Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-07-27
VOICE OF THE PULPIT.

4 VOICE OF THE PULPIT.
From the New York Herald, July III
| Owing to the intense heat of tn
weather, yesterday, the eongrega
ton at the Church Of the Stranger
was not as large as usual, although
there was still a goodly number pres
ent. DR.. Deems, the popular pastor
preached a very eloquent and abl
sermon upon the subject Of Th
Liberty which Christ Gives" ant
selected his text from the first versl
of sixth chapter of the Epistle to tn
Galatians" Stand fast, therefore, il
the liberty wherewith Christ hatl
made US free" The first intent o
this letter from Paul to the Gala
tians was to correct a false impression
which had been made concerning
himself, and the next to set his breth
rem right on the great question Of sal
vation. After he had left them teach
ers came who, to break his force
| declared that he was not in the apOs
tolic succession. His contempt fol
such q succession was immeasurable,
He was an Apostle not made by man
but bearing the signs of Jesus, anC
that was better than any of their" sue
cessions." When man becomes sur
passingly great
THE ECCLESIASTICAL DILETTANTI
Begin to examine his credentials, and
to inquire whether he is doing every.
| thing orderlyn and according tC
some constitution :" as if personal
greatness were not its own credential
as if any man had not right to dc
any great or beautiful or good thing
he had the power to do. All this
opposition was from that set and
stereotyped characteristic of Juda.
ism, which, when Jesus appeared
had made that religion powerless tC
do good any longer. Jesus Christ
brought liberty. He freed the world.
He flung the shut gates open. The
Judaizing teachers were striving to
pull the free Christians back to the
bondage of forms and ceremonies,
a ritual and sacredotal rule. Paul
urges them to stand fast in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made US free.
The Doctor urged that Jesus did not
introduce or encourage licentiousness.
He made men free from entangle-
mentsn and bondage" not from
law. He released men from that
which kept men from being Obedient
to law. Men had not been
FREE TO SERVE GOD.
The sense of guilt which comes to
every man who is conscious of hav-
ing sinned is in the way of this ser
vice. Paul says that the animation
of this service is 1.-THE faith which
works by love-" Guilt breaks faith.
We cannot trust fully one toward
whom we feel guilty. So long as
man feels that he has wronged God,
and there has been no reconciliation
he cannot trust God nor work low
ingly for the interests of God, no
matter what his ideas o. the good
ness of God may be. That is the load
which Jesus lifts. He demonstrates
to the world the lovingness Of the
Heavenly Father toward the errlng
child, and His desire to have His
children's love, and thus makes rec
onciliation possible and faith strong,
and love sweet and active. That is
one reason why such frightful sin
ners become such radiant saints when
they are converted. 1t is the re-
bound. The load which pressed them
falls, the infirmity or fetter which
bound them breaks, and they leap
and shout and praise God.
Not only the entanglementS ol
guilt, which is at once memory and
consciousness, but the ENHANCEMENT
of loving to sin and of forming sinful
habits is broken.
THE OFFERING OF JESUS
For the sins of the world sets sin in
such lurid light and makes the
beauty of holiness so conspicuous
that Jesus being lifted up draws men
unto Himself. The love of a noble
human being, however distant, lifts
a man, and makes him feel horror
whenever he thinks of letting him.
self down below the place Of that
love. Many a man wants to serve
God and cannot, because of his sinful
habits. 1t is the knowledge of Jesus
which proves an attraction stronger
than the fascination of sin. The love
of Jesus breaks the chain and sets
men free to do right.
The world has never sufficiently
given credit to Jesus for the power
He imparts to men of breaking the
ENHANCEMENT of prejudice, that bad
habit of reaching and acting upon
decisions that have no basis in right.
JESUS WAS AN ICoNOCLAsT,
He broke the idols and images. He
taught that the manhood of a man was
inside in character and heart, not in
office or profession. Pharisee or pub
lican, phylactery or punic, priest or
centurion, all these were nothing, but
truth and courage, and faith and love
were everything. And you cannot
tell by q mans birthplace, or pro-
fessed creeds, or official tokens, how
much of these he has. A saint might
sit on Caesars throne and devil wear
the highpriest's breastplate. 1t is not
the imperial purple nor the urium
and thummim, but the mani Jesus
set men free from the ENHANCEMENT
of prejudice on account of nationality
or position. The Roman was free to
enter the Holiest of HOlies," and
the Jew was free to roam the world
and preach the gospel Of love to every
creature.
1t was lastly shown us how Jesus
had set us
FREE FROM CHURCHISM.
By that word the Doctor said he
meant all those ideas of close cOrpo-
ration in which all were saints and
outside of which all were sinners,
possessing corporate powers to refuse
grace or confer and transmit grace.
He did not believe such a thing ex-
listed, although he knew there were a
score of different claimants. He was
sure that Jesus came partly to set men
free from Just that kind of thing.
He illustrated it at some length, as in
circumcision and the Sabbath laws Of
the rigid Pharisees, and in the neces-
sity of worshipping in the temple at
Jerusalem. Jesus set men free from
these things, and Paul taught that
ain Jesus Christ neither circumci-
sion availeth anything nor uneircum-
cision, but faith which worketh by
love-" that being in the church,
mere observance of rites would not
save q man, nor could any man, on
the other side, boast that he gains by
not being in the church ; that being
in or out was a mere circumstance
but il a man led a life wholly ami
mated by
A FAITH IN GOD,
Which was active and which was not
the result of logic, not q belief reached
merely by a demonstration, but was
the product of love, and was kept
working by love. Then he alluded to
the liberty wherewith Christ made US