The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-07-17

AS the basis of Moody's evangel was
the love of God for men, so, I verify
believe, ere we shall do the work for
Jesus that we desire to perform, we
must declare, with insistency and
with cumulative force, the dignity.
the wisdom, the fairness, the efficacy
Of human love for God.
The trouble with us to-day is not
that we do not know that God loves
US. The trouble is that mer do not
love God. The evil which afflicts us
can only be cured by the exercise of
a controlling and vitalizing love for
God, such a love as shall mellow and
beautify the souls OF men. The in
iquity which scourges us now and
torments US would not be If. in the
past, men had loved God. A thor
oughgoing love for God will make
evil conditions in this world as i'm
possible as they will be in the new
Jerusalem hereafter. The golden
rule has failed to accomplish its mis-
sion, not because it is not a truth,
but because it is only half a truth,
as it is popularity used to-day. The
second commandment is a safe guide
for our rule and practice through life
only when it is correlated with that
primary commandment which Lord
enunciated as at the logical centre Of
the moral and spiritual realities. The
golden rule is not enough of a guide
for us as we travel toward the undis-
covered country. We must be more
than moral if we desire happiness
here and hope to enter into JOY eter-
nal hereafter. The golden rule must
be vitalized by the living first princl-
pie of the kingdom Of God The trou-
Bile with the world is that men have
been altogether too we'll satisfied to
do and be done by, as God nev in
tended they should. See for a mo-
ment how this half truth works in
practice. You and I are on the Stock
Exchange. You are satisfied that II
by trickery or Justification or by the
spreading of dangerous reports, true
or untrue, I can ruin you, I may do
so, provided I afford you equal oppor-
tunity to do the same to me: You
and I are trading horses. 1t is all
right for you to fleece me with my
eyes open so long as 1 am permitted
to fleece you in the same manner
You and I are in business. 1t is
proper for me to steal your trade,
provided you have an equal 'oppor-
tunity to steal mine. OF course this
meets a modern Interpretation of the
golden rule, which says, whatsoever
We are willing that men should do
unto you, do We wen so unto them"
But how grievously it violates the
spirit of Christ's law. The principle
of the business world too largely is
this, that it is all right for n dog
to eat the other, because they have
agreed that it shall be fair to play
the industrial and commercial game
that way. Thou shalt love thy
neighbor as myself" We are told.
But when this law is separated from
the correlated truth that Christ de-
clared, and transplanted alone into
the lives Of multitudes of mel to-day,
we understand what an awful half
truth it has become.
In all seriousness, I do not desire
that some men shall love me in the
way they love themselves, outside OF
Christ. I do not care to practice the
golden rule as to-day it is promulgat-
ed in our social life, outside of Jesus
Christ, or to have it SO practiced upon
me. For some men have no compre-
hension of their own value and the
demands of their own integrity upon
their lives; and how, therefore, can
they appreciate the value Of the lives,
the minds, the hearts, the souls, the
peace and purity and happiness OF
their fellow men? Some men have
such a small estimate, seemingly, OF
themselves, judged by the way they
treat themselves, that we should be
untrue to ourselves did we not resent
like treatment by them Of u.s.. Some
men have such a debased idea con-
corning what is right for men to do
unto them that they cannot be ex-
pected to know, unless the grace or
God inform them, what they should
do to their fellows.
The message for u own time, the
appeal of to-day, must be based on
the text I have read. It's theme must
be the love of man for God. Loving
God, we shall conserve the interests
Of our own personalities and gain a
divine value of our OWL worth to God
and to the world. Loving God, we
shall know the value of our brethren.
Loving God, we shall be true to the
social obligations that are incumbent
upon us in His kingdom. Loving
God, we shall ask not is it LAWFUL"
but lis it right?"; OF Does man
agree to it," but Does God ap-
proven; not "Can I do it and not be
caught?" but How a l do such
great wrong against God?"
Do you suppose for an instant that
men would have the audacity to pub
lish declarations that they were only
worth a paltry couple Of hundred mil
lions if they really loved God as God
means they should? Do you suppose
for an instant that they would boast
that they can buy legislatures and
judges and the government, If they
loved God as Jesus loved Him? II
we loved God as Jesus means we
should, do you suppose that we would
stand for child labor, with all its hor-
rors and cruelties; for the saloon
as it is, with all it's fruitage Of vice
and crime and misery and poverty
and despair? If we loved God as
Jesus means we should, have you the
slightest suspicion that we would per-
NIT women by the thousands to be
sent into the brothel in economic self
defense? If men loved God, would
it be thinkable that they would muir
der and rape, and steep themselves
in drunkenness, in bestiality and
crime? Do you think that if we
could get men to love God, they
would not have again a lively con-
seriousness of His sovereignty as Ed
wards declared it, and of their free
will to do the right as Wesley de-
clared it, and of their personal re-
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