The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1882-05-30
PRACTICAL RELIGION.
Synopsis Of Strong Sermon
Preached at the Ohio Street
M. E. Church, Last Night.

last night, to very large audience, which
paid deep interest to the presentation OF
the theme by the eloquent divine.
The text selected was the 18th verse Of
the 18th chapter of John, and reads as
follows:
IF We know these things, happy are We
if We do them"
The subject, said the speaker, Is not in
opposition TO the one presented this morn
ing. which was the religion of faith. The
two are intimately and closely linked to-
ge;her, forming a completed whole. There
can be no dismemberment of them, for
they are indissolubly linked together.
There was once sect near the city
of London, the main peculiarly of
whose beliefs was that people ought
to trust in God for everything.
II any of them were sick, no doctor was
sen, for, no medicines were given. They
simply laid the trouble before the Lord
and left it with Him. On one occasion,
father, belonging to this peculiar sect, was
arrested because he refused to provide
medical attention for one of his sick chill
dren. He was charged with criminal
neglect and fined This illustrates the reli
gion of a so-called faith, without the relig
ion of works. No man has a right To
trust God on the score that He has prom
ised everything, and sit down in idleness
and neglect. The song which teaches the
doctrine that all we have to do is trust in
Jesus has no application to the child OF
God True, it is, that i'm the matter OF
securing salvation, all one has to do, all he
can do, is to trust implicitly in Jesus
Christ, for he is the only savior and our
only hope. That is the plain teaching OF
the scripture. But once a christian,
member of the army of the Lord, il is not
sound advice The word is, 'Go, work in
Nv vineyard" and without obedience to
Il is command there is no evidence of gen
uine faith.
Consider the nature of the relation be-
tween work and faith. The first is. the
fruit of the latter. Let me illustrate this
by tree. The roots shall represent faith,
while the trunk, the branches, the foliage
and the fruits stand for works Ii the
roots are dead, they are Improbable and
produce no works. This is what faith
does i'm the heart. If living, active and
full of energy, it brings forth rich harvest
OF Ged-blessed works, but if dead and cold
there are no visible fruits OF its existence
Works are the proof OF faith. st. James
saws: SHOW ME thy faith by thy works. y
every professed child of God. He declares,
and SO does the world, and justly, too, that
faith without works is dead, and no asser-
ton of the possession of faith, though re-
iterate ed a thousand times, can satisfy this
inquiry if works are wanting. In NV
garden | have planted some seed. This
You may not doubt, but the plants spring
ing from the ground would be evidence Of
the fact far stronger than my assertion.
As vet these seeds have not given
this proof, and it looks now as
If they would not. The germs may be
dead. If so. they illustrate dead faith in
the heart, which never brings forth an actual
and visible proof of its presence.
Take the relation of works to christian
character. Without faith no man can be-
come member of Gods family: This is
the basis of christian character, as life is
the basis of all mental and physical power
and operation. But there is something
more than a mere basis. There must be a
utilizing of that life, constant develop
ing and exercise of its energies, If proper
results are to be expected. Thus it is that
faith. living as the basis of christian life,
becomes the fountain, the resource, ont of
which pours a stream of rich results.
Works give an objective reality TO the
character of the christian. There are
great many simple, mandy -pamby sort OF
members of our churches who do no evil,
and at the same time manage to do no
good in the world. They are a dead
weight and belong to that class which can
Law no claim to wages won I'm the Masters
fields of labor. / believe that a driving,
pushing man, even though he does commit
a wrong now and then, is of far more
value to the world, and the church, than
any number of these sleepy and selfish
christians. Take the characters of Adam
aud Paul. The first went down under the
first temptation to which ne was subjected,
not having a living, untiinching faith.
The other, after his conversion, stood man.
fully by his profession, resisting tempta-
tions, working heroically, suffering perse-
cutions of all kinds, and, just before death,
could saw: 81 have fought good fight,
have kept the faith" What contrast
between these two men! Paul became
a giant of moral strength because he gave
full exercise to his faith. Innocence is
not wanted 50 much as virtue. The one
belongs to babe, the other should be the
grand feature of every christian life.
And lust here the relation of works TO
the gospel is needed to be considered.
Christian work Is the practical appl-
cation of the gospel TO the world.
Too msnv of us are like the old woman
who would sing, with eyes closed, Fly
abroad, thou mighty gospel" but
who never saw the contribution box as il
was passed to get wings for that GOSPEL. i
have no faith I'm that kind of religion. 1t
is dead, and ought to be buried. The old
Quaker's ten-dollar sympathy for the poor
man who had suddenly lost his all, was
worth more than volumes of words and
prayers We should pray but we should
work. | would ask God for every want,
but at the same time L would use the
means He placed at my dispc sal TO satisfy
these wants.
Finally, there is the relation OF this re-
ligion of works to the judgment. A man
is at last to be Judged by the deeds COM