The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1908-02-05
WHAT is RELIGION?
Is it going to church?

If we Judge men anu WoHlen ny
their actions some seem to think so.
DO we not, all of us know men and
women, having performed this week
" duty, feel free the remaining six
days to indulge their temper, ayarice,
jealousy, hatred-or any evil pas
sion that may be clamoring for graft
fication?
| Perhaps even more numerous are
the so-called pious people who delude
themselves into thinking that they
are religious because they sit in
church feeding their souls with
beautiful sentiments and beatific
visions, and arguing strenuously
with all who differ from them in
their religious views. Argument is
an intellectual stimulus, but it is
not religion. Sentiments are useful
when they stir a man to action, but
deadly when they end in dreams I'M
realized, enervating the impulses that
! lead to service.
Still another class who fail to
grasp the true meaning of religion
are those who are Jealous in attend
ing divine service and in visiting
the poor, and yet are unjust in judg-
ment and cruel in criticism. l know
a woman of this type, wife of an
elder in the church, whose acrimo-
NOUS tongue has wrung tender
hearts and weakened the faith of
the undecided.
81 do not care to become a church
member if Mrs. L. is a type of the
class. Yesterday / heard her make
the most unkind remarks about Mar
garet Brewster. Said she was too
gay The idea! Margaret has had
sorrow enough in the past year to
kill an ordinary woman. Her old
est child suddenly developed con-
sumption and had to go alone to Col
orado; her little girl became serious
ly i'll, and she herself had developed
probably incurable disease. In
spite of all this she has kept a brave
heart and a bright face for the sake
of her husband and her children.
She goes about and does everything
to be gay and cheerful in order to
sustain her own and her husbands
failing courage. In spite of her won
derful self-control her eyes fill with
tears every time she speaks of her
oldest Child-far away from home,
alone, among strangers. 1t was hard
enough to get the money to send him
off, and even if she had had the
means she could not have left the
other children. Her whole life is
tender thought and service for 9TH
ers.
This is the woman Mrs. L. says
is too gay! 1t seems to me that she
is an example of the very highest
type of christian courage"
Religion has been defined as 'the
life of God in the heart of man"
God is love-" so religion is love liv-
ing in the heart of man.
He prayeth well who loveth we'll
Both man and bird and beast
HE prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small.
James, in his epistle to the twelve
tribes scattered abroad, writes:
Pure religion and undefiled before
God and the Father is this, to visit
the fatherless and widows in their
affection and to keep himself I'M
! spotted from the world.
| Religion means active work for
others; it means faith in humanity,
charity and tenderness for the aff1ict-
ed, it means purity, spOtlessness. 1t
means large-minded tolerance for
others and for ourselves as well. 1t
means the highest happiness: Those
who work for others and keep the
heart free from the sins of the world
are the happiest people in the world.
We think of sin as an act of folly
or wickedness. 1t is as often a
though or a word A blow in the
face does not infiict a pain as poig-
nant or lasting as a blow on the
heart. Unkind words stab like
stillettoes. Cruel criticisms leave
wounds that bleed and bleed and
scars that in some cases never quite
heal. A harsh glance, a disagreed
bic manner, may rob the whole day
of sunshine for some sensitive soul.
1t is the tender, noble soul that is
most deeply wounded by harshness
and injustice. The shallow mind
laughs or retaliates and forgets in
a moment. We have no right to
, pronounce judgment upon any man
until we have seen his good qualities
/, as well as the bad. Indeed, judg-
ment should come only from the
righteous, and the greatest sin is
| n nj he
NAL attitude of a warm-hearted man
would be tender and tolerant, for if
he live vigorously, impulsively, he
will find himself too busy taking care
of his own mistakes and sins to have
leisure to study and condemn the
shortcomings of his brother. Wis
; dom says: 1T is unworthy a relig-
ious man to view an irreligious one
, either with alarm or aversion, OF
with any other feeling than regret
and hope and brotherly commisera-
2 ton. Farm and Home.