The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1880-11-10
The Pulpit.
UNREASONABLENESS OF MEMS An.
TAGONISM To CHRIST.

UNREASONABLENESS OF MEMS An.
TAGONISM To CHRIST.
Sermon by Rev. VIM. M. Taylor, d.
d., Pastor Of the Broadway Taber.
nacle Church, New York City.
(Christian at Work.
Jesus red them. many good works have l
showed you from my Father; for which VI these
works do ye stone me:-John Z: 81.
1t is impossible to enter intelllg.ntly on the consid-
eration Of these works without taking hOte Of The bear
ing On the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ Of the con.
yeIsitiun to which they belong. Imr"rtuned by the
jewish rulers to say plainly whether he WAS the Christ
ti"ns. which they had refused to receive; and after as
ser,ing that they believed not because they were mot
the sheep Of his fold, he goes on to Affirm that unto all
them who heard his voice. and knew him and followed
him, he would give eternal life, and they should never
perish nor be pluckcd by any one out Of his hand.
10 this he adds these far.reaching and important
words. My Father which gave them the Is greater
tier's hand. ! and my Father are one" Thia clearly
means, AS Meyer has admirably shown, that there Is q
unity Of power between thc Father and the Son, that
the Son, rs "lhe rrxnn OF the divine activity in carry.
/ z out the Messinnic work, Is not q second some one
outside and alongside Of God, but, By the very nature
Of the fellowship referred to, one with God" Moth.
Ing Is said Of unity OF nature or essence, hut In View
Of the statements already made In this 81. pei, 1t Is
clear that tue unity Of power here asserted rests upon
and o. presuppOses, unity Of essence. That rnny not
b. expressed in the words, but 1t lies beneath them
anil furins the foundation for the affirmation which
they really make. And 1t Is evident that his Jewish
qurstiOners 80 understood the Lord, for they took up
stones to stone him. and when he challenged their pro.
crdure, they replied that they We're tr"atIng him as .
blasphemer, b cause. being q man, he made himself
God. Now, II they had misunderstood him, nOthirg
would have been easier for him than to set them right,
and tell them plainly that they had misapprehrnded
him. But instead Of doing that, he vindIcated himself
repeating his assertion thus: ut l do not the works
Of my Father, bell, We the not; but X | do, though "
believe not me, believe the works, that ye may know
and believe that the Father Is In Inc, and l In him."
to vindicate even the truthfuln.ss uf Jesus asa man. II
he did not design to affirm his deity In those words,
which were construed as such on affirmation by his
hearers! Either he meant to assert bis lrity. Or he
did not. II he did not then 1t is unaccOuntable that
he should not have takea pains to remuve the false I'M
preston which hts words produced; for truth waH one
u the most conspicuous qualities Of bis character.
lf he did, and was not really God, then again We must
give up the moral purity Of his manhood, and must
hold that by their law the Jews were justified In put.
ting him u death M o blasphemer. | do not see how
we can get rid of this dilemma, or keep our faith In
the integrity Of Jesus as n man, unless We accept the
conclusion that he did mean TO affirm his deity, while
be WAS no blasrhemer, because he was affirming tha:
which Is true. Worry pertinent In this connection are
liz d y WHO "h6 lOUE SeneEulcu no VI
the ablest ,heolo9ians Of his country: III he Nns not
one In nature with the Father, why did he give bis en-
emirs snch q handle for charging him with bla' phemy,
by making himself God! and why did hc not c"rrect
their misrepresentation Of the meaning Of his words,
when he found such a bad nse had been made of them.
and could not indeed but see that the IN inner OF bis
expression cavo countennnce MT! Why did he
present to his sincere followers all but an Irresistible
teinptatlon-a temptation before which they have fall.
en-to adore him rs one with the Father, II he really
was not one with him? Did he mean, by high.snuna.
H. - .-.t. a. Il.-l ~-t Ii l-.
to the most fundamental truth Of religion, that there
is but one God, the Father Was 1t his intention, by
words improperly chosen for expressing his real char
nctrr, to cast stumbling blocks before his followers,
over which the greater art Of them, In every country
and a:r. should stumble and fall into ~idolntry, which
WIS one Of those vol s OF the devil that he came to
destroy! II Jesus Christ Is not one God with the Fa.
ther, we and our Christian lOreiathers are and have
been as really idnlatrrs us our Pagan ancestors. And
mus. we moi, In ,hut case, be shut up to say, that Je.
sus Christ, by his I'll. chosen words, II not by his false
doctrines, has confirmed, instead Of destroying. the
reign Of ido,utry In the world!" ! know that many
Of those who deny the SnviOnr's deity are honest and
cunscientious In their belief but with such o passage
as this before me, must say for myself, that | should
lose my respect for Jesus ns q man, II | did not also
believe In him as God.
l Gould not, with loyalty to my convictions Of truth
and duty allow my self, while taking q text from this
Conversation, to lose this opportunity Of giving prom.
thence to the evidence which 1t furnishes OF the true
aud proper duty of Christ. but my specific purpose is
" set before you the Significance for our present time
OF the defense which here the saviour advances when
BIZ 10 met by the antagOnism Of his enemies. They
had. IS on a former occasion, lifted stones-sO many Of
which, asa consequence VI the rebuff ding of tie TrIn-
pie. were lying conveniently arodnd-to throw at him;
and with a solemn irony, the keen edge Of which cut
even into their hardened cUnsciences, he said, MANY
good works have | showed y"u FROM my Esther; for
which Of these works do ~ stone nc?" The refer
encs is to all his works, but especially TO his miracles,
all OF which showed On his part the tenderest cOnpa--
sion and the sincerest SYMPATHY with suffering and
| srrrnty and rsna % fhna fhap urnnlI tsnttfA hiunt
From the beginning Of his public ministry he had gone
about among them doing COED. Never nad poor SUP
plant GUMS TO hun In vain. His car had never been
deaf to the cry Of the needy: his hand had never been
withheld from helping the distressed and though he
had refused ut the budding Of Satan " work q miracle
for his own relief his mighty power had been repeat
eddy exeited for the benefit Of Othera In the cut.
tuge homes Of Galilee, on the mountain plOpes by the
sde Of Gcnne'aret, in the scattered bunle:s u the
land, yea, even In Jerusalem its.lr, there were multi.
tudr8 who could tell OF bis sympathizing tenderness
and his supernal puwer. No d~esolatioD was lett be-
hind him to tell where he had been; no barba, GUS
murd .rs marked his trail Nth blood; No widespread
destruction attended on bis march. BY these ,hi'gs,
and things like these, men track the course 0f the AL
e~xanderu, the CAESARS. the Attilas, the Napoleons Of the
world. But 1t was not 50 with Jesus. Nay, rather
az, In o tropical country, the traveller on the mountain
top can follow with his eye the course Of tile stream
ucross the plain. by the vrrdure that lines Its banks,
30 might one have told where Christ had been by the
happiness that he had spread around him, ana the joy
that he had left behind hiln. The sung OF the dumb
whu had found his speech at his command; the dance
Of the lame who had leaped Into strength ut his bid.
ding: the ~gladness OF the home In which o mother
bad been healed Of o mortal malady by his touch; the
Joy Of the neiehborh"oi relieved from It's I, error by
his restoration Of the demoniac to the mastery VI him.
SELF; the wonder Of the funeral c"inpany as they saw
the dead arise ut his word, nay, more, aud more glOri.
Gus even than any Of these things-the new liver
which lnultitudes, even Of those WhO hal belonged Il
the wheat Of the people, bud bcgnn to live under the
Inspiration Of his Spirit; these and things like these
! uara Tho resulfs ar bia fInilv laknrs thr,Iipllult thT
land. And now Tor these thy would requite him with
stones! Surely tina, was not only the mosl cruel in.
justice, but also the fullest ingratitude.
But In making this reply TO his adversarics, the
Lord has shown us, as l think, how We may most Of:
fectually meet the antayOnism ii those among our.
selves who seek to d,cry and destroy the Gospel
Every age has Seen some who ore the enemies OF Je.
sus and bis cause, and who. II they had The power
have The will 70 stamp out the religion Of which he is
the founder and center. They nrc continually tlngIng
stones Mt 1t; their delight is to unstttle the faith M
those who have heretofore been It's s%dhcrents, aud NJ
weapons ore too COARSE or toe vile to be used by them
against Its advocates. Now 1t 10 pertinent " soy u
oil such. Many good works has the gospel shown u
men; for which of these do y"u STONE its BY Ia
thorns, nor dgs Of ~thistles; II then we can show thai
grapes and figs have sprung from this root, the infer
ence must be that 1t ~ not q thorn or thistle. II
may be good, therefore, both III the way Of eonfil ming
the faith VI the believer and furnishing him with or
answer to his assaiants, II We elaborate thi, though,
\ little. Lat us look, then, OF ZONE Of the good work.
of this GOSPEL Uf Christ, and II We mark them thor
oughly We shall find that though there are no miracle.
commonly so-called among them, they ae rs cunvin
ciDg as any miracle.
name hrst, among these good works, the rcgencra
ton Of individual men. Evil Is HE lcayen In is
character. Its nature Is to increase. Men have new
er yet uf themselves been able to keep theInselye!
from becoming wurs". When put. eaction or cUrrup
ton begins In any material substance, 1t goes on from
bad to worse. 1t cannot arrest Its own progress. i
that Is to be done at all 1t must be by the introduction
Of some a%ntiseptic agent, which, coming into contact
with Il, will bring u curative force to bear upon It
Now, just such o morally antiseptic influence has the
Gosprl0f Christ had upon individual men, and through
them upon the race, wherever II has been preached
and believed. II you would have q crucial instanc.
by which this may BIZ illustrated, then lock at ancient
Greece. There you had the finest intellectual culture
probably, that the ancient world ever saw. But NOR
ally, II was, on tho testimony oi competent and lmpnr
tiul witnesses, sunk In the ~ Hest degradation. "TC
visit COrinth " was o pruvertial phrase for becoming
acquainted with the most sbomlnsblc forms OF vice
and the sickening description which Paul gives In his
first chapter Of the Romans VI the loathsolne wicked
ness Of the Geutiles, nny well enough have been sug.
gested to him by the sights he saw and the sounds he
heard In that very city, from which, indeed, that letter
was written. But sec what happened, even In thai
metropolis Of Satan. Paul went there without ans
outward accessorlcs Of power, having none Of thu,
wisdom Of words" to which the Greeks were 80 par
tial, snd, on his own showing, knowing nothing save
Jesus Christ and him crucitcd and In o short time
people, to begin and carry on, under the influence Of
the Lord whom he proclaimed to them, q new and no
bier life, 80 that within Q few years after he could write
TO the church which be had founded thore, saying, "Be
not deceived: neither fornicatOis, nor idOlaters, nor
adulterers. nor effeminatc, nor abuscrs OF themselye,
with mankind, nor thieves, nor cOvetOus, nor drunk
ards, nor revilers, NOR extortioners, shall inherit the
kingdom Of God, and such were some OF you; but ye