-
pie on its side. Cut 1t down in the cen
ire through and through Then you
have two halves, have you not! Well,
cut off from either half slice, very
thin, the thinner you cut 1t the better.
Then hold the slice up to the light.
Now, what do you see? You see in the
centre, distinctly. the dark outline of
the original blossom that was on the
apple tree in the springtime.
Now, take some examples of this
principle. There is the Bible, for in
stance. IT. is Il living book. | mean by
that it was not flung down from the
sky, like a meteorite, so as to land ike
Joseph Smiths Bible somewhere in a
valley all made up and ready. 1t did
not come that way; but it grew in the
world like an oak or pine tree; and, ac-
cording to what the Saviour says about
the Holy Ghost continually teaching in
the word in successive ages, the Bible,
which is Gods truth or the word Of
God, is, in manner, still growing. Do
you know that? 1t is coming out in
parts. 1t is life from beginning to end
1t unfolds, not single period Of mans
history only, but successive stages In
the growth of the human mind. There.
fore it contains, like tree, successive
rings, rs it We're, greatly c0ntrasted
one with another, widely differing one
from another. In one ring, so to speak,
it is IAN eye for an eye and tooth for
tooth" Literally, exact justice. In
another ring it is, IF a man strike thee
on the one cheek turn to him the other
also" In the one ring, vengeance; in
the other. no vengeance. The Bible, as
I said thus unfolds to us successive
ages in the spiritual growth of man.
Some of its stages, or rings, such as
polygamy, We have left behind us long
ago; some We have not yet reached.
The Sermon on the Mount especially
stretches out and away to the future
perfection of the race, when nation
like Russia will be an imposslbility.
At the present time, you know, all ma
lions take brute animals for their rep.
Iesentative coat Of arms, because they
all have the brute in them. The time
will come when the bear and the lion
and the bird of prey shall all be ground
out of humanity, and the work be full.
filled when he that Is struck on one
cheek will turn the other also, and the
race will become, as it never has be.
come Christian. And yet whatsoever
has been true remains true forever.
While the Bible gives us the story
of the Gospel. it continues to retain
the law in the Book of Deuteronomy.
Calvary does not blot out Sinai. They
are related to one another. You must
know the law before you can know the
Gospel. You often hear Of people be-
ing extremely willing to forgive. What
is their forgiveness worth7 1t is not
worth anything, because they have
never suffered from the indignant
wrath Of just and noble anger. No,
forgiveness is not worth anything ex.
cept where the anger restrained is the
ring inside of it, Another thing, God
continues to clothe mankind, as lie did
at the first lie clothes the human race