The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-01-31
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON 81
The REV. w. }. THOMPSON.
Subject: Warp and Wool.

DloUhlJl IL, ~. I.-SuLuQJ SA"pSOu 4O'
E. Church celebrated its sGty-frst an
n%iversary. The subject of Pastor w.
]. Thompson's morning sermon was
Faith and Love in the Warp, Pastors
and Members in the Wool" The text
was from l. Thessalonians i:3. MIR.
Thompson said:
The warp consists Of the threads
running ~lengthwise through the entire
fabric. The wool consists of the
threads crosswise, and prompted by
the weaver's fancy, may vary with
each shot of the shuttle.
The warp of Simpson Church is that
which through these sixty-one years
has remained unchanged and is un-
ch%angeable. The wool, comprising
pastors and members, by memorable
necessity and purposeful design
changes and evermore must change.
Faith is q prominent thread in the
warp. Conscious of u spiritual
growth we reach out after God if
happily We may find and be aided by
Him.. God is not found out by search
ing. The futility Of the quest adds
welcome to Jesus who reveals the
sought-for God as the Father. We
hold forth Jesus the authoritative re-
vealer of God and our relation to Him
as the light of the world.
Absorbed in His talks and walks,
we are caught up in His life, and by
that life conformed to his likeness.
Thus Jesus saves men by His life.
Also by His death. The distractions
to the tunnel boring under Manhattan
and the rivers, overcome by the engf-
,@11et ~ n,;Enn M noc fhntr 6nUnf1nn
to their ~ideal-rapid transit.
Christ's sacrifice of His life revealed
His complete love for His ideal, the
salvation of man, and makes that sal
walton complete. We preach Christ
and Him crucifed as the all-suflcient
saviour of men who receive Him.
Philosophers reason men into disciple
ship. Without violence to reason, and
invoking it only so far as it is a part
of conscience, We command mel every
where to repent and believe. Repent
by ceasing to. do evil; believe by the
trustful appropriation of the Christ
life and death. Our forerunners in
this are John the Baptist. Peter and
flaming evangels on to Whitfield and
Moody. Our justification is the wit
ness of sins forgiven, and lives bring
ing forth the fruits of righteousness.
Fear is in the warp. 1t is ours by
generous hereditary legacy, and COM
passes things, beasts, men and devils.
When fear is uppermost it dwarfs.
Neither moral nor religious giants are
the product of fear. What pygmies
worriment, fear of disaster, makes.
Intimidation from eclipses and comets
science shows to be baselesS. The fear
of beasts, which vanishes before the
proves of the hunter. Fear of physi-
cal man departing with war. Fear to
speak ones convictions and advocating
measures he disbelieves, thus count
ing for less than nothing, and deserv-
ing eXpatriation from a democracy
these are all unwholesome fears. The
sooner banished the better.
Moral fear. Wordsworth calls duty
the stern Daughter of the Voice OF
God" She is a task mistress over US.
Our superior therefore we fear. Her
commands, like a chrysalliS, metamor-
phoses into the pleasures of duty. Fear
Of the law drives the criminal to out
ward legal acts. The best citizens are
moved without fear. William Lloyd
Garrison, the great moral champion,
the centennial of whose birth this day
is, when dragged through the streets
OF Boston by a mob, said his soul was
devoid of fear"
Fear is the beginning and not the
end Of morality. Cody fear. Petro-
MUS argued fear made the gods. Some
religions have their devils. We have
ours who goeth about as a ~deVouring
lion. The Old and New Testaments
have SIS references to fear.
1t may be needful for the beginnings
and .salutary with certain tempera-
ments, but fear is only the beginning
Of wisdom.
The almigltiness of Jehovah makes
us tremble. But Hadraws near to US
in the flesh as we become one with
Him. His power is for us. Fear from
the least to the King of Terrors is
abolished. All power is for our good
and we can no longer fear. Fear gives
| place to love and sinks to tue neither
side Of the warp in remembrance OF
the judgments of the lawgiver. The
terrors Of the law are replaced by the
grace of the gospel. Fear is the be-
ginning Of wisdom, its end is love.
In our necessitated helplessness in in
fancy and youth we depended upon
our fathers. That dependence met,
brought forth as the foremost flial
feeling, love. All men have this tu-
telage, and to them Jesus reveals God
as the Father who eXcels the most de-
voted father in giving good things.
The devotee of many gods may be
sober until he is intoxicated at the
feast Of Dionysius and be righteous
throughout all. To the same devotee
wisdom is a virtue if he is a states
man and courage if he is a soldier.
There are different virtues for different
times and different people. Jesus re
vealed Diety as II God and Father,
therefore virtue is one and love is
the fulfilling of all virtue. TO offend
in one point of love is to be guilty Of
all. because righteousness is a unit.
The acknowledged master in my
craft addresses my ambition with.
You can be an artisan equal to ME
and 1 will aid you" He has my hearts
best love. The absolutely perfect God
addresses my loftiest ambition with,
BE We perfect as 1 am perfect and My
proffered grace, all-suficient, is yours
rcr the asking" 1t follows my hearts
! supreme love wells up to God. The
most prominent thread in the warp is,
Love God with all your heart, mind,
soul and strength"
God the Father of all-then geog-
raphy, national boundaries, is a matter
of the head and not of the heart and
merchandise. a commodity in things
and not in men. Accordingly, in the
bor;,p;p~ Of thie o,o 81 uyuS pro1oc-