The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-08-13
LIlcE.

III
iieVeth on Him that sent Me, is
"a V
Life was Christ's favorite word
Life was what He was always prais-
ing and promising. Life was the test
by which He tried all the powers that
He met with. If they nour!shed and
increased life. they were good II they
injured and decreased It, they were
bad. Life was His own claim and
credential. That He gave man life
was the ground of His demand for
mems allegiance; that He saved them
from death was the burden of His self
assertion. He was divine: He was
eternal; all vitality was at its perfec-
ton In Him. infinite. imperishable We
should have to be something like Him.
catch something of His feeling about
the beauty and gloriousness of life
before we could feel the horror which
lie constantly sums up into that word
death as the mere negative of life
But this we can do; we can feel how
one great difference between Jesus
and most Of the other teachers who
have hidden men abstain from sin Is
that while they decricd because 1t
brought pain, or because Il hurt other
people. or because it destroyed order,
or because it was unlovcly. Christ is
supreme in this idea, which runs
through every word He speaks-that
sin is dreadful because It is death,
because 1t is so much cut out OF the
worlds and the mans vitality. because
1t is destruction OF the very essence
of manhood, because to do wrong as a
man is. in SO far. to cease to live as a
man. That Is Christ's idea That is
what He is always insisting upon when
He calls goodness life and wickedness
death. That was the reason why, from
the heights of His divinity. and thrill
ing with the consciousness of immor-
tally, He hated wickedness and loved
goodness as no other being ever has.
and why He was willing to die in
What we call death, II thereby He
could save men from that wickedness
which was the death He really dread
ed for them.
1t is hard 10 overes estimate the change
that would como to us and our way of
looking at life II we got thoroughly
into us the idea which 1t would seem
was beyond ali question Christ's idea.
and is involved in the use of the words
life and death. What does He mean
when He calls goodness life and wick
edness death? Is 1t a hard and barren
statement that life Is the consequence
of goodness and death is the conse-
qucnce OF sin. that God means to kin
the wicked and save the good alive?
Goodness is life" says Jesus; wick
edness is death" Must He not mean
that the essence. the primary idea. the
deepest meaning of human life is good
ness? That was what God made man
for. That Is his essential existence.
Not to be good. then-to be wicked
is TO fail OF this essential existence:
1t is not to live 1t Is TO die. The soul
that sinneth 1t shall die"-is that a
threat? Is 1t not the deep utterance
of truth? Indeed. there cannot be a
threat that Is not the deep utterance
OF n truth, for no man can perma-
nently suffer except by the eternal
necessities Of things-not by within. |
but by law. Is 1t not. then, as II 1t |
said: The soul that sinneth dies. dies
In It's shining, dies because for soul
there Is no life but holiness? AS a |
stream that flows no longer ceases
TO be stream. as the sun that shines
no longer is no longer a sun. as the
tree tina. buds and blooms no more is
no more tree. so the nan who has
ceased to be good has ceased to be
man; Just so far as he has ceased to
be good. he has ceased to be a man
We write upon the pages Of our copy
books: ITO err Is human" 1t has a !
truth In It, but 1t is a superficial truth. |
1t means that the habit of humanity
10 81. ..r-.
do right Is human" declaring the FRO
found truth. He means that the 7ur-
pose and nature of humanity IS 10 do
right. To sin is to fail OF human life
That is what He surely means when
He calls sin death. It was The same
truth that His incarnation uttered put
into words which were continually upon
the lips of the Incarnate.
1t IS good - turn the truth the ether
way for a moment, and see what 1t
can teach us. ITO sin is Just so Tar
to cease to live" we said. catching
Christ's idea May we not also say:
ITO cease to live is just so far to s!n"o
There are a multitude of useless lives
around us of which, when We ere
asked: Are such lives wicked?" we
reply: 70, no: they do 40 harm" We
cannot say that they do any good. IN
deed. They are self-ipdulgent; they
have no enterprise: they have bu. very
little real vitality OF brain or heart.
or even of body. We rather hesitate
when We are asked to call them good
lives: but no, they are not wicked. GER
tainly.
But in the light OF what Christ
teaches about the connection OF vital
ity and goodness. they are wicked. Do
you remember, in the parable. It is
not for misused. but disusod talent
that the poor servant Is cast into outer
darkness? The young man who has
refused to use his brain about any
thing. and so stands to-day without
single Intelligent opinion about those
things that are OF eternal consequence