The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-04-04
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON Bl
Or. DONALD SAGE MAcKAY.
Subject: How to Grow a Soul.

Donald Sage Mackay preached Oh
"How to Grow a Soul" The text was
from II Peter Hills: "Grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ" DR.. Mackay
said:
In the course Of my reading the other
evening I came across this striking and
suggestive sentence, eve can each
grow a soul if we are willing to pay
the price, These words set me think
ing. What a tremendous possibility
God has placed in the grasp of eacr
one of us. We have in our power the
opportunity of growing an immortal
soul. That opportunity is this life-the
question is, Are we willing to pay the
price?
Do we realize what the growth OF q
soul within us means? Do we realize
what life is without a soul? We heal
it sometimes said of one that he is q
'soulless man." Usually we under
stand by that description 4 man de-
void of the ordinary feelings of our
common humanity, lacking in kindli,
ness and sympathy. and incanable OF
generous action. True enough. but
.soulless man in the real import of the
words, means a great deal more than
that. To be soulless is to be dead al
the vital centre of life. 1t is to be cor
rupt and degenerate at that point IN
character from which the divine and
immortal springs into power. Soul
l~essness is spiritual d~egeneracy. II
is what Paul calls Dead in trespasses
and sins, without hope and without
God in the world"
Is it worth while. then. paying ar5
price if We can start within ourselves
this growth of an immortal soul? 1--WE
can each grow a SOUL" said the writer,
eff we are willing to pay the price
Assuredly it is worth it. for this is
the one and the only victorious life
More than that-this is the heart OF
all true religion. If our religion is not
developing spiritual life within us oul
religion is vain. That is the great
thought of Christ's teaching. and in
that He has emphasized the deepest
thought of all the great teachers OF
the world. You may remember, for in
stance, the words of Socrates in his
Defense, addressed to his a%ccusers,
when in describing the greatest work a
man could do he said, "For I do moth
ing but so about amongst you, persuad'
ing you all alike, young and old. not to
take thought of your persons or your
properties, but to care about the great
est improvement of your soul" Than
that statement of the great Greek
teacher the Gospel Of Christ a add
no stronger emphasis to the tremen.
dous significance which belongs to the
growth of a soul.
And yet it is just at this point that,
for most of us. the real tragedy of
spiritual experience unveils itself.
What is it that most troubles you in
your religious life, if at any moment
your give yourself 10 honest self-eXam-
nation? What is the real discourage
ment that haunts us even in Il Keen
est prayers and most fervent supplica-
tons? Is it not Just this-onr utter
poverty in soul growth, the dreadful
lack Of II real evidence of progress in
spiritual things? Judged by the Or
binary standards of life our souls do
not grow. At the very best they SIM
ply stand still, so that spiritually, even
the best OF us, are pretty much as we
were fifteen or twenty years ago, with
the same tendencies dominant. the
same temptations present. With others
of us it is worse than that. In spite
of our prayers and aspirations we are
conscious. when we are brave enough
to face the fact, that spiritually we
grow more stunted and dwarfed as the
years pass on. Our faith becomes less
fervid, the spirit Of prayer dwindles.
the sense Of God evaporates in the
sitting atmosphere of s~elfiShneSs and
wordliness that wraps itself like a sea
fog around us. That, I repeat, is the
spiritual tragedy that plays itself out
in the secret places of our lives; spir-
itually We do not grow as We ought:
our souls lack that touch of life which
reveals itself in ever deepening
strength and power.
Well, now having faced this two-fold
faction the one hand that each OF us
can grow a soul if he is willing to pay
the price, and on the other hand that
this soul-growth is. not being realized
within us as it ought-let US see this
morning what are some Of the cond1-
tions in obedience to which s~oui-growth
may become a glorious reality for each
one Of US.
1. Let US recognize in the first place
what the soul is, what it represents.
BY the soul. We mea something deep
er than "the machine which ticks in
the brain, that calculates and memoir
ICES, that learns the tricks Of trade.
and practices them in the world" That
is not your soul, although l dare say
it is the only apology fer a soul some
Of us have. The soul is that in you
and ME which has kinship with God.
It is the chamber in which the divine
and immortal within US dwells. The
soul is the holy Of hclies in a mans
life. 1t is as Paul says. THE Temple
of the Holy Ghost When, for in
stance, you feel at times, as surely at
times we al! do. IN almost overpower-
ing yearning after God, to know Him,
to be like Him, it IS your soul that is
speaking. 1t is the immortal within
YOU. crying out for its kiEship with
God. The vitality of your soul. there
fore. is the pledge of your immortality.
Destroy the soul, and you destroy that
within you without which eternity is
%unthinkable. That is why Christ put
such emphasis on the awful possibility
of losing the soul. What shall it profit
n man," Ee said, eff he gain the whole
world and lose his own soul?" Moth
ing can compensate that loss. Christ
does not say that gaining the world
necessarily means loss Of the soul;
what He says is, that a prize even so
great rs the attainment of the whole
world would not offset the loss Of a
single individual soul. Do we realize
that?
u,,,o fre+ condition 4nornrora in clnn1-