Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1918-02-06
Are Though 1-pOOR
Sunday School Times Points 0ut
to Mankind the Peril of
Overthinking.

thinking. Thought plays so lmportanl
O part in life, and so many experience
such difficulty in thinking, tnat IL
seems impossible there should ever DC
such a thing as Overthought. But
there Is: and it keeps more than 1eW
souls from the vitality and progress
which ought to be theirs. They th:nh
every subject nearly to death. Horace
Bushnell in his early life found that
thought alone would never let him lllto
the secret of the Christian life, and II
took so much courage for him to say
what he did that he found he had 10
think himself out of his overthlnklns'
The intellectual power may be so eA-
aggerated that at last it fails OF It's OIL
fee.
In the first place, we think too long
over many matters. The time comes
when we ought to stop and betake our
selves to decision. Or we go on rehh-
ing about something long after we
have reached the main point, so that
we weaken the force of 1t.
Poor Kind OF ihlnKln 9.
A pastor in one Of our great
churches had had on his mind for some
time banker who attended his churen
but had never connected himself with Wit!
any. He had qvertho9ughtt the case q
tst that banker. ;i:. ( hundred tines he had
tried to think Gp Gf Some way Of reaching
him. But one day last autumn ne
threw away his thinking and went
Straight to the bank and to the mans
desk. He did not know at all what ne
would say to him, but having gotten
there he told him without elaboration
inst what he had come for. He told
him that he wanted him to come OUT
and make profession Of faith III
Christ. That was blunt enough.
But feeling that so important mat
ter needed a great deal of prepara-
ton, the banker said to the minister
that he had been thinking OF that SUD-
iect for q great many years, and his
tone implied that he would probably
20 on doing it good many more
years.
"yyell." said the minister, "don't you
think that is q pretty poor KIND or
thinking which can 60 on for years ana
never get anywhere nearer a conclu-
sion?"
The banker smiled and said he
thought that was a good point. 1t had
been pretty poor thinking. 1t was NOT
the kind that had led to his success IN
business. And with that he cut short
his thinking and let action do the rest.
At the meeting Of the elders VINO
were to receive him into the church ne
was asked why he took this step, ana
he replied that the pastor had asked
him why he did not take 1t, and that
he had said he had been thinking of 1t
Tor wears, DuI Ine pastor IoIu 1ilrn tiinr
was pretty poor thinking and he
thought so TOO. Therefore he asked to
be received into the church. He was
hearty and happy all the days of his
too brief membership, for 1t proved
that ne had no more years in which to
think the matter over That year was
his last.
Pride Involved.
There is no point in our whole
makeup where pride is more involved
than in the matter Of our thouSntS.
PcrhapS that was what the prophet
meant when he said. "Let the un-
l-n th011rhfS.
What thoughts? All kinds of prepos-
sessions about what God can do all
staggering ut the promises through un-
belief, 700 much familiarity with what
we call "human probabilities, and all
those PHILOSOPHERS generated In our
own brains and from off our own Levers
as TO what life can become. The logic
of our owp unaided thoughts tends
generally In the direction of limitation
and litileness. We make some scheme
of what will be feasible or hest, ana
then when it is all tightly framed we
ask God to carry it out. Forsaklns
such thoughts is hard business. Gods
great winds can hardly blow into these
tight-shut plans Of ours.
How is overthought and anxious care
to be remeded? There is just one
way, and that is by taking Gods
thoughts The Psnlmist said I'm the
multitude of my thoughts within me
thy comforts delight my soul" You
can see the man with his mind going
round and round but unable to think
anything out. and still imposing upon
his mind q burden to which it Is un-
equal. And then when he could make
nothing Of it ell there came in upon
him energies Of another kind and
higher order, what he calls Gods COM
forts, influences which come Off from
Higher levels than his own disturbed
mind. They cooled him In his fever,
they cleared his view, they frightened
his outlook. cleansed his heart and In
vlgorated his will, and seemed Ike q
sheer gift from God. 1t has been well
said that Gods thoughts are the only
o,,ra fnr oora