The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-08-05

in our faces. The bells peal out glad
notes above the din and clash of
traffic. And what of the Book that
gathers up the teaching-the words
and works of Jesus? All may pos
sess and read it.
To be a Christian is no longer to
be heroic. A man may confess Christ
without apology. Nay! The under
lying assumption behind all our &C.
tons is that a man is a Christian.
To be otherwise q man must specific
ally and ostentatiously deny it. We
start our life with Christian baptism;
we are hid away with the undying
words Of Christian hope ringing above
our sleeping place. We join Jul life
to another, and rear our homes upon
the Christian foundation. But all
has ~degenerated to an idle form.
1t has come to be taken for grant
ed. Men ask for baptism for their
children and burial for their dead,
because it is the usual, the expected
thing. And, brethren, don't you see
where it has led us to? To a Chris
tian Journalism that contains no vital
ity, no power. We are living lives
devoid of experience. We do not. feel
the power Of Christ, o do we see
the glory of His living presence. We
humble words that have no deep,
abiding significance.
1t is tragic; it is horrible. But it
is the spirit of the age. The Chris
tan life is losing much because Of the
success of Christianity. Because 1t
has meant and has accomplished so
much, it means and accomplishes so
little to-day. Its success Is the cause
of our personal loss. 1t is an old his
toric truism that success is the be-
ginning Of defeat. 1t has happened
in empires and religions. 1t is the
man who has to fight for his faith
that holds that faith as his most cher
ished possession. We take Christ as
we take our daily bread, without
one thought of all it means, of all it
represents.
And what of our experience? My
dear brethren, it is because we find
our JOY in the world and miss the JOY
of Christ that death has been changed
from a glory to a fear. from an in
%spiration to a dismay. We have
grown to love the world-this fading,
uyluS mOIlu-itS JOJS, = AuStS, 'A1S
rewards. We have grown to forget
the sacred, eternal words of Christ as
to what life Is, and duty, and God.
And the years race on - busy,
crowded years of labor for place and
money and success. When the night
grows dark and lonely we cry for
comfort, and when the day breaks
with golden beams Of light we hasten
away and we forget. We forget! We
forget!
All! it is the man whose night has
been the longest that knows Christ
the best and fears death the least.
There are worse calamities than sor-
row and defeat. One thousand nine
hundred years ago Jesus warned US
against success. 1t BINDS us and 1t
holds much from US. In the day Of
our own su~ficiency it is hard to e
and plan for Christ. Is it not impos.
sible?
And then the days come when the
strength grows weak and the body
fails and the clash Of the world goes
back and back, and we lie and watch
and wait and think! What comes,
then? We grow afraid! We have
had no true fellowship with Him.
We don't know Him. We can't fear
lessly trust Him. Others tell of His
keeping, and of the great, dear love
He gave. Others go into the mists
singing and crying-Victory! But
we've don't know. He hasn't been
experienced, and we miss the Ger.
tainty.
Oh, my beloved! I warn you to-
day! That day comes. You are
grower older and weaker and tireder!
You will lie. down one day. And
when the tiredness is very great, and
the world has got your best-will you
be able to say, Il am ready" II have
gotten the victory?"
This certainty only m out OF
faith in and service to Christ, out OF
experience of Christ. flint the morning
you have no rich memories OF Christ
inside your heart, if you have no ex-
periences Of Him gathered inside
your charaeter-oh! face it very ear
nestly, for the faith that changes
death to an inspiration, and makes
the corruptiNn and lonesomeness of
the grave an ideal and a power, is
the greatest thing in the world.
Death has another side. OF all it
means 1 cannot tell. Jesus uses ter
rible imagery that ought to startle
US. The worm dieth not; fire IS not
%quenched, and a great gulf opens. l
have seen the face Of men who mis-
spent their youth and years, and
when manhood came it was hell! But
what may lie behind years and years
of forgetfulness Of God? Who can
say? One thing it is-it is the loss
of all that life a be satisfied with,
and all that it was created for. 1t Is
missing life-and God.