The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-10-10
THoucHTs ER THE
,N g. =
'VAkA,' J.,
oulET X hOOR
THE SUNDERING FLOOD.

How shall bear me in the hour to be,
When Thy great Sundering Flood comes
rushing down,
And l shall feel the coldness of that sea
In which all mortal men shall one day
drown? -.-. /
Shall I be glad who have been sad 80 long,
So weary of ife's ceaseless care and fret:
Shall be blithe and sing joyous song, i
When with that icy foam my feet are
wet? :
Or will the sweetness of the happy earth :
Sweep over me, and friends hold me IN
And shal} h;all I feel that love has had new
And every rose of life will bloom again?
God knows I have been brave up to this
hour, - +
No coward drop in all my languid blood;
Bid me not part from courage, O thou
Power
That hold'st in leash cen Thy great
Sundering Flood! '''
Hattie Tying Griswold, in Independent. :
Religion and Social Conditions.
A new; heart also will I give you,
md a new spirit will I put within
you.-Esekiel xxxvi., 26.
An old satirist says, eve cannot
live with men and yet we cannot live
without them" This expresses at
once the necessity Of society and yet
the evils attendant upon it. Man is a
social being and hence arise brother,
hoods, tribes, States and Govern
ments. ~
To this organization into society,
be owes his greatest blessings, and
yet it affords opportunity for the
grossest abuses. To the correction
of these abuses and to the remedying
! o2 these wrongs the best statesmen,
the wisest political economists and
The noblest moralists have given their
closest study and their strongest eff
tort. Through such a crisis as this
we are just now passing in our own!
country. Many had imagined that
! with the marvellous advances in edu-,
cation, science and industrialism in,
| our modern age civilization was
emerging from the bogs and quag-,
mires Of the past. x
But we have suddenly experienced
rude awakening from this pleasing
dream, and now thoughtful men on
every side, reinforced by an active
and courageous President, are cast
Ing about for remedy. ....,.. -. ..
What is imperatively needed Is q
moral reformation. And the power
to effect this cannot be found In poll,
tics or economics, or even In ethics,
but alone in religion. " ....'. s.. =
It Is only when men look to God
and realize their responsibility to
Him that there will come quicken
Ing of the human conscience, 1t is
! only when they have that holy fear,
Of wro1,doing which inspired Joseph,
that they can put away temptation
with his pious answer: "How can
: DO this great wickedness and sin
against God?" 1t Is only when they
| bow to His law who has said, Thou
shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,"
that they can subdue that selfishness
which is the master passion impelling
! to most social enormities. 1t Is only
when they see in God the champion
of the poor and the avenger OF the
defrauded widow and orphan that
greed can be tempered by the sense
of right and, humanity. And 1t is
only when they see in God Father
with a heart of love to all His chill
aren that, instead of wolfish rapacity
and pitiless avarice, there will every
where glow the genial rays and kind
! iy warmth of brotherhood. d:
What is demanded, then, to heal
the disease, to quiet the alarm, to
Danish the injustice and to- safeguard
against the impending disaster, over
which all thoughtful minds are mus
Ing, is the regenerative power OF re-
! !igion. It places the emphasis on a
aew moral birth. The. unique force
Of religion is! that it creates Imam
inew In the divine image. The Spirit
If God is inbreathed into the spirit Of
man. It is the I'VE must be born
again" of. the Great Teacher, Jesus
Christ. - 'S'" -
Religion presents wholly new
ideal of life The natural heart finds
4 pleasure but in material things, and
IN its grasping ardor to possess these
/ The finer sensibilities are throttled.
Hence the dishonest practices in busi-
ness we see condoned by men of re-
pute. But when one attains to a no.
bier ideal and finds happiness in right
and in making others happy, then en-
sues the golden reign of brotherhood.
Religion, then, holds the key to
the present problem. And she must
be true to her holy Office. She must
not turn aside to mere ethics or to at
lacking particular sins, but she must
I 20 down to the root. She must en-
doavor IN give men a sober, sane con-
version. She must give them that
new heart and spirit which she can
do alone by faithful preaching of the
auickening, renewing word OF Cod
junius 8. Remensynder, st. James
Lutheran Church, New York City, IN
the Sunday Herald. ..''
What Shall We Seek?
Jesus says, Seek ye first the king
dom of God" How shall we seek for
anything until we consider for what
we are to looks- The apostle Paul
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