Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1907-09-06
AN ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE.

By Rev. Henry F. Cope

BY Rev. Henry F. Cope.
If l We're hungry would not tell
thee; for the world is mine and the
fullness thereof Offer unto
God thanksgiving, and pay thy VOWS
to the Most High.-Psalms / :12-14.
Men are not drawn together by a
collection box. To make this the
standard emblem of the church is but
to emphasize the difference between
the institution and the one who said,
Come unto me all We that labor and
are heavy laden and l will give you
rest" 1t little helps the need of
hungry world to stand ever before 1t
begging it to give, to bring in its offer
ings.
To the plain man there will always
seem some absurdity in the request that
he, human and finite, should sacrifice
his own lamb or his few hard earned
pennies to being who Is almighty, to
whom the whole creation belongs. He
cannot understand Father who does
nothing but sit by his altar and watch
the tithes brought in.
| Is this the only concrete expression
We can make OK the spirit-of worship,
to give up material things to a spiritual
being? Whence this change of concep-
| tion, from the servants of the Man of
Nazareth, who were sent out to heal
and help and do good, to an institution
going out to collect everything that is
good for itself?
Surely nothing could be farther from
the old seer's and singers thought of
the wondrous one, from whom all
things came, the source of all being,
all beauty, all worth and wealth. He,
as they clothed his glory in terms of
mankind, was the great giver instead
of a getter. To him the hungry looked
and were fed, the naked were clothed,
the sad cheered; to all he gave their
meat in due season.
The emphasis was not on Gods need
Of man and his possessions, but on
mans need Of the Most High. The life
and spirit the eternal power that
moves through all our lives, needs, not
our bare pittance wrung with anguish
from field or loom, but the opening of
our hearts, the lifting up Of ourselves
into touch with things sublime and
spiritual. Heaven needs our hearts.
Who Is to be pitied more than he
to whom religion is the dropping of
pennies through the slot Of collec-
tion box and seeing the world through
Its narrow crack. Rather is 1t the
learning to see the eternal goodness,
the unremitting giver in all this world,
in every event, until the whole being
goes out in grateful praise, offering the
sacrifice Of thanksgiving.
True, there is no religion without
sacrifice. But there is none In the
sacrifice Of gifts to the Almighty as
though he were hard up, nor in gifts
regarded as payments on paradise mort
cages or as means OF modifying an
offended judge The sacrifice whose
aroma rises sweet to heaven Is the
service of love, the self-denial born of
gratitude or affection, the gifts to men
because they are the children of the
good Father.
The broken heart, the contrite sigh,
the sympathy that serves-these are
the sacrifices on which the welfare of
the whole universe waits We honor
the divine less by lofty steeple or peal
Ing organ than by entering into the
beauty and enjoying the riches of the
great temple Of nature and making Its
wealth known, available and apprecia-
Bile by all men everywhere.
The winning of the world waits for
the revelation Of the wealth of the
Lord Of all being. Men need not tarry
till they have taxes for him; with
empty hand, with hungry hearts, with
needy spirits, they are invited to come
to the Father Of spirits and the feast
of his love as men came, the sick, the
weary, the sad, long ago to one in
whom they found the wealth of in
finite love.
~