Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-07-05

ter, q life-deter mining Principe: "Aea
man thinketh in his heart, so IL he"
Take the Bible and follow the word.
Like growth in Christ growth in
knowledge must be gained individually.
You cannot know another's knowledge
any more than you can go to heaven
on another's faith. Some years ago in
a theological seminary a young man
was being examined. He got along
we'll until one of the examiners asked
him a certain question, which took him
by surprise. He could not answer in
his then state of mind. IT he had been
asked suddenly his age he could not
have told it. At last on he question
being pressed he said: Il believe what
the Presbyterian Church believes" He
did not pass. It will not pass you.
There are some things like h a in the
church, far too serious to be funny.
Such as going to the pastor time after
time and asking: rs this right?' rs
that mans position correct" Where
is that spirit that guideth into all
truth?
What are you doing to advance the
Presbyterian Church. or our name In
His name. by your. own Development:
A danger to-day lies in believing in the
wrong or error that may be in our
creeds. Is there anything in them that
ought to be eliminated? 1t is a great
peril to think that all truth Is in our
creed and that what is not written
there is wrong. For, that stops ad-
vancementsland is a check to ,oIlr pro-
gress in Christ's knowledge and grace
and means declension-loss. Christ
taught the truth and did not formulate
it. The apostles enlarged upon it to
meet the needs Of the growing church:
the early fathers .s~ystenlatized truth
into creeds. And so it went on down
from the time of Constantine to the
Renaissance, until we found the truth,
not by ecclesiastical dictum. but in eff
feet it was the same. l have seen old
people so under the domination Of
their ecclesia stical commentator that
they could see nothing in the Bible but
what he taught.
But as I read the signs of the time
the church to-day is on the eve Of an
advancement in the knowledge of
Jesus Christ unequalled in her history.
You and I want a part in that. l know
some of my ministerial brethren do not
so read; they listen to the Earring
voices Of to-day: "Down with the b.
BILE. Lop off lump after lump and give
us love in a mighty principle" which is
but a sentimentality. That is not what
God means. We are at the headwaters
of a mighty, flowing river, which Is yet
bubbling> and has not become deep and
calm and still. But it will, and when
it does we shall have more truth, not
less. Be sure Of that. Our creeds
Ouphf tn pafhor nm in %hor1co1voc oil
the truth that is in Christ Jesus per-
self the "fulness Of the godhead bodi-
IT," Their confusion is like q puzzle
picture from which some pieces are
lost. 1t is your duty, and mine, to find
the pieces and put them in their proper
places until our creed becomes a per-
feet pen p%icture'of the Goldman. When
it does. we shall have a creed on which
every lover of the Goldman will stand
comfortably. It will be that way in
heaven. It shall be that way on earth.
Don't you want hand in that? How?
Not only for your own sake, but for
the worlds sake and the church's sake.
Grow in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ"
How? Simply by the use Of the
means of grace which Christ instituted
for that very purpose: By the public
ministry Of the Word, by private inter
course with Jesus, by your right use Of
the Word of God, by those activities
for which you find channels not only
in the church, but out of it every day.
whereby your spiritual muscles and
sinews are developed a. your physicaS
mes are-by use.