Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1906-07-13

upon our souls.
Let Us keep our hearts and minds
always open to the best influences from
God, from nature and from good men.
TIE LARGZ2 LIFE OF RELIGION.
By Henry 2. Cope
Il am come that they might have life
and that they might have it more album
dainty. John 10: 10.
Religion is more than restriction,
more than Il weary round of negations,
heavy load of commandments con-
corning things TO he avoided. No Won
der the youth turns with dread from
the church which prescrihes his doings
by chalk line drawn by those in whom
the fires have all died or who may
never have known the glow of youth.
Such church says to men, Come thou
with us and we will show you how to
empty your life of all the things
Such d church is praying. "Oh,
to be nothing nothing" and is
getting its prayers pretty thoroughly
answered. The religion that has for its
precepts only so many Thou shalt nots,
for duties only so many Must nots, for
privileges only SO much giving up and
going without, can end only in death.
4 living religion cries out for moro
life, not less; less life leads at last to
the grave
jS fiuhtinCr ~;
worn it is no use fighting for any kind
of faith that can be worn at all For
faith is not a garment. So long as we
think of it as such it will be but
strait-jacket, a something to crush the
life. Such a religion makes the Sun
day a prison, the church a charnel.
The worth while the heaven born re-
ligiOn we may know not by the multi
tude of it's restrictions, not by the bur
dens it lays on life, not by its prohi-
billions or even its definitions but by
it's invitations, the blessings it cOnfers,
the multitude of It's means of enlarging
life. In itself it is ever life it leads
to larger life. Religion means not to
live less; it is not a cramping of the
life within certain rules, but a crowding
tree that pushes up the earth and
breaks up the wall into which it grows.
There will always be upheavals revolu-
tons in religion, because it Is always
growing.
Religion calls for room, more room,
possibilities of life, room to climb up
and look out on life, room to serve our
fellows and lift them to larger living,
room to be made by the sweeping away
of old limitations, ancient prejudices.
hoary wrongs. And because it is vital,
not formal, it demands an ever larger
place in our lives.
Do not think, my friend, that you are
pious because you succeed in stripping
Your life of all beauty, in cutting off all
inal than thus to shrink your soul, to
crush yourself beneath burdens of mega
tons and prohibitions. Instead Of bind
ing your feet as some do, you are
binding your heart; you will go lame
in the land where hearts rule The
Almighty can best be served with the
best life, not with less but with more.
Sin is not so much In doing the things
you ought not to do as 1t is in missing
the glorious thing you ought to be; it
is missing the mark Of Gods glorious
purpose and plan for your life. Holt
~ oIo
evil as in perfect realization of the
good The way to keep from sin is not
so much by the study of the dictionary
of don'ts as by entering into the good,
the worthy, letting out your life to
larger higher things, by entering into
the things that are true, honest, lust,
pure, lovely and of good report Right
eousness is positive, not negative
There is more righteousness In a bad
man than there is in a fawless statue.
The Pharisee's plan was to save the
world by showing it the amending list
of things it must not do; Jesus plan
is to show it all the things it may be.
Their way was by a law, his by a life.
1t is a good deal easier to be a Pharisee
than to be a Christ, especially when
the Pharisee makes it his business to
regulate others and not himself. But
it is a good deal happier, healthier,
holier if you will let the little petrifed
souls go on wagging their heads over
the catalogue of don'ts and denials
while you enter into larger soul and
larger service by letting the best things
within lead out your life to yet better
things and the noblest aspirations lead
you out to nobler service. The mechan-
ical virtues cannot see the kingdom Of
heaven; the vital religion has it
already.
Short Meter Sermons.
Love never leads astray.
You cannot kill time without hurting
character
He has no force with men who has