Year: 1879

AloM ouI cltlZonS Seuorauy anu the common
council in particular.


THE MODEL CHRISTIAN.


But the wisdom that is from above is first
pure then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be
entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, with
out partiality, and without APPROPRIATIONS
IH:17.


No sentence in the bible describes the
true Christian better than tbs one quoted.
It contains the essence of true relgion-is
the measure by which the genuineness of a
mans professions must be gagged. The
first requisite is purity of life and conduct.
No man is worthy of the name of Christian
who is not blameless in his daily walk and
conversation. Lying and deceit, trickery
in trade, impurity of conversation are all
repugnant to deity, and when practiced by
protesting Christian bring reproach upon
the cause he processes, leading to dlstrust in
the sincerity of all Christians. There are
in the church too many who regard too
lightly this obligation, and by their conduct
keep many outside of the pale of the church
who otherwise would be attracted thither.


To be peacesble is also enjoined. A
brawler or qusrrelsome man does not de-
serve to be reckoned as belonging to the
elect, yet this fault is very conspicuous
one in nearly all religious communities.
Envy distracts and jealousy promotes con-
tention. Church quarrels are almost as
common as church sociabies, and one after
another of these organizations are broken
up by internal strife and their usefulness
destroyed. It is seldom that the members
of single church are on terms of perfect
friendship. The deacons and elders are fre-
quently bitterly hostile to each other. One
may think the others are taking too much
on themselves-attempting to run tho So
ciety in a manner that does not suit him
and he straightway organizes his own friends
into hostile party. The feuds seldom end
without creating permanent feeling of acri-
mony that often ultimates in disruption and
open strife.


Gentleness is one of the characteristics
that should adorn Christian life. To treat
all with kindness, their faults with forbear-
ance; to be kind to the poor and encourage
them to lives of piety; to minister to the
wants of those in distress in such manner
as to give no offense, are marks of the sin
cere Christian. Yet too frequently We find
it the case that church members are naughty
and overbearing in their treatment of those
whom they consider beneath them, and have
little regard for the feelings or comfort of
others. The church, instead of being, as it
was intended to be, the simplest democracy
on earth, is fast becoming radically aristo-
cratic. The rich receive all the favors and
the poor bear all the burdens and receive all
the cuffs. The inevitable result is bound to
ensue-indeed it is now almost accomplished.
The poor are driven from the churches and
spend their Sabbaths at home or in the
groves and gardens surrounding the city, for
they do not care to 60 where their presence
is 80 manifestly unwelcome, and where they
only meet with studied insult for their So
called presumption in appearing in the con.
gregation of the wealthy saints.


A Christian is expected to be ''full of mercy
and good fruits to those in dis
tress, charitable to those in want, and must
show by his works that he has imbibed the
spirit of the Master he processes to follow
BY their fruits we must judge of the gen.
uineness of mans Christianity, for if his
fruits are evil we may know that he is not
what he processes to be. SeIfshness is, in
deed, one of the natural instincts of human
ity. and one of the most difficult of control
The old maxim; "Charity begins at home,''
is employed to excuse many deeds of unchar-
ity among church members as we'll as those
outside the fold. Yet, if man have not
charity of that broad nature that leads him
to practice self-denial in order that he NAV
contribute to the necessity Of those who are
less fortunate than himself, his professions
of godliness amount to nothing: They are
become as sounding brass or a tinkling Gym.
bal.


Partially and hypocrisy are denounced as
not among the Christian virtues. Men are
very apt to show favors to some of their breth-
rem which they refuse or withhold from 9th
ers equally or more deserving. This is repre-
hensible, yet it is not so bad as the other
vice mentioned-hypocrisy. The religious
hypocrite is the most despicable wretch who
treads the earth, and yet the church is full of
them. Men profess the religion OF Christ,
prompted thereto by the most sinister of
motives. They use the church as a cloak
with which to cover up their own depravity,
while they are all the while doing the bid
ing of the evil one under the very shadow of
the sanctuary. Too often the ibertine
seeks the refuge of the church that he may
practice his arts the more successfully.
Many men seek the church to advance their
temporal interests, while some deliberately
enter it for the purpose of diverting suspi.
cion from career of plunder upon which
they are about to enter. These deserve
neither pity nor mercy from either God or
man, when discovered and brought to shame.


We long for the time when the Christian
as painted by the apostle will become the
rule in our churches. Such model Chris
tians ars now the exception. Yet we have
hope for the future. Greater life and activ-
ity would be one of the immediate results of
striving to attain such perfection, and
great good would be done to the world at
1orro q oopoonuonoo