The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-11-21

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ward purity but also inward cleanli'
ness of heart. 1t means not only to
walk just within the statutes of the
penal code, and just beyond the
changing iron Of a prison door, but
rather to love righteousness and tc
practice uprightness because they are
right. Character is virtue, honor, in.
tegrity, goodness. 1t is deserved
reputation and the glory of a we'll
spent life. 1t Is a mark and the vic
tory of moral worth. More to be de-
sired is it than great riches and its
ripe, rich, satisfying fruitage is peace
and quietude of heart.
Christian character is conformity
to the character OF Christ. 1t is to
bear the express image of the saving
Son of God in the inner man and
through all the problems of the So
cial life. AS the Saviour bore the
impress of the divine will of u COM
mon Father; as the faithful Friend
of men showed forth the mind and
the manner of our God, So must we
as true men and women, disciples OF
our Lord, be sealed with the evil
dences of divine guidance.
The highest character Of this life
and for the world beyond is that
which finds in Jesus Christ the ideal
and harmonious working Of the will
Of mar with the divine. Character,
as we Christians view it, is concerned
not only with the Christians conduct,
not only with his doings in the field
Of human action; but also with his
trueness to his personality and to his
God. Christian character includes,
for it can exclude, a due and a
willing regard for mans obligations
toward his Maker. 1t afirms the
basic necessity for absolute and un-
swerving loyalty to self. 1t insists
and asserts that motive Is more than
manner, while demanding that all So
cial responsibilities be met squarely,
honorably, manfully and in the fear
of God.
The character Of Christ is positive.
Christ is remarkable not for the
things that He refrained from doing
but rather is He ideal in the acts OF
nobleness, virtue, good-heartedness
which He did. His was no puhy
soul. Obeying the words that came
out of Sinai's mighty glory, He went
beyond them. Keeping we'll within
the requirements of Pbarisaic legal
ism, He pushed on and out and up,
above and beyond and ahead of all
the self-complacency and moral blind
ness of the ecclesiastics, and did
things positive and powerful for men
and for God. Feeling within His
heart the call of immortal duty the
Christ exemplified in His own life
those qualities of character which
have for all time secured Him in His
broud place as the ideal man and
proved to a multitude in this sad and
SHINING world His G0dEood and His
grace divine.
To you and to me the call comes
down the centuries bidding us TO
show forth the e~Xcellencies OF him
who hath called Us out Of darkness
Into His marvellous light" Having
accepted the Christ and been sealed
with His love, we must bear in our
lives the express image-that is to
say the signet stamp, that is to say
the characterize the Son Of God.
The character Of Christ presents to
us a double study and preserves to US
a two-fold duty and example. With
in the characteristic attributes OF
holiness and righteousness are COM
prised all the qualities that pertain
to the Saviour in His social sphere.
Holiness toward God, righteousness
toward self and society, these two are
the broad truths that come to US from
the character of the Christ and which
summon us to show forth His glory
and His love. Spirituality and NOR
atty. A sanctifed sense of oneness
with the Father, a courageous de-
termination to stand square before
society and upright at the bar Of his
own conscience, these are the two
great lessons for US from the charac-
ter of Christ, and the mighty truths
within which all else in the world OF
human conduct is embraced.
To be holy is to be sanctifed-that
is to say pure. Not merely purity be-
fore men but q radical purity that
really goes back to the root Of things
and that enables the man to be fit,
through the grace of God in Jesus
Christ, to stand before His Father
and His Maker and be glad. Purity
is not merely a matter Of soap and
water but of inward wholesomeness.
Christ cares not whether your hands
are dirty with the holders clay. He
does weep over q soiled and sullied
soul.
What an antiseptic," says Low
ell, "is a pure life" What possibili-
ties indeed for good and for uplift
and for God are ever within it's power.
But it must be BEAUTIFULLY, honor
ably pure, with the richness of holi-
ness all about it ere it can count for
most and reap a heavy harvest unto
God.
Righteousness is rectitude. That
is to say, erectness. Righteousness
is uprightness. U~prightness is
straightness, moral rectilinearness.
Righteousness means not only to pay
your debts promptly, to keep well
within the limits of the law, not only
to respect the rights Of others and
the mandates of society through fear
of the consequeneesofsi sin, butratherto
seek to do good because 1t ennobles,
to think of the needs of others be-
cause they are our brothers in Christ.