The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1875-12-03

\ sermon Delivered hy Eey. Ira &. tfiIl
man, Of Toledo. Ohio, at The First Con
gregational Church, Findiay. Ohio, o
Tuesday evening, November %, 1876
on the Occasion OF the Installation o
Rev. II. ID. KGtz rs Pastor.
"Thora:.,rr 'et ra man glory iu man; 70
al IN ~ arc -"g-,.' OK ar y.
Christianity has been before all Sys
TENS in the work of emancipation. IL
/ ulfettcr the mind and limb is il, distinct
| i've mission. lis author-wlo,e na,us
il bears-cane for the express purpos-
OF 'undoing heavy burdens aud lettiu.
the oppressed go free" By no dead liz
eralism may this hard boniag. be fas
tened Oh the body alone. The charge
Christ made against those who were
leaders in the narrow preiudices OF his
day, teaching for doctrine the com
mandments of mer, " is sufficient com
ment on this prophecy. They bind
heavy burdens and grievous to be borne,
and lay them on mems shoulders"
There are no shaekles so brutalizing as
those of the mind and heart. The sla-
very of prejudice and the enthrallnent
of opinion are more to be dreaded than
the old auction blocks and branding
irons of the masters who dealt in the
blood and souls of men.
Christianity alone gave TO man tie
notion of claiming for himself, and al
lowing others, to ''haye of liberty withal
as large a charter as the mild" 1t is no
argument against this statement that its
professors have sometimes been most
narrow and given to persecution. The
idea, as taught, is perfect, and cannot
be outgrown- Slow and retrograde as
its source has sometimes seemed, now
We see these things have been owing to
the difficulty of getting human beings
forward into the realization and practice
of its precepts. The medium has re-
fracted the straight lines oe truth.
Bred with Bible in our hands, we
are still in the thralldom of prejudice.
And yet, no book in the world so point
edly and severely rebukes narrownrSs,
obstinacy, dogmatism and barrenness of
thought and sentiment. Not only does
it seek to wrench mans chains from his
encumbered limbs by en!reaty, exhorta-
ton, command, threat, but it adds the
golden promise of high lifted inspira-
ton and held-out incentive of glorious
wreathes, riches and Eonors, to those that
will lay aside the littleness of selfish big
otry-to become broad, benevolent, un-
warped and God-like.
1t is clear that Christianity has had
to contend with an Unborn disposition
of human nature to shrinkage. The
tendencies are all in the line of a mar
rowing. contracting wane and waste
The idea of mere human evolution is a
myth. There never would have been
such thing as the announcement Of the
general principle of IA survival of the
fittest," but for the fostering care OF the
Perduring Sitrcicer. With such a
natural propensity to seliishness, men
are in constant ebb-tide toward their
own little hearts. Those words of
strange terrific omen with the multitudes
orthodoxy, neCer meant anything ,rore
than my dory and heter0 dory, g2Hr-
dogy Their magic has been derived
alone from the power seH-worship, and
iliterality exert over a nature warped
and shrunken by sin.
No man was ever more conscious Of
this biighting influence than PAM. He
could speak out of his own experience.
By na'u e he was most c0ntracted-a
blind prosecutor, with mind narrowed
to a rapier's point, pursuing to death
for opinions sake. BY grace he was
made one Of the most universal of men.
His large soul was ensphered for an orbit
al track that swept round all farthest
outlying planets of truth. Whatsoever
things are true, whatsoever things are
-honest, whatsoever things are just,
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things
are of good report, if there be any
praise, think on these things" Such
comprehensive system is inclusive of all
that is valuable, 1t is broad as the uni
verse in its stretch Of arm. Gather up,
take in, says Paul, al! that is good
from every system, whether it hail from
Athens, Carthage, Rome, Tarsus or
Jerusalem; all the world is field for the
pastors cleaning,
Having himself enjoyed the boundless
vision CT research, he laborei to jmPqrt
it by eradicating prejudice from the
hearts of his spiritual children. In the
present instance his words are those Of
expostulation. Some had stopped short
to glory in men, when they should have
gone on to glory in God. Others singled
out particular favorite, Paul or Apoi
los or Peter. when they should have re
ceived as equally their own ali the
Apostles. Having administered severe
rebuke to the spirit of sect and party
prevailing in the Christian Church at
Corinth, charging it upon them as eyi-
dence of being carnal, and so under the
dominion and bondage of sin, he makes
this remarkable utterance: Therefore,
let no man glory in men; for all thing,
are yours" In no Christian, especially
the pastor, let there be n spirit oi
domination. But the narrow aud car
nal spirit of human leadership was not
finally exercised, even by Paurs wonder
ful exhortation to get beyond all mere hu
man leaders aud take in TIE boundIes:
hDrizon OF truth; nor has his illustrou:
example sufh:ed, "who, having nothing,
possessed all things," and so could say
to other Christians ont of his own exps
rience, ''All things are yours"
There is here hard lessoa for Us q
learn. No matter what the cause, or OF
what side the original fault, the yer,
| fact thai the Church is divided into sects
| denominations, or by what name yol
please to call them, is proof that those
who made and those who labor TO keel
them alive are earnal. Therefore, bv
logic overwhelming as judgment, TIN
denominations themselves are carnal
And the denominations are not tn