The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-09-24


something to the Gospel of Christ.
They hunger for some command, and
desire to be under a Law, as a dog
used to wearing a collar and chain feels
not himself unless thus restrained.
Such dear Christian people, like the
Galatians, do not fully appreciate the
Masters statement, IF the Son shall
make you free, We shall be free indeed"
Such feel lost without Divine com
mands-Thou shalt, Thou shalt not,
etc.-and rejoice specially in holy days
and Sabbaths, Church going and formal
prayers, because they do not under
stand that God is better pleased to
have US sons than to have US slaves
The poet got the thought correctly
when he wrote,
1--WE can no longer lie
Like slaves beneath the Throne.
Our souls now Abba, Father cry.
And He the kiadred owns"
A measure Of bondage to forms,
ceremonies and commands is probably
reasonable to expect In immature
Christians, whom st. Paul styles
''babes In Christ" q Corinthians Iii, ~
But growth In grace and knowledge
must bring such more nearly to the
stature of manhood In Christ and to
an appreciation of their relationship to
God as sons. else they will not make
their calling and election sure to the
best things that God has provided.
The Social Upllft False Gospel.
From the most prominent pulpits Of
Christendom the Gospel Of Christ re
specting the forgiveness of individual
sin, the reconciliation of the individual
heart, the individual begettIng Of the
Holy Spirit, and the personal walk In
newness Of life has been discarded
Long ago this Message was considered
too personal Many Of the preachers,
having had no such experience them
selves. properly enough were chary Of
talking about what they did not IN
derstand But salaries must go on.
Sermons. therefore, must be preached.
and something must he said The
Social Gospel has been brought for
ward to fill the gap The message of
the hour, according to this pseudo
Gospel, is not saintliness, not follow
ing In the footsteps of Jesus, not Bible
study, but athletics, manliness, posi-
ton in society, attention to political
duties, attainment of honorable posi-
tons in the world, and great names
which will make the Church register
shine-and money withal
Far be it from me to teach inatten-
ton to the duties and responsibilities
Of life. Nothing In the words Of Jesus
or the Apostles admonishes or exempli-
fies carelessness In respect to health,
manhood, womanhood, education, good
name and proper provision Of the
things needful to the present life. The
Gospel Of Jesus and the Apostles, how
ever, tells us-most distinctly impresses
upon all the followers OF Jesus-that
their conservation as disciples of Jesus
means their death to worldly ambitions
for wealth. praise Of men, political
Office and the giving Of chief concern
to the preservation OF their earthly
lives. 1t exhorts that these are all to
be considered quite secondary to the
new ambitions, the new ideals, set be-
fore us in the Gospel.
The followers Of Jesus are enjoined
to do good unto all men as they have
opportunity. This would include, Of
course, everything akin to social uplift.
Indeed, we cannot imagine that any
one could be Christians follower OF
the Lamb Of God-without having
deep sympathy with everything apper-
tanning to the welfare Of humanity and
q social uplift- But the Apostles ex-
preston, "as we have opportunity" is
limitation The mission Of the Chris
tan is not social uplift. That Is not
the work to which the Lord Jesus and
Ills followers dedicated their lives-at
least not the kind Of social uplift gen
orally understood
A Social Upiift That Will Succeed.
The whole work Of God In connec-
ton with human Redemption Is to be
an uplifting work for Adam Gsd he en-
tire race. The uplift which God has
planned and which He has revealed in
the Bible is to be a most thorough one.
such as humanity has never conceived.
1t is to be an uplift mentally, morally,
and physically-back to the image and
likeness of Coolest in Eden, redeem
ed at Calvary. This social uplift of
mankind which God is interested in,
and of which God is the Center and
Fulcrum, is the line in which all the
followers of Jesus, rightly instructed,
are more interested than any other
people In the whole world.
However, the followers Of Jesus are
soldiers of the cross under His Cap
taincy. and they are not at liberty to
follow theories either Of their own or
of other men respecting the way In
which the great work of uplifting the
world is to be accomplished. They
are deeply interested In everything
which men and women can do for the
betterment of humanity In any and
every sense Of the word. And, as
they have opportunity, they are glad
to give a word of encouragement and |
appreciation. or occasionally a helping |
hand. But theirs is far more i'm |
portant work. They are co-laborers |
with God-not with men.
Gods Plan is first to select the |
Church, the Body Of Christ, to be His |
joint-heirs in the glorious Messianic |
Kingdom Then He VIII use that |
Kingdom for the thorough and COM
plete social uplift, which all agree is i
so necessary. The world sees not the |
Divine Plan, and even the Message of |
the Grace of God Is foolishness to |
them; hence also the world may prob
ably think of Jesus and His followers
as chimerical. Their theory, Gods
testimony, is foolishness to the world
and those who follow the Divine ar
rangement as st. Paul says, are
counted fools all the day long-be
cause they are spending their lives for
the accomplishment of things which
the world cannot see, understand, ap-
preciate-"the deep things of God" Il
Corinthians ii. 10)
Forms of Goodness.
The Gospel of form and ceremony Is
not always hypocrisy. II reverential
forms and chants and printed prayers
always came from the heart and were
never merely forms. there would be
much in them to approve and enjoy
Still, ceremonies are no part Of the Cos
pei Of Christ, and to put them instead
of it is to make of them false Gospel
Who will say that either Christ or any
Of the Apostles presented Gospel Of
forms and ceremonies?
The human heart is deceitful above
all things, say the Scriptures. 1t likes
to delve into worldliness and frivolity
and sometimes into sin. and then to de
ceive itself into believing that 1t is the