Article April 17, 1902 Issue

Religious Items

with contributions from J. R. Thompson

Frank Sprague in The Standard says:—

"Two things we must admit as necessary to the Christian life, these are grace and knowledge. The first constitutes that favor of God which is essential to the new life, and includes also our exercise of that grace which is Christlike. The second indicates such an acquaintance with the purpose and will of God as saves from blindness and ignorance. Grace and knowledge, however, are something more than simple acquisitions to be secured, labeled, and laid away in our life upon some professional shelf for reference as trophies we have won. They are in the realm of the spiritual what they are in the relations of social and intellectual life. Grace and knowledge become valuable as they become the means for increase in grace and knowledge. One can no more have grace without its growing than he can have knowledge by ceasing to learn. Growth in the spiritual is as essential to the spiritual as growth in the physical is essential to a full-grown life.

"The grace of God and a knowledge of God. when first acquired, are germinal, and require the law of growth to perfect them. If you ask how growth is to be secured, we answer, the same here as in nature; conditions must be favorable. To grow in knowledge, one must live in the atmosphere of truth. To grow in grace, we must breathe in the pure, sweet air of heavenly grace. There must also be adequate rootage in sincerity and love, grounded in desire, in order to secure desirable fruitage."

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