The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-09-25
BY WILLIAM T. ELLIS.


vision to discern. Children ana I'M
mature adults wonder why they can
not do as they please. Il Will 90 aS
1 please" says the headstrong person.
yes he may, if he lives alone on
desert island. But once let nelghoor
draw nigh and he can no longer please
himself Relationships create resp
sfbilities 1t is impossible to dWell IN
human society without some sacr!Li ny,
of individuality. There must De Ihu
tual concessions and adaptation Where
men live together. One mans rlgnts
must terminate where another oe
gin. Most of the talk that we near
row Concerning personal liberty" is
needless of this basic principle; Per-
sonal liberty must ever be suDorol-
note to community welfare
That truth is recognized IN Fata
gonia and on the Congo, as wen as IN
the mist highly organized clVlizatlon
in the world There is even a h1gher
law than this, however. Soclal WEI
fare abrogates many personal nper-
ties but there is loft1er plane erec-
ted by the apostle Paul IN this les
son. LET no man seek his own, put
his neighbours good" instead OF LOOK
ing out for number one, ne IoohS ou'
for number two. This means IRE
mendous stride away from selflSh IN
diyiduaIism When men seek the wei.
fare of their neighbors above Ihdt o1
themselves, they are creating some
thing wondrously like unto Utopia OF
tba xiDqdoD7 of Heaven. Yet nothing
less than this fulfills the higher law
of Christ.
An Ancient Problem.
Over in China Christian converts
are very much concerned about the |
so-called worship of ancestors. They |
want to worship their new-found |
Lord and him alone. yet veneration
for their consciousness. They can see
clearly that the issue is drawn be-
tween Buddhist and Taoist idols and
Ct1-.. I, in but In n
ancestors leads them into fog. Some |
missionaries advocate that the venera-
ton of ancestors be not regarded as
worship, but that itbe accepted as en-
tirely proper in a Christian. /
Somewhat similar to this present.
day Chinese perplexity was that
which beset the Christians of Corinth,
to whom Paul wrote this letter. We
have to put ourselves back very far
fro mour present Christian civilization
to appreciate their difficult position.
These Christians lived in heather
communities The worship of idols
was bound up with all the social life
ard customs of their time. The meat
that was offered for sale in the mar
ket place had in most cases been first
presented to an idol This faint of
idolatry disturbed some sensitive con-
sciences. They did not want to make
even that much compromise with
heathendom 1t seemed to them, in |
their religious fastidiousness. that
there should be laid down code of
regulations to govern all these prac-
tices.
Man-NIade Sins.
Fhis type of man, which seeks a re-
ligion of rules and regulations. is very
common. We have it today. The ten
dency to tag little man-made sins is
a prevalent one. 1t has its root in the
same self-consciousness and weakness
of conscience which appealed from
Corinth to Paul to make a ruling on
the question of food that had been
offered to idols.
With his wide vision, Paul saw that
this would be burdensome. He eaen
went beyond the instructions of the
other apostles at Jerusalem. His larg-
er experiences and deeper diScernment
of Christ's teachings showed him that
1t would be laying upon the converts
burdens too grievous to be borne to
require them to accept an intricate
scheme of peccadilloes. Othere reli-
gions have not escaped this snare.
Buddhism. for instance, is an elabor
ate system of requirements which it is
Impossible for any person to fulfill
and still retain the normal relation
ships of society. Paul did not believe
IN that ascetic type of religion which
would withdraw men from their kind.
He did not want to see a class of
Christian Pharisees developed like
unto those who had merited the scorn
of Jesus. Christianity is not a code of
conduct; it is a big. all-embracing
principle of life, which may be
adapted to any conditions.
The Law of Liberty.
Fearlessly. and in the face of apos-
tolic instructions as well as of all ira
diuon, Paul enunciated the truth of
Christian liberty. For freedom did
Christ set men free. Their obligation
to him alone and their liberty to
serve him in the ways that he would
make plain to them individually was {
supreme. Alongside of this no other
mans scruples could stand for a min
ute. The principle of Christian liberty {
Is greater than any detail of practice. !
Upon this fundamental proposition s
Christian teachers should squarely {
plant their feet. The modern ten ,
dency, happily growing weaker every
year, to regulate the Christians life
in matters of detailed practice by &C.
clesiastical prescription finds no war 1
rant in the New Testament One mans
computations may not bind another
mans conscience. Christ is not hon i
ored by machine-made and marked t
Liberty is essential to life. | ,
1t was grave responsibility how I
ever, which Paul placed upon the {
Christians of Corinth when he ac- t
corded to them this unprecedented
measure of independence and liberty. {
His safeguard was that he made clear
that liberty should be animated by !
love. If each man thought first of I
the others welfare, and of the profit t
of the many, he could afford to live t
by this royal law of freedom Paul {
put 1t in these words: ST also please t
all men in all things, not seeking mine I
own profit but the profit of the t
many. that they may be saved" That {
Is controlling principle like unto the E
magnetic pole. which draws the :
mariners needle ever toward the
north
Social Law and personal Liberty, {
Any man who does utterly as he {
pleases amid his fellow-men is an an {
archist- The law rightly lays its re- $
straining hand upon such. Selfishness
Is unsocial. He who serves himself
cannot serve his fellow men,. When {