The Richmond climax. (Richmond, Ky.) 1897-1914, 1913-04-01
The Law of Growth.

AT the Court House last Sunday morn
ing, Rev. E. B. Barnes delivered ser
mon on The Law of Progressive Devel-
opment, of which we give a brief syn
Opsis;
The New Testament is book that
deals with growth. Life is one of its
key words. The parallels deal with the
seed and rhe sower, the aggressive, lev
en-, tle wheat and the tares, the mustard
seed ar other living forms. In Mark 5
gospel Jesus fOrmulates law as Old as
First the blade, then the ear,
after that the full corn in the ear. -
Growth is inseparable from life When
growth ends, life ends. The universe is
under that law; the child moves and has
his being with reference TO it, though he
knows nothing of il. And all growth is
toward perfection, no matter how much
waste and loss there may be in the pro-
cess. A million apple blossoms may be
wasted that the golden fruit may be
produced. But the law is ever toward
the full corn in the ear. lis the famil-
lar story Of development from the mi
croscopic cell TO Shakespeare.
Literature is under that law; the BIZ
bic itself shows that from Genesis to
Revelation that inexorable law has held
sway Even within its lids there NAV
be detected the blade and the ear. The
older preachers were won't TO speak of
the Old Testament as the twilight of
revelation. The phrase is significant.
There is vast difference between the
twilight and the noon-tide. Even di-
vine revelation is not exempt from the
law. Literature of every description is
growing toward the full corn in the ear.
The law is compelling every effort to-
ward perfection.
The same holds in the world Of doc
trine as in the world where apples grow.
Fruit is the result Of life; doctrine is a
form OF truth 1t represents our high
est conceptions of the truth. There
comes time for doctrines 10 decay as
for apples When any doctrine becomes
popular. its period of decay sets in
Newer expressions are demanded for
growing minds, and as result the old
forms become obsolete Many people
wonder at the silence of the modern pull.
pit or, the doctrine of future punish
ment The unbeliever claims that. the
do trne has been abandoned. The fact
is that the same results which in early
ages were achieved through fear, are
now achieved by different and better
methods. There can never be a world
in which punishment will not have a
| place, no matter what different forms
we give 10 the punishments. But the
day comes when new doctrines take the
place of the old, when doctrines once
popular receive less and less emphasis,
aud new doctrines representing new is
sues receive our attention. Time was
when REORGANIZATION was sounded out
from every pulpit Changing conditions
make il necessary TO accent some doc
trine which shall be more fruitful to our
age than the older was TO theirs. SO the
process OF growth is at work compelling
US to change whether we want TO or not
The truth remains, principles remain,
but tie one must find better express
ion aid the other better application.
These changes have led many people
to say 1.-THE Church is losing its power;
and others think that the end Of the
world is sure TO come with every change
from received opinion. These thing sare
never true. IL one keeps himself ap-
prisetl OF the coming changes and ad-
justs himself to them. both in Church
and III State, everybody will Be helped
forward; we will welcome the new Or
der OF things, and the Church be more
effective under the new conditions than
under the old. If all our churches had
read liorrectly the signs Of the times the
objections would not be so frequent and
unbelief would be well nigh impossible.
This law is no respecter Of individuals
or Institutions, Those who go forward
with Il live; those who fight against il
go under its Juggernaut wheels; those
who ignore il could read with profit To-
day the story Of Lots wife standing des-
olate and forsaken en- the shores Of the
Dead Sea.