El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-10-26
Text: The Things That ABIDE
Corinthians. 10.

/
dress in exposition of it. 1t is Faul :
| euiogy OF love. in which he declares II
| to be the greatest of all moral anC
! spiritual qualities. The chapter con
| tains many happy and helpful sugges-
\ lions which we must pass over in ST
Ience today. a single word attracts
| our attention. 1t is the word -abid-
| eth The apostle has placed in rhetOr-
| zeal contrast, in the later portion of the
! chapter, the things which are piss .ng
| with the things which abide.
I It is impossible wholly to divorce this
| chapter from the one which precedes It
| Certain things had come to be highly
| priced by the COrInthlan Christians. and
/ the apostle wishes to point them to the
! more excellent things of the spirit
I Among the gifts which had come to be
( especially prominent in the church he
mentions three in the 18th chapter and
I declares that all of them shall be done
| away. The prophetic gift is pass
ing power The gift of tongues" !. E.,
! the power to speak in unknown lam
| Suages, as on Pentecost. shall cease,
1 and knowledge" which doubtless re-
I fers to the things they had learned, the
| conclusions they had reached, shall be
| done away.
As if to calm their fears and quiet
! their alarm the apostle Immediately
explains his statements by saying that
/ they had only partial knowledge and
that their prophecies were incomplete
| That which is partial and incomplete
must give place to the more complete
J knowledge of the future.
Presents Two Illustrations.
He presents two very simple and
thought The first is drawn from the
! life of a growing child. There Is a
childish way of looking at things, there
is a manner of thought, a style OF
speech. a method of reasoning when
belongs distinctly to childhood, ana
which must give place to the more
definite processes Of maturity The IN
ference is that this is characteristics,
not alone of individuals, but of nations
and peoples. of the race and OF the
church We are continually passing
out of childhood into maturity. out OF
the relatively incomplete into the dela-
lively perfect.
The same thought frequently recurs
in the scriptures. Jesus said there is
first the blade, then the ear, then the
full grain in the ear Paul also
speaks of the law as a schoolmaster
to bring US to Christ" These changes
affect our speech our manner OF
teaching, and our conclusions
Seeing, rs in n Mirror. DarkIy.
The second illustration is even more
Successive Now" says the apostle
we see as in a mirror darkly- A MIR
ror always reflects a distorted Wv
because it is Of necessity one slucu
view FverVOne is either handSOnieI
or homelier than he or she appears 10
be when looking in a mirror 1t De
pends uDon the particular feature that
is reflected. l. g. upon the viewpoint
The same thing is true of a phOlO-
e,raob II is an exact reflection Of a
certain pose. The most we can say Is
that il CLOSELY resembles the person
who sat for it There are many al
titudes. lights and shades OF personal
ity that are not reflected. SO is II with
reference to truth. We see but one
side of it. It never appears IN It's fun
orbed beauty and significance TO our
mental vision. We see phases OF II
The particular phase we see depends
upon our viewpoint Some one else
seees it from another angle of VISION
and suppOses he has discovered new
truth. Probably he has not. but Wnat
he has seen may materially mouiIy w
first conviction This Is the IhOuSHl
Of the apostle. Our propheSyIngs- our
knowledge is one sided, partial lncon-
plete. It is a reflection OF single
phase of the whole; it is a photograph
of what really Is. When perfectlOn IS
come. and ne does not tell US when
that shall be. We shall see face to
face We shall be able to see lnnum-
cradle flashes of light and beauty
which we cannot now discern
There is therefore d law of change.
1t is an ineXorable as any laWaot ma
ture. One cannot resist 1t any more
than he can resist the law of gravity
All nature Is a panorama OF moving
pictures Inc landscape presents HI
finite variety; the seasons come and go;
the earth itself is the result of innum-
cradle changes We change. passing
rapidly from infancy to childhood, and
on to youth and maturity. Our enyl-
ronment is constantly changing; the
friends of today give place to others
and each in his turn passes out from
our immediate association. The mind
of man is FESTIVE. He is ever trying to
fathom the mysteries of nature, and
nature is ever yielding her secrets, so
that knowledge does grow from more
to more"
There is a certain sadness which
comes over us when we reflect upon
this law so constantly operative. 1t
involves the surrender of many precious
things 1t was, no doubt. very unpleas-
ant for the Christians of COrinth to be
told that these elements of their con-
gregatiOnal life were transient. These
were the things which they had es-
pecially treasured Nothing is more
tenacious than these very things. Our
teachings, our manner of speech. Our
convictions hold US in close embrace.
They seem so absolute so final. They
readily become the forms in which our
life takes up its abode and their pass
ing seems to us the destruction of our
life Perhaps it is well that we do not
surrender them readily. We ought not
to regard them too lightly. Forms OF
speech and convictions as to truth
have their place, and It is not well to
underestimate their value. But it would
be a happy thing if we could remem-
Der this law of change We should be
less inclined to make finalities out OF
our Intellectual perceptions. There
would be far less tendency to judge
hastily our brother who differs from
US Changes which are inevita Bile would I
be attended with less of pain and an
guish of spirit We face death calmly [
because we have come to feel that it Is
a single change in the unfolding life of /
man So, may we not come to regard /
changes in the things above specified !
as the gates through which We pass /
INTO larger and richer inheritance of :
truth? All legitimate changes are such. (
Some Things Abide.
But there are some things which Z
abide The word falls upon our ears I
We rejoice to know that /
In the midst of so many and so great (
changes some things are permanent,
everlasting eternal We
are glad to feel the solid rock beneath I
our feet It IS especially reassuring In /
these days when so many things occur
to disturb and disquiet US. This is a /
scientific age, we are told. The ques- /
ton mark is everywhere in evidence
Did foundations seem tC be sinking be-
meath our feet The prophecies of to-
lay are not the same as those of other
lays; the speech of today sounds (
strange and new, and the conclusions /
Of our fathers are being pushed aside
IS there anything that abideso
Yes. faith abideS The apoc4Ta f- 3