Sequachee Valley news. (Sequachee [Sequatchie], Tenn.) 1896-1952, 1912-01-18
The More Abundant
LIFE
By A. J, BRANNAN. Tracy City. Tenn.

SSSSgGg3EGSgSSE
want to thank friend 'Hoss Eye
for his confession in the last issue O
the News: Il read with delight you
last letter in the News, and admit
that if it were possible, etc, this ole
world would be turned into heaven,
then like the one who killed the goos'
which laid the golden eggs, you klliec
it all by saying, ''Just wait unit
Gods good time and you will see tht
salvation of the Lord if founo
worthy.
Now. friend "Hoss Eye, give
you credit for being honest, but this
old rot of waiting for God good time
belongs to the ignorance of the. DARK
ages, and is preached today only by
men who profess to follow Christ, but
who. as / believe, only have a very
faint idea of His mission here. You
will better understand my position by
remembering few passages OF Scrip
ture which follow:
"Think not that am come to de-
stioy. bat to fulfill.
81 am come that they may have life
and have it more abundantly.
"No man that hath left houses, or
brethren, or sisters, or mother, or
father. or children or LANDS for my
sake or for the gospels sake but ne
shall receive hundred fold NOW. In
this time, HOUSES and brethren and
sisters and mothers and children AND
LAND with prosecutions; and when Z
in the age to come eternal life.
Is this last all you expectY
''He that will not work, neither
shall he eat. and they shall build
houses and inhabit them, and they
shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit
\ therefron. They shall not build and
1 another inhabit; they shall not plant
'&pd another eat.
Story to God in tho highest and
Ssfarth peace among men,
n The Spirit of the Lord is upon me
sbetause he hath anointed me to preach
Afhe gospel to the poor: the recovering
si0f sight to the blind; to set at liberty
those that are bruised and to proclaim
the acceptable year of the Lord.
aye shall know the truth and the
truth shall make you free =
Come unto me, all ye that labor and
are heavy laden, and | will give you
lest.
"Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls''
s'For unto us child is born; unto
Us a son lis given; AND THE GOV
HRNMENT SHALL BE UPON HIS
SHOULDERS; and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counselor. the Ever.
lasting Father, the Prince of Peace. "
Friend, "Hoss Eye" | have long
since grown tired of that class who
preach only the salvation of the soul
and will state that If Jesus taught
anything while on earth He taught of
the more abundant life here in this
world, and talked very little about
your "just wait and see" kind. For
he saw with His own eyes their power
ty and said, 81 came that they might
have life and have it more abundant
""
believe by this He meant not only
spiritual life (which a majority only
preach) but he meant the necessities
of these bodies of ours, too. 1t is inn
possible to develop the mental aud
moral part of man without caring for
the body. We, or the system under
which we live has tried this nearly as
far back as history teaches us, and to
my mind the majority are farther from
the teachings of Jesus now than in
ancient days This thing of caring
only for the soul, just as if it could or
does exist in this life without the
body, is a very little part of His teach
ings and is in conflict with ordinary
instinct, to say nothing of reason.
This is doing more to retard Chris
tian progress than anything | could
mention, and just here you come in
with your "be good, ''obey your
masters, ''trust in the Lord, /" starve
and wait, build houses and live in
huts, plant vineyards for another, sow
fields that others may harvest, be
faithful to the end and you will re-
ceive your reward, even If your broth
er has made slave of you and has
taken SO cents of every dollar you
produce. You would have us believe
we must give it up freely even if he
takes it all and leaves us to suck our
fingers to be able to produce more for
him tomorrow. "Be patient and wait |
for our reward in the Skies for the
devil is going up and down the earth,
seeking whom he may devour | take
this to be one of the largest devils we
have to contend with, while you possi
hly look for an animal with horns and
tail or You would not get scared at
the teachings of Jesus. am not
afraid of them, and / do not hold
membership in any sectarian church,
nor will ever until find one which
reaches something besides the saliva
tion of the soul. believe it impossi
lie to save my soul and keep my body
in hell. What say you' No, sir,
am not afraid of the doctrine of per-
fection. Il is the very thing we should
ali strive for. We can never reach it
nv voting away Gods gifts to His
children to a few of them We can
never reach it by voting for system
which coins profit out Of the lives of
women and children for the sake of a
few men who are willing to take it.
95feel ashamed of my own countrymen
when they begin to say, sits always
haen so and so. you can't change it,"
.shayen't they tried it'' and isn't
IL fact that people are meaner every
vaar'f' They can't see that they are
furnishing proof which condemns the
system they support and for the success
~ which they even pray to just