The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-02-01
IN THE RELIGIOUS WORLD
VIVA, the Church Folk Are Thinking About anapo"e- "e'9'o
News From Elsewhere

a lew odSo LSc " @FS -
was declaring that he a no TIME
for foreign missions. because ne hao
=, give to home charities In ali tle
neighboring towns where he ala Ousi-
ness. An associate, who was not hlih-
| self known for any interest III Ioreish
missions. retorted, You know Det,er
than that, Blank. 1ouTe not ooius
e thing for charity. You're Simply
serving your own pocket-book. You
A., these things because you know the
money will come pack to you many
fold. It's simply good for your busl-
ness. Don't you take any credit 10
Yourself for your thriftineSs.'
That was a blunt putting OF a not
uncommon situation. Many business
men regularly make contribution 70
various good causes. not because they
have the slightest interest in the
causes, but simply on account OF n
returns that they think they see for
their own business. Philanthropy is
often a cheap way to get distinction
and advertising. Concerning all this.
Jesus said, Verify they have their re-
ward"
And they have. Let us not lose
sight OF that. There is a reward for
having among men q reputation LOT
piety and good works. All the hypo-
critics in the world are a y~indicatfon
OF that proposition. The Judgement
Of the shrewdest selfists in existence
is that even the form Of Goodness is
profitable. The reward. however, Is
small Immediate and unendur1ng.
r IS not enough. In times of greatest
I-ae~. hat anchor does not hold. A
! single indiscretion can shatter all Of
the carefully erected structure Of the
hypocrite. The mar who builds his
hopes on his reputation with the
world at large, regardless OF his char
acter, Is on a shaky foundation. Whose
lives with respect only to the Father
who seeth in secret-his building sur
wives all blasts. It's foundations are
too deep to be disturbed. There is
permanent power for the life that Is
lived only for Gods eyes.
Prayer-Wheel Religion.
At the gates of many temples in
Japan I ave seen-and I confess have
turned in the wrong direction-the
prayer-Whee1s mant for the pilgrims.
Up in North India n nay occa-
! sionally see a Buddhist priest tWirling
the hand prayer-wheel. In Thibet,
prayer are written thousands n
thousands Of times and put in barrels
which are turned by water. This Is
the logical development Of the idea
Of praying and of being religious for
human observance. If a mans relig-
ion is in order that he may be seen
of men. then the bigger and noisier
the display thereof, the better for
him. The Hindu holyman, with all
his marks and ashes and filth, n
other outward signs of religion, is hen
on the right track.
That is not the Jesus way. His
! conception Of religion, fundamentally,
was Of a secret betWeen God and Him
self. His real life was His prayer life,
lived anort from, man n tha +: !, = ut
communion and meditation. Religion
goes down to the depths Of ones be-
ing. Not for ones much speaking is
he heard of God. nor for his we'll
ordered phrases. Prayer Is more than
q form. or a literary production. The
biting sarcasm Of the remark that a
certain preacher made the best
prayer ever addressed to a Poetor
audience" still holds; but q better
prayer is that which cries. God be
merciful to me, a sinner In truth
fniness and confidence it looks only
to the Father. who seeth in secret.
Ihe New World Speech.
TIL world is steadily getting bigger
ideas. Mems conceptions are growing.
Old notions of home missions and of
religion are passing away. Men can.
not be relig Gus in the Christian sense.
without thinking of the whole king
dom of God On earth. The plans of
God are for the entire world. and the
plans of a man which are not for the
whole world are too small even for q
man. The present imperial conceptions
which are siezing the church may be
traced back to the prayer Of the Lo~1
Himself. In that great petition there
Is no singular at all. 1t is
all social and outreaching. The
modern selfish petition, God bless me.
my wife, my son John, his wife. us
fnYyr no NOVA mon - Inr
in that great prayer.
We often say that "self-preservatio,
Is the first law of nature" so it is ri
the lowest forms of nature 1ha
meanest expression Of religion possible
to man is that of selfshness. 1t is
~heathendom is. Look out for nurho.
one The motto of Christianity 10
Look out for number two" 90
trast the selfishness Of Cato's n.Un-