1916
By H. Symonds, D. D.
God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. — John iv. 4.
I. If we should ask this question "What is the most characteristic and significant difference between the modern and the old way of looking at religion and Christ in particular in its varied manifestations?" I think the answer would be something like this: In the past men thought of religion as some kind of completed system and order of things. A scheme or plan completely fashioned and framed, perfect from the start, handed to men, and by one generation to be transmitted to another unchanged, unimpaired, complete.
It was of course admitted that this ideal had never been realized. From the beginning there were disputes, controversies, heresies, schisms. Nevertheless the conception of religion as a completed scheme was adhered to. The watchword was this: That is true, and that is to be regarded as orthodox and Christian which has been held "everywhere, at all times, and by every one." This conception, mark, was not only the conception of the Catholic, but also of the Protestant. The Protestant thought the Catholic had been false to the principle; that he had introduced many new things. Hence he said we must go back to the New Testament and begin all over again. The fundamental error of the reformers — an error, however, which in their time was unavoidable — was the supposition that the New Testament must contain a complete system of belief of organization of worship. Only find that, they said (and they believed with enthusiasm that it could be found), and all Christians will unite. But alas! — we know how false were these hopes. It might have been supposed that if the New Testament did contain such a scheme, then at all events the true Scriptural organization of the church would have been discoverable.
But it was not. As you know, three different forms of ministry were discovered, each defended as divine and necessary, and with equal learning and logic — the Episcopal theory, the Presbyterian theory, and the Congregational theory.
That was the old way of looking at Christ — a way which has not yet died out, although it is so perfectly clear that something is wrong with it.
The new way of looking at Christianity is to regard it, not as a completed system of belief, worship, or organization, but rather as in the beginning the revelation of a life — the life of Christ in whom was gathered up all that was truest and best in the long preparation of the Old Testament. Behind the actual visible life of Christ was the Spirit and mind of Christ, by which one means the desires, the mo[tives of Christ; it] is this Spirit of Christ that is important. We can not imitate Him in His daily life of act, but we can seek after the motive or the Spirit in which He lived and worked. So, then, to-day we think of Christ not as having given a creed, or a government, or a system of worship, but as having lived in the world His life, and as having bequeathed to the world His Spirit.
But this Spirit comes into conflict with the spirit of the world, the spirit of what we call the natural man. It is not realized all at once; it is not even understood all at once. And so we think of Christianity as something progressively realized as the ages roll on. And as we look at so-called Christian nations, as we contemplate the selfishness, the corruption, the inequalities, the oppressions that still exist, we awake to the fact that even yet Christianity is not perfectly understood, that, e. g., what Christ meant by loving our neighbor as ourselves is not comprehended as yet by any class of society.
Again, although Christianity is primarily and fundamentally a spirit, the Spirit of Christ, yet we know that pure Spirit does not and can not be in this world. We ourselves are body and spirit. We can not express ourselves except by means of our bodies. So the Spirit of Christianity took to itself a body, and that body we call the church. Naturally those who became Christians asked many questions about Christianity. Out of those questions of necessity there came a creed. Naturally those who became Christians sought to give outward expression of their devotion to and adoration of Christ. Hence sprang up, and was gradually systematized, Christian worship. Naturally those who were Christian brethren gave outward expression to their fellowship and unity, and out of that desire sprang the organization of the church. Thus the church did not begin — no society ever did — with a system imposed upon men from without, but it began with the Spirit of Christ, and out of that Spirit came the church with its creed, worship, organization.
And these, too, developed, grew, changed with changing times and circumstances. Let me give one example, taken from that department of Christianity supposed to be least variable — the department of creed. If you asked of a young student of divinity this question, "When was the Nicene Creed composed?" he would probably say: "In the year 325, at the Council of Nicea, from which it takes its name." And yet that would be about as misleading an answer as could be given. The Nicene Creed was never composed; it grew. And it was more than three hundred years in the growing. The Council of Nicea had something to do with it, but very much less than is generally supposed. It existed almost in the form in which it left the council, before the council met, and it was further developed during fifty years subsequent to the meeting of that council.
Let me then sum up this part of our subject by saying that the old thought and conception of the New Testament was that it came into the world as completed creed, worship, and organization. The new thought of it is that it is first a spirit, but a spirit which takes to itself by degrees an outward form. It develops, it grows, it is modified here and there by changing circumstance. And is not this new conception of a development more in accord with our Savior's own teaching? The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which indeed is less than all seeds, but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becometh a tree.
II If these things are so, then you perceive at once that the subject we are considering is of very practical importance, for we may expect still further modification, growth, development. Only dead things never change. Living things are subject to continual change, the constant adaptation to an ever-changing environment. And so there is nothing we should dread as much as standing still, nothing so fatal as changelessness. The institution which can not adapt itself to new environment is doomed.
In the future, then, we may expect that less stress will be placed upon creed and upon the particular forms of worship, and a great deal more stress will be placed upon life, and especially the spirit of a man's life. In other words, religion will become more spiritual and less formal. Right opinion will count less than unselfishness. To give $100,000 for foreign missions will count less than justice and righteousness. The lust of money will be accounted a worse thing than staying away from church. And in in all respects religion will be getting back to Christ, — to that Christ who said God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth; to that Christ who said that to love our fellow man — not to exploit him — was a commandment that ranked with the love of God; to that Christ who said, "Why call ye me Lord, Lord, but do not the things that I say?"
Are we then — some of you may be asking yourselves — are we then to suppose that church worship and doctrine are going to disappear altogether? Some there are who think so. But these we may safely say are wrong. They have reacted too violently against the excessive value placed in the past upon church-going and orthodoxy. I think this point is of sufficient importance to dwell upon for a moment or two.
Did it ever occur to you that in the Old Testament church creed was almost non-existent? "Hear, O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord" sums up the Hebrew creed. But worship or ritual was everything. The details of worship were laid down with the utmost rigor. Every sacrifice had to be offered in exactly the right way, the ritual was carefully prescribed, and to vary from it was an offense scarcely thinkable. In other words, religion was cultus or ritual.
Christianity began without ritual or definite creed. But when it spread among a highly intellectual and philosophical people like the Greeks, it naturally developed doctrine or theory, and doctrine and theory hardened into dogma. In other words, religion ceased to be primarily right cultus or right ritual and became right doctrine. And we may freely admit that this was a step in advance.
But what I want you to notice is that because the religion of doctrine replaced the religion of ritual, it did not follow that ritual disappeared altogether. It still remained, and occupied a very important tho not the first place. And just so, altho I can not conceive it possible that right thinking or doctrine will ever again occupy the place it has in the past, yet it seems certain from many considerations that both doctrine and worship must have a permanent place in the Christian church. Only just as to-day we do not stigmatize because he offers extemporaneous prayer, or preaches in a black gown or a black coat, or per contra prefers a surplice and the Book of Common Prayer, so neither shall we in the future inquire too particularly into the exact opinions of any one upon predestination or original sin, or the relations of the divine and human in Christ, or the double procession of the Holy Ghost. All of them are for some of us important as well as interesting questions; but because men differ from one another about them, they will no longer stigmatize each other as heretics. We shall rather judge of soundness by Christ's test: "He that heareth these saying of mine and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man that built his house upon a rock." In one word we say this: "The religion of the spirit is the religion of liberty."
III. Our next point is this: The religion of the future, because it will be the religion of the Spirit, will seek more earnestly and more thoroughly than has ever been done before to embody itself in act and deed. They that worship God must worship Him in spirit and in reality; must translate spirit into visible good, just as you translate thought into spoken or written word. Neither the religion of cultus nor the religion of dogma is of necessity moral. Morality may be and, we may most thankfully admit, has been superadded to them, but morality is not of this essence. But morality, being conformity to the laws of man's relationship to God, his fellow man, and himself, must be of the very essence of the religion of the Spirit.
The religion of the Spirit will seek most earnestly to establish right relations between men. It will not rest satisfied with merely negatively morality, "Thou shalt not steal," "Thou shalt not commit adultery." But it will seek after positive justice, positive mercy. It will be altruistic. It will refuse to be happy while any part of the social organism is compelled to live in unsanitary conditions, is condemned to a life of ceaseless grinding toil, has no vocations that are wholesome and elevating.
The prime virtue of the religion of dogma is assent.
But the prime virtue of the religion of the Spirit is love.
We shall call no man atheist who loves his fellow man. But no matter what he professes to be, we shall regard him as atheist who does not love his fellow man. "For he that loveth not his brother man whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" The religion of the Spirit will greatly prefer a Charles Darwin to a Charles II.
The religion of the Spirit will bring to an end the long conflict between science and theology. Theology will frankly admit that science has earnestly and purely sought after truth, and endeavored to translate truth into action. But all truth is of God. Science in its reverence for law, in its faith that this is an intelligible universe, is truly and deeply religious. It is the ally, not the enemy, of the religion in spirit and truth.
The religion of the Spirit will bring to an end divisions of Christendom. We shall see that variety of worship and thought is consistent with the Unity of the Spirit. Truly it will perceive that all variety that springs out of an honest and sincere mind and heart enriches religion, adds to its strength and its beauty, just as the one energy of the universe unfolds and manifests itself in endless forms of entrancing beauty.
Two principles will underlie this new unity, this transformed catholic church. The principle of liberty, which will give variety, richness, and beauty — the centrifugal force of the spiritual world; and the spirit of love, which will bind together into one communion and fellowship all the varieties of worships and believers. Love is the centripetal force of the spiritual world.
IV. And in this religion of the Spirit, what is to be the place of worship and doctrine?
Worship! What is it? Is it the groveling of man before a Deity who longs for flattery? Is it the attempt to bribe a Deity with forms and ceremonies? The prophets Isaiah and Micah answered that question long since.
Shall we not say that it is the going out of the infinite part of ourselves in adoration and love to the infinite source of all things? Shall we not seek by worship to be purified from low thinking, and to be inspired to high thinking? Shall we not hope to gain from it an infinite desire to be holy, desires and longings which shall he translated into deeds on every day of the week? Perchance to those worshiping thus in spirit there shall be revealed, as once many hundred of years ago there was revealed to a youth, a student, the Lord, high and mighty sitting upon His throne, and they shall hear, as He heard, the seraphim crying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, the fulness of the whole earth is the glory of Jehovah! And out of that vision may there come, as there came to Isaiah, the call to live for infinite ends — to do the will of God among men on earth. Worship is no worship that does not lead to action.
And doctrine? Doctrine will continue just as worship will continue; only it will not be dogma, opinions to which men are compelled to assent, whether they understand them or not. Doctrine is the presentation of what the thinker, the student, the teacher, believes to be true; and believing it to be true and beautiful, will yet only ask men to accept so far as they themselves perceive it to be true and beautiful. We shall no more seek to compel men to be orthodox than we now compel them to worship in this way or that way, or than we seek to compel a man to love his neighbor as himself.
Christianity may have long to live in human society before it attains to its ideal; but we are not therefore of despair. This religion of Spirit and of truth, which I have so inadequately sought to set forth, is already in the world. There is no reason why we should be despond or pessimistic. Optimism is to some extent, no doubt, a matter of temperament. Yet I think the optimist can give good reason for the hope and faith that are in him — the faith that we are living in a truth-loving and liberty-loving age. And truth and liberty are of the essence of that God who is a Spirit. Looking back twenty-five years it is not difficult to detect a growing reverence for the religious side of human experience, so that the beautiful aspiration of one of the poet prophets of the nineteenth century is even now being fulfilled.
"Let knowledge grow more to more,
But more of reverence in us dwell,
That mind and heart, according
May make one music as before."
—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 5.
Note: The phrase in brackets I supplied, since a few words were missing in the original newspaper.
Showing posts with label Holy-Spirit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holy-Spirit. Show all posts
Friday, April 25, 2008
Sunday, April 13, 2008
The Church Too Conventional
1900
Rev. Dr. John Balcom Shaw considering the conditions of a revival and its power in the Homiletic Review, adds these suggestive words: "The curse of the church today, particularly in this city, is respectability and exclusiveness. We are dying of dignity. Conventionality is crushing out our very life. How the free, glad, uplifting influence of Him who 'worketh when, and where, and how he will,' would change all this! It would take all the ministers of our churches, if working unitedly, a century to overtake this tendency and another century to overcome it. The Holy Ghost could do it in a week."
—The Ram's Horn, March 17, 1900, p. 17
Rev. Dr. John Balcom Shaw considering the conditions of a revival and its power in the Homiletic Review, adds these suggestive words: "The curse of the church today, particularly in this city, is respectability and exclusiveness. We are dying of dignity. Conventionality is crushing out our very life. How the free, glad, uplifting influence of Him who 'worketh when, and where, and how he will,' would change all this! It would take all the ministers of our churches, if working unitedly, a century to overtake this tendency and another century to overcome it. The Holy Ghost could do it in a week."
—The Ram's Horn, March 17, 1900, p. 17
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Pentecosts and Conversions
1910
When a revival has obtained many converts we commonly call it a Pentecost. The three thousand converts to Christianity were a result of what happened on that famous fiftieth day after the Great Passover, but they were not an essential of it; nor are Pentecosts always attended by conversions, though they are likely to be.
The narrative of that first Christian Pentecost is very simple and very wonderful. The conditions were these: A risen Christ, fully apprehended in his divine majesty, ardently loved for his marvelous gifts to men. His followers united in this understanding and love — not in a theological system, since there had been no time to form one, nor in ecclesiastical bonds, since there was happily as yet no ecclesiasticism to separate them; but they were united in love and in faith, which alone can unite men. Finally, Christ's followers, thus united, were all in one place, the physical basis of the spiritual miracle that was to follow. Those conditions being granted — and they are possible anywhere where there are Christians, If only two of them — what are the essentials of Pentecost? They are three.
First, Pentecost consisted of a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, filling all the houses where the disciples were. What is essential in this? The sound of the wind? We can get it any day when the wind is blowing. We can imitate it any day when the wind is not blowing. The essential is that "from Heaven." The essential is the feeling of the other world, of supernatural power, of the divine moving upon the human.
The One Essential.
Second, Pentecost consisted of the mysterious light filling the room, centered in tongues of light flaming from each head. What is essential here? The actual vibrations of the ether? Surely not. Every living body, as the scientists are beginning to prove, gives out some light. What is essential is the spiritual clarity, the divine illumination, in the radiance of which men see what they have not before seen of themselves and God and God's universe.
Third, Pentecost consisted of the speaking with tongues. What is essential in this? That each heard his own language spoken from those previously one-languaged men? No, for they had heard their own language before, and would hear it again. The essential was that they heard "the wonderful works of God." It was what the disciples said that brought conviction, rather than the exceptional fact that each heard it said in his own tongue.
If these are the three Pentecost essentials, as I think they are, then we can have a Pentecost in any prayer meeting or Sunday school class or in the church on any Sunday morning, though only Christians are present, and only three or thirty of these and nowhere near three thousand. We can have a feeling of God's presence, and a clear vision of divine truth, and a free utterance of our spirits in view of God's presence and this new vision.
Same Joys Are Ours.
I am not denying the reality of the supernatural occurrences on the day of Pentecost. I believe in them wholly. I am not "spiritualizing them away." They may not occur to us in the same outward form, but I do believe that everything most precious and valuable in them occurs to us, and that the first Pentecost is a paradigm of the Pentecost that may be yours and mine today.
Nor will our Pentecost be less marvelous than Peter's and John's. To realize the presence of God is more wonderful than to hear the wind blow, though it blow from the skies of paradise. To see God's truth is more wonderful than the aura of any saint, and to speak of God's wonderful works in the English language to any set of Americans is as great a deed as to speak in a single breath all the tongues of Pentecost.
—Oelwein Daily Register, Oelwein, IA, Sept. 20, 1910, p. 3.
When a revival has obtained many converts we commonly call it a Pentecost. The three thousand converts to Christianity were a result of what happened on that famous fiftieth day after the Great Passover, but they were not an essential of it; nor are Pentecosts always attended by conversions, though they are likely to be.
The narrative of that first Christian Pentecost is very simple and very wonderful. The conditions were these: A risen Christ, fully apprehended in his divine majesty, ardently loved for his marvelous gifts to men. His followers united in this understanding and love — not in a theological system, since there had been no time to form one, nor in ecclesiastical bonds, since there was happily as yet no ecclesiasticism to separate them; but they were united in love and in faith, which alone can unite men. Finally, Christ's followers, thus united, were all in one place, the physical basis of the spiritual miracle that was to follow. Those conditions being granted — and they are possible anywhere where there are Christians, If only two of them — what are the essentials of Pentecost? They are three.
First, Pentecost consisted of a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, filling all the houses where the disciples were. What is essential in this? The sound of the wind? We can get it any day when the wind is blowing. We can imitate it any day when the wind is not blowing. The essential is that "from Heaven." The essential is the feeling of the other world, of supernatural power, of the divine moving upon the human.
The One Essential.
Second, Pentecost consisted of the mysterious light filling the room, centered in tongues of light flaming from each head. What is essential here? The actual vibrations of the ether? Surely not. Every living body, as the scientists are beginning to prove, gives out some light. What is essential is the spiritual clarity, the divine illumination, in the radiance of which men see what they have not before seen of themselves and God and God's universe.
Third, Pentecost consisted of the speaking with tongues. What is essential in this? That each heard his own language spoken from those previously one-languaged men? No, for they had heard their own language before, and would hear it again. The essential was that they heard "the wonderful works of God." It was what the disciples said that brought conviction, rather than the exceptional fact that each heard it said in his own tongue.
If these are the three Pentecost essentials, as I think they are, then we can have a Pentecost in any prayer meeting or Sunday school class or in the church on any Sunday morning, though only Christians are present, and only three or thirty of these and nowhere near three thousand. We can have a feeling of God's presence, and a clear vision of divine truth, and a free utterance of our spirits in view of God's presence and this new vision.
Same Joys Are Ours.
I am not denying the reality of the supernatural occurrences on the day of Pentecost. I believe in them wholly. I am not "spiritualizing them away." They may not occur to us in the same outward form, but I do believe that everything most precious and valuable in them occurs to us, and that the first Pentecost is a paradigm of the Pentecost that may be yours and mine today.
Nor will our Pentecost be less marvelous than Peter's and John's. To realize the presence of God is more wonderful than to hear the wind blow, though it blow from the skies of paradise. To see God's truth is more wonderful than the aura of any saint, and to speak of God's wonderful works in the English language to any set of Americans is as great a deed as to speak in a single breath all the tongues of Pentecost.
—Oelwein Daily Register, Oelwein, IA, Sept. 20, 1910, p. 3.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
The Wicked Husbandmen (Mark 12:1-12)
1895
Sunday School Lesson
Golden Text — They will reverence my son. — Mark 12:6.
God has intrusted to each of us a blessed and fruitful vineyard, which we are to culture for Him. He has planted His new life in us. He has given us our life, our soul. He gives us each a portion of all those things He has committed to the church as a whole. He makes us fruitful by His Word and His Spirit. He gives us every means of grace by which to cultivate the vineyard. He gives us defenses. He is our watch-tower. He gives grace for every time of need. He furnishes the armor against temptation. The body is a vineyard that is intrusted to our care, to be well treated as an instrument for doing God's work. A good workman always takes good care of his tools. The mind is still more wonderful, and should be educated, trained, kept pure and bright, that it may bring forth fruit for the Master. The soil, the very self — the citadel, the dwelling place of the moral nature, the fountain of character — is a vineyard that should be kept with all diligence, "for out of it are the issues of life."
The fruits are gratitude, love, obedience, worship, consecration of time, talents and property toward God; and all the fruits of the Spirit toward men; intelligence, generosity, character, growth. Note that, as the cultivator of the vineyard was to enjoy the fruits it bore, and the more fruitful it was, the more industriously he cultivated it for the owner, the more abundant and delightful was his own reward; so it is with those to whom God has intrusted His spiritual vineyard; every fruit God requires is best for themselves.
Sending for the Fruits. — Every special call to love and serve God, every service at the church, every opportunity to do good, every providence of God, every season of revival, the voice of the Holy Spirit, the Sabbath, the Bible, conscience — all are servants whom God sends to us for the fruits that are due Him.
The Fruits Refused. — The behavior of these husbandmen is only a picture of the way impenitent men still treat God's messengers of mercy — the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the influences of religion. What greater meanness in the universe than our rejection of God's messengers while we are actually enjoying the vineyard He gave us?
The unspeakable love of God to us is shown in the sending of His Son (John 3:16). He is the wisdom and power of God for salvation. God has done all that infinite love can do to save us. He comes often to our souls with special influences to lead us to accept Him. Everyone at some time comes to the valley of decision.
If we reject Christ for this world we are lost for this world. Those who reject Christ from their lives and plans, in order that they may keep possession of themselves, their pleasures and hopes, have taken the shortest and surest way to lose them. The righteous shall inherit the earth. If we refuse the source of righteousness we reject our earthly inheritance. How much more is this true of the future! Those who reject Christ cannot be saved. They refuse eternal life; they reject the very principles which make Heaven what it is. They repel the strongest influence that can lead them to a holy life. They throw away their last hope.
Though mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.
Sunday School Lesson
Golden Text — They will reverence my son. — Mark 12:6.
God has intrusted to each of us a blessed and fruitful vineyard, which we are to culture for Him. He has planted His new life in us. He has given us our life, our soul. He gives us each a portion of all those things He has committed to the church as a whole. He makes us fruitful by His Word and His Spirit. He gives us every means of grace by which to cultivate the vineyard. He gives us defenses. He is our watch-tower. He gives grace for every time of need. He furnishes the armor against temptation. The body is a vineyard that is intrusted to our care, to be well treated as an instrument for doing God's work. A good workman always takes good care of his tools. The mind is still more wonderful, and should be educated, trained, kept pure and bright, that it may bring forth fruit for the Master. The soil, the very self — the citadel, the dwelling place of the moral nature, the fountain of character — is a vineyard that should be kept with all diligence, "for out of it are the issues of life."
The fruits are gratitude, love, obedience, worship, consecration of time, talents and property toward God; and all the fruits of the Spirit toward men; intelligence, generosity, character, growth. Note that, as the cultivator of the vineyard was to enjoy the fruits it bore, and the more fruitful it was, the more industriously he cultivated it for the owner, the more abundant and delightful was his own reward; so it is with those to whom God has intrusted His spiritual vineyard; every fruit God requires is best for themselves.
Sending for the Fruits. — Every special call to love and serve God, every service at the church, every opportunity to do good, every providence of God, every season of revival, the voice of the Holy Spirit, the Sabbath, the Bible, conscience — all are servants whom God sends to us for the fruits that are due Him.
The Fruits Refused. — The behavior of these husbandmen is only a picture of the way impenitent men still treat God's messengers of mercy — the Holy Spirit, the Bible, the influences of religion. What greater meanness in the universe than our rejection of God's messengers while we are actually enjoying the vineyard He gave us?
The unspeakable love of God to us is shown in the sending of His Son (John 3:16). He is the wisdom and power of God for salvation. God has done all that infinite love can do to save us. He comes often to our souls with special influences to lead us to accept Him. Everyone at some time comes to the valley of decision.
If we reject Christ for this world we are lost for this world. Those who reject Christ from their lives and plans, in order that they may keep possession of themselves, their pleasures and hopes, have taken the shortest and surest way to lose them. The righteous shall inherit the earth. If we refuse the source of righteousness we reject our earthly inheritance. How much more is this true of the future! Those who reject Christ cannot be saved. They refuse eternal life; they reject the very principles which make Heaven what it is. They repel the strongest influence that can lead them to a holy life. They throw away their last hope.
Though mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small;
Though with patience He stands waiting, with exactness grinds He all.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Friends Church: "You Need Baptism of The Holy Ghost"
Ohio, 1916
Increased Attendance at Friends Church Revival
Large crowds attended the revival services at the Friends Church, Sunday. Last night it was necessary to throw open the Sunday School room. Seven persons presented their names for membership.
In his sermon in the morning the pastor spoke on the need of "Divine Equipment for Service." In part he said: God not only wants to save men from sin, but prepare them for service. It is not enough to have your sin pardoned, but you need the baptism of the Holy Ghost to give you power to do. This is the crying need of the church to-day. In the days of Finney, Edwards and the Wesleys it is claimed less than fifteen per cent of the converts backslid. In our day less than this number stand and all because we do not preach a full gospel.
In the evening his subject was "God's Estimate of the Value of a Soul." He said that no soul has ever gone so low but what Jesus goes beneath that one to lift him up. It is an abomination in the sight of Heaven for church people to talk about trash. All men are human beings, and have a soul and the soul of a poor harlot or drunkard is as precious in the eyes of Jesus Christ as that of the President or a King. When you hear a person talk about trash you may rest assured that that person is dirtier than the "trash" they talk about. The mission of Jesus is to put all men on an equality. Blind Bartimaeus had to be lifted up, while the self-righteous Zacchaeus had to come down, and the two met on the same platform.
Meetings to night at 7:30. Special prayer and inquiry meeting at 6:30. Special music at every service.
Resignation
Rev. Hugh Willard Hanna tendered his resignation as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Kenton, "for the sake of peace and harmony." His resignation caused general surprise as he was called to the pastorate in June, 1914, from Freeport, Pa.
—The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Feb. 21, 1916.
Increased Attendance at Friends Church Revival
Large crowds attended the revival services at the Friends Church, Sunday. Last night it was necessary to throw open the Sunday School room. Seven persons presented their names for membership.
In his sermon in the morning the pastor spoke on the need of "Divine Equipment for Service." In part he said: God not only wants to save men from sin, but prepare them for service. It is not enough to have your sin pardoned, but you need the baptism of the Holy Ghost to give you power to do. This is the crying need of the church to-day. In the days of Finney, Edwards and the Wesleys it is claimed less than fifteen per cent of the converts backslid. In our day less than this number stand and all because we do not preach a full gospel.
In the evening his subject was "God's Estimate of the Value of a Soul." He said that no soul has ever gone so low but what Jesus goes beneath that one to lift him up. It is an abomination in the sight of Heaven for church people to talk about trash. All men are human beings, and have a soul and the soul of a poor harlot or drunkard is as precious in the eyes of Jesus Christ as that of the President or a King. When you hear a person talk about trash you may rest assured that that person is dirtier than the "trash" they talk about. The mission of Jesus is to put all men on an equality. Blind Bartimaeus had to be lifted up, while the self-righteous Zacchaeus had to come down, and the two met on the same platform.
Meetings to night at 7:30. Special prayer and inquiry meeting at 6:30. Special music at every service.
Resignation
Rev. Hugh Willard Hanna tendered his resignation as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Kenton, "for the sake of peace and harmony." His resignation caused general surprise as he was called to the pastorate in June, 1914, from Freeport, Pa.
—The Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Feb. 21, 1916.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Apostle's Creed — The Office of The Holy Ghost
Pennsylvania, 1882
St. Paul's German Lutheran
At St. Paul's German Lutheran Church yesterday morning, the Rev. E. H. Gerhardt preached an instructive sermon on the gospel of the day in conjunction with the third article of the Apostle's Creed, as both suggest the office of the Holy Ghost. This is the first sermon of a series of three to be delivered in this church by the pastor on the Sundays preceding Pentecost, and on the third article of the creed in connection with the gospel for the day.
The pastor opened his sermon by calling the attention of the hearers to the expressions concerning the Holy Ghost in the three chief symbols of the church's faith, that there is a Holy Ghost "the Lord and Giver of life." The Holy Ghost is not made, nor created, nor begotten, but eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son, John 15:26. "But when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father." That the Holy Ghost is proceeding from the Father and the Son is denied by the Greek church, Irvingites, Old Catholic and Moravians in their Easter Litany. The Holy Ghost is of equal essence and power with the Father and the Son, Acts 5:3,4; 1 Cor. 3:16. This doctrine is denied by the Armenians, Socinians, Unitarians, Universalists, (so called) Protestants, Swedenborgians, Bible Christians, Campbellites, Christians, Quakers, Hicksite Quakers, Mormons, Shakers, Christian Israelites, Seventh Day Adventists and Spiritualists.
It is the office of the Holy Ghost to sanctify us, to bring us to Christ in order that we may be saved. " Neither is there salvation in any other," (Acts 4:12). Jesus Christ became man, suffered and died in order that we might be His, live under Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness. To this end salvation appeared that we shall believe in Jesus Christ and come to Him. We cannot by our own reason and strength believe in Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 2:14; Rom. 7:18,19); but must be led thereto by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). The Holy Spirit is powerful to work sanctification; this has been promised to us (Acts 2:1-18). The Holy Ghost brings us to Christ in no other way but by the Divinely appointed means, the Word and the Sacraments; and this by a fixed order of salvation.
The first in the order of salvation is calling. It is the universal and gracious invitation of God to enter His Kingdom and accept salvation through Christ by faith. All men are called through the Gospel, for that all men shall be saved that believe in Him who has mercy upon all men (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). Calvinists teach that God has decreed from eternity some to be saved, and some to be lost. After man has been called he must be illuminated, by which the Holy Ghost instructs the now called man and imparts to him a knowledge of his sinfulness as well as of Divine grace. To the illumined mind the Holy Ghost now produces deep sorrow on account of sins committed, and that by faith in the merits of Christ he shall be saved. Man attaining this stage will now appear improved, regenerated and born anew by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost through the means of grace, and this coinciding with justification, man upon entering that mystical union with God will experience more and more the presence of God, and His dwelling in him in a special manner. The sanctifying act of the Holy Spirit will be now more and more felt, and the believer continually seeking a higher degree of perfection in faith, love and obedience.
The pastor closed his remarks by earnestly admonishing all present unceasingly to pray to the Holy Ghost to preserve them in true faith unto everlasting life.
The theme for the next sermon will be The Sanctification of the whole Christian Church on earth.
—Chester Times, Chester, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1882.
St. Paul's German Lutheran
At St. Paul's German Lutheran Church yesterday morning, the Rev. E. H. Gerhardt preached an instructive sermon on the gospel of the day in conjunction with the third article of the Apostle's Creed, as both suggest the office of the Holy Ghost. This is the first sermon of a series of three to be delivered in this church by the pastor on the Sundays preceding Pentecost, and on the third article of the creed in connection with the gospel for the day.
The pastor opened his sermon by calling the attention of the hearers to the expressions concerning the Holy Ghost in the three chief symbols of the church's faith, that there is a Holy Ghost "the Lord and Giver of life." The Holy Ghost is not made, nor created, nor begotten, but eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son, John 15:26. "But when the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father." That the Holy Ghost is proceeding from the Father and the Son is denied by the Greek church, Irvingites, Old Catholic and Moravians in their Easter Litany. The Holy Ghost is of equal essence and power with the Father and the Son, Acts 5:3,4; 1 Cor. 3:16. This doctrine is denied by the Armenians, Socinians, Unitarians, Universalists, (so called) Protestants, Swedenborgians, Bible Christians, Campbellites, Christians, Quakers, Hicksite Quakers, Mormons, Shakers, Christian Israelites, Seventh Day Adventists and Spiritualists.
It is the office of the Holy Ghost to sanctify us, to bring us to Christ in order that we may be saved. " Neither is there salvation in any other," (Acts 4:12). Jesus Christ became man, suffered and died in order that we might be His, live under Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness. To this end salvation appeared that we shall believe in Jesus Christ and come to Him. We cannot by our own reason and strength believe in Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Cor. 2:14; Rom. 7:18,19); but must be led thereto by the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:3). The Holy Spirit is powerful to work sanctification; this has been promised to us (Acts 2:1-18). The Holy Ghost brings us to Christ in no other way but by the Divinely appointed means, the Word and the Sacraments; and this by a fixed order of salvation.
The first in the order of salvation is calling. It is the universal and gracious invitation of God to enter His Kingdom and accept salvation through Christ by faith. All men are called through the Gospel, for that all men shall be saved that believe in Him who has mercy upon all men (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). Calvinists teach that God has decreed from eternity some to be saved, and some to be lost. After man has been called he must be illuminated, by which the Holy Ghost instructs the now called man and imparts to him a knowledge of his sinfulness as well as of Divine grace. To the illumined mind the Holy Ghost now produces deep sorrow on account of sins committed, and that by faith in the merits of Christ he shall be saved. Man attaining this stage will now appear improved, regenerated and born anew by the effectual working of the Holy Ghost through the means of grace, and this coinciding with justification, man upon entering that mystical union with God will experience more and more the presence of God, and His dwelling in him in a special manner. The sanctifying act of the Holy Spirit will be now more and more felt, and the believer continually seeking a higher degree of perfection in faith, love and obedience.
The pastor closed his remarks by earnestly admonishing all present unceasingly to pray to the Holy Ghost to preserve them in true faith unto everlasting life.
The theme for the next sermon will be The Sanctification of the whole Christian Church on earth.
—Chester Times, Chester, Pennsylvania, May 8, 1882.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Being Convicted of Sin
Conviction in general, is the assurance of the truth of any proposition. In a religious sense, it is the first degree of repentance, and implies an affecting sense that we are guilty before God; that we can do nothing of ourselves to gain his forfeited favor; that we deserve and are exposed to the wrath of God; that sin is very odious and hateful, the greatest of evils.
There is a natural and just conviction which arises from natural conscience, fear of punishment, moral suasion, or alarming providences, but which, is not of a permanent nature. Saving conviction is a work of the Holy Spirit, as the cause; though the conscience, the law, the gospel, or affliction, may be the means (John 16:8,9).
Convictions of sin differ very much in their degree and pungency, in different persons. It has been observed that those who suffer the most agonizing sensations are such as never before enjoyed the external call of the gospel, or were favored with the tuition of religious parents, but have neglected or notoriously abused the means of grace. To these, conviction is often sudden, and produces that horror and shame which are not soon overcome; whereas those who have sat under the gospel from their infancy have not often such alarming convictions, because they have already some notion of these things, and have much acquaintance with the gospel, which administers to a believing heart immediate comfort.
As it is not, therefore, the constant method of the Spirit to convince in one way, it is improper for any to distress themselves because they are not, or have not been, tormented almost to despair; they should be rather thankful that the Spirit of God has dealt tenderly with them, and opened to them the genuine source of consolation in Christ. It is necessary, however, to observe that, for repentance and conversion to God, there must be real and lasting conviction, which, though it may not be the same in degree, is the same in nature.
Evangelical conviction differs from legal conviction thus: legal arises from a consideration of the divine law, God's justice, power, or omniscience; evangelical, from God's goodness and holiness as seen in the cross of Christ, and from a disaffection to sin; legal conviction still conceives there is something remaining good, but evangelical is sensible there is no good at all; legal wishes freedom from pain, evangelical from sin; legal hardens the heart, evangelical softens it; legal is only temporary, evangelical lasting. — Adapted from McClintock & Strong.
There is a natural and just conviction which arises from natural conscience, fear of punishment, moral suasion, or alarming providences, but which, is not of a permanent nature. Saving conviction is a work of the Holy Spirit, as the cause; though the conscience, the law, the gospel, or affliction, may be the means (John 16:8,9).
Convictions of sin differ very much in their degree and pungency, in different persons. It has been observed that those who suffer the most agonizing sensations are such as never before enjoyed the external call of the gospel, or were favored with the tuition of religious parents, but have neglected or notoriously abused the means of grace. To these, conviction is often sudden, and produces that horror and shame which are not soon overcome; whereas those who have sat under the gospel from their infancy have not often such alarming convictions, because they have already some notion of these things, and have much acquaintance with the gospel, which administers to a believing heart immediate comfort.
As it is not, therefore, the constant method of the Spirit to convince in one way, it is improper for any to distress themselves because they are not, or have not been, tormented almost to despair; they should be rather thankful that the Spirit of God has dealt tenderly with them, and opened to them the genuine source of consolation in Christ. It is necessary, however, to observe that, for repentance and conversion to God, there must be real and lasting conviction, which, though it may not be the same in degree, is the same in nature.
Evangelical conviction differs from legal conviction thus: legal arises from a consideration of the divine law, God's justice, power, or omniscience; evangelical, from God's goodness and holiness as seen in the cross of Christ, and from a disaffection to sin; legal conviction still conceives there is something remaining good, but evangelical is sensible there is no good at all; legal wishes freedom from pain, evangelical from sin; legal hardens the heart, evangelical softens it; legal is only temporary, evangelical lasting. — Adapted from McClintock & Strong.
Friday, June 8, 2007
The Threeness of the One God
1921
By Rev. E. J. Pace
Director of Missionary Course, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago
TEXT — The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. — 2 Cor. 13:14
In the familiar words of the apostolic benediction, so called, without which no assembly of Christians seems fittingly dismissed, reverberates the supreme fact of the Christian revelation, namely that God exists a trinity of persons in a unity of nature. It is one God, and yet there are three persons; not three Gods, nor yet three manifestations of the one God, as the religion of the Hindoos, but three persons, each distinct from the other two, and yet bound to both by mutual bonds of complementary life and love relationships.
We grant there is mystery here. But where in this universe will we encounter no mystery? When we can explain one of the manifold mysteries that are locked up in a single drop of water, or in one beam of light, we will then demand an explanation of this, the profoundest mystery of all, the tri-unity of the one Godhead.
So, let it be repeated, we have here a fact of revelation, and of the Christian revelation, mind you, a fact which, while not opposed to reason, nevertheless transcends reason. Science unaided never could have discovered it; and yet when once the fact is revealed, lo, even science comes laden with presumptive evidence from myriad sources; and not only so, but the artist from his palette, and the musician from his keys, all of them come bearing united testimony that underneath all the phenomena of nature, as well as all the harmonies of both light and sound, lies the number three.
Every schoolboy knows how with three primary colors — red, yellow and blue — he can make any other color. Indeed, every imaginable tint or hue in the universe is but the blending of these three undivided colors. And it does not take long for the lassie at the piano stool to learn that all the infinite range of possibilities in the harmony of sound results from the blending of three primary triads of notes. The scientist in his eager search for unifying laws cannot get less than three categories in which to cast all physical phenomena. These three categories are substance, form and force. And how strikingly suggestive these three! For what have we in substance but the Father? What have we in form but the Son, who is the "express image of the Father's substance (Heb. 1:3); and what have we in force but the Spirit, by whose power all effects in creation and redemption are wrought!
By Rev. E. J. Pace
Director of Missionary Course, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago
TEXT — The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. — 2 Cor. 13:14
In the familiar words of the apostolic benediction, so called, without which no assembly of Christians seems fittingly dismissed, reverberates the supreme fact of the Christian revelation, namely that God exists a trinity of persons in a unity of nature. It is one God, and yet there are three persons; not three Gods, nor yet three manifestations of the one God, as the religion of the Hindoos, but three persons, each distinct from the other two, and yet bound to both by mutual bonds of complementary life and love relationships.
We grant there is mystery here. But where in this universe will we encounter no mystery? When we can explain one of the manifold mysteries that are locked up in a single drop of water, or in one beam of light, we will then demand an explanation of this, the profoundest mystery of all, the tri-unity of the one Godhead.
So, let it be repeated, we have here a fact of revelation, and of the Christian revelation, mind you, a fact which, while not opposed to reason, nevertheless transcends reason. Science unaided never could have discovered it; and yet when once the fact is revealed, lo, even science comes laden with presumptive evidence from myriad sources; and not only so, but the artist from his palette, and the musician from his keys, all of them come bearing united testimony that underneath all the phenomena of nature, as well as all the harmonies of both light and sound, lies the number three.
Every schoolboy knows how with three primary colors — red, yellow and blue — he can make any other color. Indeed, every imaginable tint or hue in the universe is but the blending of these three undivided colors. And it does not take long for the lassie at the piano stool to learn that all the infinite range of possibilities in the harmony of sound results from the blending of three primary triads of notes. The scientist in his eager search for unifying laws cannot get less than three categories in which to cast all physical phenomena. These three categories are substance, form and force. And how strikingly suggestive these three! For what have we in substance but the Father? What have we in form but the Son, who is the "express image of the Father's substance (Heb. 1:3); and what have we in force but the Spirit, by whose power all effects in creation and redemption are wrought!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Cult Has Christ in Rockford with Holy Ghost Children
Rockford, Illinois, 1889
Note: The first article mentions Rock Island but the actual place should have been Rockford. And the minister said to be the Son of God's name is missing an "i" that should be there, making it Schweinfurth. And I left the capitalization on "holy ghost" as published.
Something New for Rock Island
Of all the cranks that ever lived on the face of the earth Minneapolis has the worst, according to dispatches from there. His name is C. C. Whitney and he has a crazy idea in his head that Christ is on earth again in the flesh. He says that he lives in Rock Island and is a minister there by the name of Rev. G. J. Schwenfurth. Now we do not know whether there is such a man in Rock Island or not nor do we know anything further for or against him but Rock Island seems to be a queer place to select for the residence of the Christ. It is said that this man Whitney has succeeded in converting a number of people to his way of thinking.
—Davenport Morning Tribune, Davenport, IA, Feb. 16, 1889, p. 3.
MISS WELDON'S "HOLY CHILD"
Apostle Whitney Talks About the Latest Addition to Schweinfurth's Family
C. C. Whitney, the Minneapolis apostle of George J. Schweinfurth, has been seen and asked to explain the recent occurrence in Schweinfurth's household in Rockford, "the child born to Mary Weldon."
In reply Mr. Whitney said, "It was conceived by the holy ghost and born without sin. Miss Weldon is one of the redeemed."
"But did the holy ghost act through Mr. Schweinfurth?"
"That I am not prepared to say. The ways of God are inscrutable, but what I do say is we are no freelovers. We believe that absolute chastity should be the attribute of both sexes. We live perfectly pure, chaste lives."
"But how about man and wife, don't the members of your church who are married live together and raise children?"
"No, they do not. Any married couple bringing forth children would be considered guilty of adultery."
"But how about Miss Weldon?"
"That is different. She is one of the redeemed. The 'sanctified,' as St. Paul put it. None but the redeemed can bear children. These children are pure because they are conceived by the holy ghost, just as Jesus Christ was nearly 1,900 years ago."
"But how do you know Miss Weldon is redeemed or sanctified?"
"Because the spirit has announced that fact. It told her so three years ago when Mr. Schweinfurth was in Alpena, Mich."
"How many members of your church are redeemed?"
"I could not state positively, perhaps twelve or fifteen."
"Are any of them men?"
"None except Mr. Schweinfurth. Of course he is, as he is the son of God. The same spirit dwells in him that dwelt in Jesus Christ."
"Then do you claim that Mary Weldon was not approached by Mr. Schweinfurth and that he is not the physical father of her child?"
"I don't claim anything about which I don't know, but I know that child was conceived by the holy ghost."
"Do you think Miss Weldon would have borne that child if she had not seen a man for a year or two previous?"
"I do. I believe Miss Weldon to be, as she says she is, perfectly chaste."
"How, then, will the race be perpetuated?"
"By the holy ghost."
"The holy ghost will beget all the children when everybody is redeemed?"
"Yes, most certainly."
"What will man's function be? Wouldn't such an arrangement be considered rather partial?"
"I can't say as to that. All this is very mysterious. We can't divine God's purpose."
—Sioux Valley News, Correctionville, Iowa, Aug. 28, 1890, p. 1.
Note: In this article online, the writer says there was a cultish commune known as "Heaven," headed by George Jacob Schweinfurth, in Rockford. Some other interesting details are given there, including the cult eventually fading away and Schweinfurth moving to Chicago to sell real estate.
Note: The first article mentions Rock Island but the actual place should have been Rockford. And the minister said to be the Son of God's name is missing an "i" that should be there, making it Schweinfurth. And I left the capitalization on "holy ghost" as published.
Something New for Rock Island
Of all the cranks that ever lived on the face of the earth Minneapolis has the worst, according to dispatches from there. His name is C. C. Whitney and he has a crazy idea in his head that Christ is on earth again in the flesh. He says that he lives in Rock Island and is a minister there by the name of Rev. G. J. Schwenfurth. Now we do not know whether there is such a man in Rock Island or not nor do we know anything further for or against him but Rock Island seems to be a queer place to select for the residence of the Christ. It is said that this man Whitney has succeeded in converting a number of people to his way of thinking.
—Davenport Morning Tribune, Davenport, IA, Feb. 16, 1889, p. 3.
MISS WELDON'S "HOLY CHILD"
Apostle Whitney Talks About the Latest Addition to Schweinfurth's Family
C. C. Whitney, the Minneapolis apostle of George J. Schweinfurth, has been seen and asked to explain the recent occurrence in Schweinfurth's household in Rockford, "the child born to Mary Weldon."
In reply Mr. Whitney said, "It was conceived by the holy ghost and born without sin. Miss Weldon is one of the redeemed."
"But did the holy ghost act through Mr. Schweinfurth?"
"That I am not prepared to say. The ways of God are inscrutable, but what I do say is we are no freelovers. We believe that absolute chastity should be the attribute of both sexes. We live perfectly pure, chaste lives."
"But how about man and wife, don't the members of your church who are married live together and raise children?"
"No, they do not. Any married couple bringing forth children would be considered guilty of adultery."
"But how about Miss Weldon?"
"That is different. She is one of the redeemed. The 'sanctified,' as St. Paul put it. None but the redeemed can bear children. These children are pure because they are conceived by the holy ghost, just as Jesus Christ was nearly 1,900 years ago."
"But how do you know Miss Weldon is redeemed or sanctified?"
"Because the spirit has announced that fact. It told her so three years ago when Mr. Schweinfurth was in Alpena, Mich."
"How many members of your church are redeemed?"
"I could not state positively, perhaps twelve or fifteen."
"Are any of them men?"
"None except Mr. Schweinfurth. Of course he is, as he is the son of God. The same spirit dwells in him that dwelt in Jesus Christ."
"Then do you claim that Mary Weldon was not approached by Mr. Schweinfurth and that he is not the physical father of her child?"
"I don't claim anything about which I don't know, but I know that child was conceived by the holy ghost."
"Do you think Miss Weldon would have borne that child if she had not seen a man for a year or two previous?"
"I do. I believe Miss Weldon to be, as she says she is, perfectly chaste."
"How, then, will the race be perpetuated?"
"By the holy ghost."
"The holy ghost will beget all the children when everybody is redeemed?"
"Yes, most certainly."
"What will man's function be? Wouldn't such an arrangement be considered rather partial?"
"I can't say as to that. All this is very mysterious. We can't divine God's purpose."
—Sioux Valley News, Correctionville, Iowa, Aug. 28, 1890, p. 1.
Note: In this article online, the writer says there was a cultish commune known as "Heaven," headed by George Jacob Schweinfurth, in Rockford. Some other interesting details are given there, including the cult eventually fading away and Schweinfurth moving to Chicago to sell real estate.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The Test of a Fine Character
1902
The test of a fine character is attention to the minutiae of conduct — to do the little commonplace service of love, the cheerful word, the cup of cold water, when rendered not grudgingly or of necessity. — Friend.
Vacant Churches
We have a distressing way of talking about "vacant" pulpits and "vacant" churches. It is an unfortunate part of our overemphasis of the place of a minister in our various systems of church polity, it is of a piece with the talk about "Dr. Blank's church." A church is not vacant until the Holy Spirit has left it. As long as through humble hearts there is evidence of the divine indwelling a church is great and rich. A log cabin with a simple hearted layman's prayer and exposition of the word of God may rise to the dignity and glory of a temple, while a gorgeous architectural pile with a superb organ and an intellectually gifted preacher may be "vacant" indeed. — Congregationalist.
The Main Battlefield
The main battlefield is the one which moves about with us, go where we will — ourselves. So dingy and inglorious oftentimes that we would like to flee it altogether and lose ourselves in some great campaign which should keep us from over being reminded of it again! Great things have sometimes been done by men who never won the battle of their own natures, but they are the standing incongruity and puzzle of the moral world. When the thing we want to do has outrun the thing we want to be, our thought about life has ceased to be real and moral and essential, and God and men will forgive us all the delay that is necessary in order for us to go back into that battlefield of our own souls. — Sunday School Times.
The test of a fine character is attention to the minutiae of conduct — to do the little commonplace service of love, the cheerful word, the cup of cold water, when rendered not grudgingly or of necessity. — Friend.
Vacant Churches
We have a distressing way of talking about "vacant" pulpits and "vacant" churches. It is an unfortunate part of our overemphasis of the place of a minister in our various systems of church polity, it is of a piece with the talk about "Dr. Blank's church." A church is not vacant until the Holy Spirit has left it. As long as through humble hearts there is evidence of the divine indwelling a church is great and rich. A log cabin with a simple hearted layman's prayer and exposition of the word of God may rise to the dignity and glory of a temple, while a gorgeous architectural pile with a superb organ and an intellectually gifted preacher may be "vacant" indeed. — Congregationalist.
The Main Battlefield
The main battlefield is the one which moves about with us, go where we will — ourselves. So dingy and inglorious oftentimes that we would like to flee it altogether and lose ourselves in some great campaign which should keep us from over being reminded of it again! Great things have sometimes been done by men who never won the battle of their own natures, but they are the standing incongruity and puzzle of the moral world. When the thing we want to do has outrun the thing we want to be, our thought about life has ceased to be real and moral and essential, and God and men will forgive us all the delay that is necessary in order for us to go back into that battlefield of our own souls. — Sunday School Times.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Christ's Second Coming – Working in The Meantime
1895
In every age since the advent of Christ, he has had numerous followers who were expecting his instant coming. When his immediate disciples saw him rise majestically in the clouds they heard the assurance that in like manner he would appear again. This promise they quite naturally applied to themselves, and in the apostolic age it was the common belief that the Lord would soon appear.
But as time wore on it became apparent that the purpose of Christ's first coming was not to bring the world from darkness to light by a magic process, but it was to reveal the Father's love and so inaugurate the dispensation of the Holy Spirit under whose guidance and influence human life would be transformed as fast as it could be brought subject to the gospel's power.
That Christ is sure to come is as certain as his sacred promise is true, but we doubt the utility or the propriety of laying extraordinary emphasis upon this part of our Christian hope. The time and manner of his coming are matters which he has preferred to leave us in ignorance, and we can see no advantage in prying into the counsels of heaven respecting the divine intentions regarding this planet.
As our artist well shows in the cartoon of this week, the call of the Master is to the opportunity that is present, immediate and around us. Our aim should be to watch, not that he may find us waiting, but that he may find us working. — Ram's Horn.
In every age since the advent of Christ, he has had numerous followers who were expecting his instant coming. When his immediate disciples saw him rise majestically in the clouds they heard the assurance that in like manner he would appear again. This promise they quite naturally applied to themselves, and in the apostolic age it was the common belief that the Lord would soon appear.
But as time wore on it became apparent that the purpose of Christ's first coming was not to bring the world from darkness to light by a magic process, but it was to reveal the Father's love and so inaugurate the dispensation of the Holy Spirit under whose guidance and influence human life would be transformed as fast as it could be brought subject to the gospel's power.
That Christ is sure to come is as certain as his sacred promise is true, but we doubt the utility or the propriety of laying extraordinary emphasis upon this part of our Christian hope. The time and manner of his coming are matters which he has preferred to leave us in ignorance, and we can see no advantage in prying into the counsels of heaven respecting the divine intentions regarding this planet.
As our artist well shows in the cartoon of this week, the call of the Master is to the opportunity that is present, immediate and around us. Our aim should be to watch, not that he may find us waiting, but that he may find us working. — Ram's Horn.
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