Albuquerque evening citizen., 1906-09-17


the fatherless and widows in their al
Fiction and to keep himself unspotted
from the world. d."-James 1921.
Subject-"A Religion That Needs
Saving" Since religion Is the leading
word in the text, from which and to
which all arguments point, a knowl
edge Of the word religion as it is used
in this connection is necessary as a
prerequisite to a better understanding
of the arguments that follow.
St James does not argue that there
was any lack of religion at the time
of this writing, but his argument is
founded on a lack of pure religion
There has ever been enough religion
in the world to have saved the entire
human family, if all of it had been
pure. All people have religion OF
some kind. When God created man
He created him with a moral nature,
and endowed him with moral facul-
ties; hence, it is natural for man to
worship something. To find a man
who was not thus inclined would ne
TO find a man out of harmony with
the human race. This applies to men
heather. Approach men of culture on
the subject OF religion, and if you
press your subject you will find that
they will refer you to some good trait
in their character upon which they
lean, with at least a faint hope of
final salvation, if you can get them to
deal honestly with you. One says:
Il visit the sick and do what | can to
relieve their suffering" And this is
true, we find some sinners to be
among the first at the bedside of the
sick. and just as attentive as any
Christian could be. Another says, Il
give of my goods to help the poor, and
| can't see why | should be cut off. 3"
And this is even true. There are sin
ners that are very charitable. No
Christian could be more So A third
one says, Il deal honestly with my
fellows. | meet my obligations.
And this is a noble trait of character,
for religion can start from no lower
platform than that of honesty. Others
say, I'VE expect to enter the kingdom
of God, on simple faith But James
tells us that this would be impossible.
He declares that faith without
works is dead
The heathens have their gods,
which they in their ignorance and su-
perstition worship constantly, and the
fact that they are so devotional is an
evidence of their moral cast of mind,
and religious capabilities. That the
heather is devotional we may infer
from what st. Paul said while in Ath-
ems. He said: For as ! passed by,
and beheld your devotions, found an
altar with this inscription, TO the Un-
known God
A religion that needs saving. The
forms of religion already mentioned,
with many others, need saving. We
mean by this that such actions can
not have any moral value for the act
or il the one thus acting be a sinner,
except that such actions may lead him
to a knowledge of sins forgiven. Paul
says, Though | bestow all of my
goods 10 feed the poor" and have not
the love of God in the heart, lit prof
iteth nothing"
Some people argue that if a man
believes he is right the fact of his be-
lieving makes him right. And that
God, seeing that he does believe il,
under the clause of taking the will
for the deed"-that God, too, agrees
with him that he is right and has the
recording angel TO so record it, Ac-
cording to this argument, Gods intel
ligence mus, in obedience to mans
ignorance, admit that a thing is right
when He knows ii is wrong If such
were true ii would destroy the mean
ing of the divine government and
force God to become a slave to mans
ignorance. No, God in His wisdom
has provided better things through
His Son. When the blood of Christ
has been applied the wayfaring man,
though a fool, need not err" If any
man will do His WILL" says the Mas
ter, "he shall know of the doctrine.
whether il be of God or OF man.
Pure religion and undefled. We
learn that religion may be defiled.
after having been pure And there
are two ways by which pure religion
may be defled, positive and negative.
We are TO keep the commandment,
Thou shalt" as well as the one,
Thou shalt not" The purity of our
religion may be defiled, either by
commission of sin or by omission OF
duty. The fact of religion being pure.
makes il but the easier 10 soil. Il is
represented as being pure as gold,
after having passed through the re-
finer's fire. and as white as snow. II
counsel thee TO buy of me gold tried
in the fire, that thou mayest be rich,
and white raiment. that thou mayest
be clothed"
This story is told of an only daugh-
ter of Cody parents. She was per-
suaded by her young friends to attend
ball one evening, provided her
friends would get the consent of her
father and mother. Her friends went
to her home to ask that she go. The
mother left II with the father. The
father consented that she could go,
provided she would grant him one
small request, which, he assured her
would not be hard TO do. She agreed
and repaired to her room to dress for
the ball. While she was away the
father drew a charcoal from the fire
And when she returned TO the fathers
room with her hands gloved in white,
the father said Daughter. my re-
guest is that you touch that charcoal
with your gloyed finger just as lightly
as possible She asked: Father
why do you want me TO do that, for
II does seem so silly2" But said she