Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1875-06-10

as tNdtupitS vi lOEtltuue anu patience, or
forcible as the seal OF a martyrs witness
to truth; but they add nothing to the life.
This one has substantive value. To it
his own premonitons pointed. For this
hour he came into the world. One man
only, from all the generations, could look
on his dependent followers, and tell them,
1T IS eXpedIent for you that | 90 away"
All others, as they think of their unfinish.
ed tasks and the period that death will put
to their power to help, have to say, ITO
abide in the flesh is more needful for YOU"
And of this substantive value as the
| great center OF his work. the whole tone of
Scriptures gives ample evidence. Why do
| the four gospels, which are silent about so
much, and give such fragmentary records
OF what they do touch, change their scale
when they come to tell of the craciixion? !?
| They used TO hurry over weeks and months.
Why do they here become diaries and ad-
vance almost by minutes through these
scenes: Is it all the impulse of mere
| morbid love OF lingering over ghastly de-
I tails, or are we to measure the importance
o. the death by the space it fills in the mar
| rativeS! To what part of his biography
! does the whole current OF apostolic thought
| turn? Take the four undisputed epistle OF
Paul. and remember that they afford Incl
| dental evidence that his der of the lite of
4 Christ was. in its broad features, identical
with that recorded i'll our gospels, and then
/ mark what he insists on. Not his mighty
works, not his teachings, not his charact-
| er. but his death. These lie in shadow
! because all the light is focused on the
4 Cross. And 50 the anomaly becomes more
anomalous. Our inquirer asks for religion,
/ he gets the Cross Tor morality the Cross :.
Y for hope the Gross. As it IL were not slIt-
/ hclently strange To give Us a Ljte and bid
Us evolve all from we are hidden to take
Dedth, and draw all from Mat. It-this
I elsewhere impotent negation and close of
| all activity, this dark pail that swathes
and smothcrs all other workers and their
works calmly offered to US as having
/ changed it, nature and become the high
f. est manifestation Of God, the mghtiest
work OF the worker, the beginning of all
. hope, the key To every mystery the pivot
7 ot history. the center Of the world. Christ
. i christianity, and the heart OF Christ ;,
work i his death, Theretore, our theme
/, the person, and the actor his death i
his actin the full significance of their re-
dremiH@ efficacy. Not the Christ alone
gospel end oi incarnation is not enough
for God or men, not the Cross alone; but
Christ crncjhci j. oar message for this
time aud Tor every time.
WHAT Is MEANT BY CHRIST AND HIS cru.
CITED.
remark next that this hsae 1eceSs4rjh
iittiriss m 'i-m'W ~ dor'rtue We some
times hear II >ald. preach Chri,t ana moi
doctrlnc-; and with certain limitat on,
and explanations the advice may be good
but The nutithr>i~ j. false ana misleading
For what. in the name OF common sense
j. Christ without ''doctriuc,' about him
\ sound. ana nOthn. morc tile tx let
tiers OF an unmedninS word. a. empty "A,
any name "a the gcucaluglc~ of the Book,
oi Chronicles. W nat possible way is ther,
OF Knowing person whom one has neyr
seen, out by teachings cornrrruiur nj
acts ana character: A. soon a. we bcuu
To ASK or 70 answer the question. An,
who was Jesus thristt" the region Of doe
trine tcgIus. The plain fact i that Oh
opponents do not object to doctrine abou
CHRIST. which :hcy too necessarily have
but to The Kind OF doctrine. The a-crlp
ti"n To him Of i divine nature /, ueithc
more nor les, "a doctrine rt the prr>ou q
Jesus Christ than the denial OF Il i, an,
every man who has any thought abou
thrl>t-who ne i and what he has done
has 4 doctrine OF Christ. Il i impoe> Die
l say. To preach Christ without prcachin.
dogma, unless | coniine myself ton bar,
'NItslI VI Allf lllfl = CA IdlN OF ttlt history
and II | could do that. il were no gospel
For what OF good news is there in the Dir,
chronicle that he lived ana died. any mor,
than in the zane bald record about an,
other man: l. the mere story OF hi, leati
gospel: Does IL not need i cOmmentar,
explanatory of the fact to make II that.
lhe history becomes u gospel by the pres
cncc OF the dOCtrinc-iS touching his per
son that tie j. the Son of God. a. touching
hi death that il Is the sacrifice for Tn,
sins of the world. Without SO much OF
dogma, the facts are not seen; without It
much they are poWerle-S 70 bless: and ouI
gospel Is OF another sort, or rather j. not
AT all. unless We. too, can declare this a.
'the gospel which We preached now that
Christ the very name being the conden-
-ation of a whole system of doctrines
died for our sins according to the Scrip
lures"
Nor need We pause there For believ.
inE a We DO that Christ crucited j. made
unto u wisdom, ana that in his unique
p-r>on ility and mighty work. all truths
winch we can know concerning God and
mdn lie wrapped up. We fall in graS,r .
the greatness of our theme unless :, .
draw these forth. We have access to tn.
mine OF stored gold, the clefts OF the rock
where it lies in branching veins We are
slothiul workmen, unless, digging in the
deep places of thought, and !aboring at
the hires OF fervid contemplation, we eX.
tract rs hidden treasures, and fashion
them into forms of beauty and use. Tha,
Is no gospel at all which falters in the
proclamation of Christ as the Son of God
and his death "a our peace; and that is 4
manned and partial gospel which does not
make some attempt 10 evolve and arrange
in systematic form, a propositions for the
understanding and The reason, the light o
God that shines in Jesus Christ. Surely a
doctrnal Christianity, which is il necessity
from The very make OF our natures, Is nc
less the necessary outcome of tie belief
that Christ and his cross are the revelation
OF God. Therefore, let Us not be afraid to
preach doctrines. as if they were in oppo-
sltion to preaching Christ, seeing that they
are really Integral parts OF that preaching
Lei no false idea OF the simplicity that is
in Christ prevent Us from seeking to un-
fold and present the divine and deer
thoughts that are in him. Let no impa.
tience OF dogma on the part of ''litera
ture' or elsewhere, blind Us TO the fact
that the cry for an undogmatic CHRISTIANS
ty l. really cry for the return to barba
rlsul. To Il dim religion of instinct and SEN
timent, as fatal to culture" as to theolog,
aud at bottom means the denial of al
knowledge OF God aud the unseen. We
preach Christ crucified, and therein and
thereby, the whole body of truths on which
the Significance of the fact depends. and
all that we can grasp OF the endless fulnes:
of the truths which he wrapped in it as the
beech leaves in their brown sheaths
This much must suffice. inadequate ant
fragmentary as 1t necessarily is, for tn,
consideration of the substance of our mes
sage And now word or two as to it
form.
THE OLD, OLD STORY.
Now there are two methods of meetin,
the present tendencies of thOught-th
method of adaptation and controversy AN,
the method of presenting simply the post
I'VE truth. There is no reason why the
should not be combined. There is n,
reason why one man should not adopt tn
one, and another the other or whv tb