Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1913-05-07
FLUENCE OF FEAR
SECONDARY AND NOT a PRIMARY
MOTIVE IN HIGHER REALMS
OF HUMAN ACTIVITY.


= ence of fear as an incentive to
human action. The conclusion has
been drawn that 1t must remain as
powerful factor in the evolution OF
the race
Within certain limitations fear must
ever be an active element in its re-
lations to conduct and character. But
those limitations are very narrow.
Fear must be a secondary and not
primary motive In the higher realms
of human activity. In the lowest
realms it Is purely instructive and has
been given US for preservation from
physical danger. The fear Of pain
and disease has resulted III the splen-
did efforts which have been made to
!uil the one and overcome the other.
But in the moral sphere it must give
place to higher and holier impulses.
Children in their education must not
be driven with the big stick" to learn
and obey. There may be rare excep-
tions, but the exceptions prove the
rule. The fear of the results of mis-
conduct must and do hold many men
In obedience to the law of their being
and of society But it is a low spe-
cies Of fear. The history of civi'iza-
ton proves how terrible and degrad-
ing has been the fear both OF nature
and of God which has held barbaric
people in the thrall Of superstition.
The whole trend of Christian teach
ing has been to emancipate them from
its influence. 1t will not do In our ad-
vanced civilization to bring back all
the terrifying descriptions OF unspeak-
able physical torture to hold men in
the path OF virtue
Love Means Power.
The fear which causes men to grovel
and to call upon the rocks and noun
eains to hide the face Of its possessor
from the God OF heaven and earth.
which Ruskin 80 eloquently delineates.
we are to avoid But the filial fear
which is prompted by the very love
itself Of the highest and holiest which
God can inspire must be experienced.
The profoundest psychology is con-
tanned in the language of st. Paul in
dealing with the whole subject Of fear.
He says: God hath not given us the
spirit of fear. but Of power and of love
and Of sound mind
Fear in the moral and spiritual as
pect robs man Of power. 1t means
weakness. timidity, instability. mac
ton. To be girded with unwearied
and unconquerable force, to be nerv-
GUS, muscular. brawny, strong, to have
"the wrestling thews that throw the
world" we must away with Sad doubt
and anxious fear"
This spirit OF power must be under
the sway of the spirit Of love. That
is the overwhelmingly dominant prin-
ciple of the higher life. Even in what
we may term the lower life, 1t must
be love, not fear. which controls men
and leads to the end in view. The love
of gain lures some men on The love
of power, mighty ambition. ts the
master impulse in others. The love
of adventure, which conquers every
Hill Difficulty" and opens up new
continents and Islands, urges on the
eager discoverer It is love. therefore.
not fear. which thus moves the world
forward.
God Is Love-
It is love in the religious life which
is to be supreme. Fear hath tor
ment; perfect love casteth out fear"
1t is to proclaim the gospel OF love
that the heralds of the cross are to go
forth. They are to deliver those who
all their lifetime have been in the
bondage of fear.
The spirit OF sound mind follows
the spirit OF love and power when
emancipased from the spirit Of fear.
Ask the mental and the Christian the
rapeutist what retards the recovery
to saneness and soundness Of those
who seek his help. 1t is the spirit OF
fear. He has to encounter an almost
tnnumerable host of "phobias" or fears
which have harassed and weakened
and thrown out OF poise those who are
praying for deliverance-fear to walk.
fear to eat, fear to work. fear to
sleep, fear OF heat. fear OF cold. fear
of distance, fear Of misfortune, fear OF
living. fear OF dying. fear Of thou.
sand things besides. Fear Is the fell
foe of a sound mind. Out Of fear
into love. into power.
Rooted and grounded In love 80 that
no base fear shall find resting or an
accompanying place-love OF God. who
himself Is love: love Of the world he
has made; love of all the forces he
has placed in 1t for the happiness OF
his children; love Of man. whom he
has created in his own image; love
of Christ Jesus, who lived and died
that this love might food our entire
being-this is Christianity. Let 1t
drive out forever the spirit Of fearl
Birth.