The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-04-18
h A POSITIl W LIE ~ 2
sermon By the Mitchell Rector OF Christ
a Episcopal C1lurc

- Wa-Af43 -
Baird Mitchell, Rector of Christ
duplication. We come into this
world with certain strong tendencies
organized into us, and find the world
full OF things evil and things good.
The Problem vi Life.
The problem Of life is not how one
may suppress his nature and avoid
the evil in the world the real prob
lem IS how one may truly develop his
nature and attain the good. The por-
one. FL
Avoiding evil is not necessarily all
Empty, only that you may Till. Cast
of, only that YOU may put on. Throw
away, onlyth that you may gather. Aban-i
don, that you may attain. Dispense
with your elements Of weakness thatG
you may replace them with elements
OF power For rything that yon
give up, see TO it that you get some
thing better DO not fritter away life
in mere nesations. Life is more
than timidly trying to dodge corners,
1t is walking erect with manly tread
along every path OF duty and honor.
There is strong eXhortation IN
the first chapter of Isaiah: Cease 10
do evilt';; but the voice Of the proph-
the word evil III think the trumpet
gave livelier blast on the second part
of the message: Learn to do we'll"
Religion is Not Suppression.
] t Is not enough to cease from evil,
We must do the positive good. TO
replace says some one, is to con
duer.'' Pulling up weeds does not
make a garden. Something must be
planted and cared for.
Stripping away the withered leaves
that have chung to the trees through
all the blasts and SHOWS of winter,
does not make a spring time 1t is
y the putting forth OF new leaves, and
the bursting of new buds that signal
ize the return OF the sun.
Religion costs out demons. indeed;
but It does not stopItill itSt1as popula-
ted the soul with angels. This is
have done When the demons back
was Turned. an angels face should
have lighted UP the solitude. Religion
destroys, indeed. but it destroys in
creating The new thing that devel-
ops. pushes out the old. Religion re-
duces to chaos mot for the sake of
chaos, but for the sake of the new
world which emerses under the broad
ening spirit OF God. aCreated anew"
s.,Created unto good works. nothing
avails, circumcision or uncircumcis-
ion, but new creature '-surely these
are the pivotal words Of the New Tes-
lament. The ploughshare of Chris
tianity rips through the old soil. only
that it may prepare for the new har-
vest!
IN the New Testament put on is
always set over against put off" and
Of the contrast S: Put away as con
corning your former manner of life
the old man. : II Put on the n ew
man which after God hath created
in ghteou.ness and holiness Of truth
= 4 Putting away falsehood, speak
We truth each one with his neighbor.
Let him that stole. steal no
more, but rather lite him labor. work
ing with hiss hands the thing that is
good. n Let ALI bitterness. and
wrath and anger and cIamor be put.
away sfroln you; with al malice; and
be- ye kind one to mother. tender
hearted, forgiving. each other, even as
God in Christ forgave y on. n 7 Let
mouth. & hilt. such as is good. ~ These
few sentenc esf have positive as Well
as a negative sid There is not only
something TO be Tenounced. but there
is something totsbe done. The Shall
notss Of the law are supplemented by
the /" shalls'' of the gospel The thun-5
3ders OF Sinai, terrified men away from
sin: the voice of Jesus wins them to
Righteousness. #
In the case oil Jesus the positive
life was stronger than the negative
life. IT was the joy tina was set be-
fore Hin which made Him endure the
cross. He laid down His life that He
might take it again axe lit in mill
lions of other lines redemeed and
Slorifed The life and not the death
and remuneration and sacrifice Is The
final object. This positive life of Jesus
is SO ften overlooked in Christian
though WI se4 f
Application Of Meaning. \
r. Let us follow the idea of positive
ness into some OF its details. Let us
find some of its applications.
The doctrine that God is love, is
just as positive as the doctrine that
God isl wrath and vengeance lit is
Just as positive to say of man that he
Is son5of God as to say that he issthe8
son Of perdition. Its just as positive
Ito sars:that man has In him elements
of divinity as to say that he. has III
him nothin ssbllt ff' ii an esin,