Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-01-07
A NEW PASTOR.
Rev. Geo. f. Platt Pre- aches His First
Sermon to His COngre CATION IN the
Christian Chapel---Outline Of the


sermon to his congregation in this city
yesterday morning. His text was Matt
2:1-10; and his. subject, Inquiry About
Christ"
The mind of man is 50 constructed by
its all wise designer. said Mr.. Plat, that
nothing will satisfy it absolutely but pos
tive truth. Present to an in9uiring
mind some theme or theory of imports
| ance, and the mind will work its careful
way through all the haze aud accidents
surrounding the subject and whatever
may be the difficulties, will not rest satis-
fed until it has secured the vital truth,
the test of the theory.
Truth is the gold of history. Throw
history into the furnace of fierce liter
airy competition and instead of the truth
being consumed, it comes forth with an
added lustre and purer brightness.
Again there are truths mastered, adopted
and applied by given age, and put upon
record, which are only of value to the
age or generation succeeding in propor>
ton as they, themselves, master, adopt
and apply them. Especially is this the
cas- with reference to the subject of in
quiry in our text this morning. There
begins the inquiry about Jesus Christ
Wilhelm spite of the lapse of ages. of
opposition, of persecution, of stonings,
of scourgings, of crucifxions, of browns
ings, of burnings-is, l believe. more
earnest, more eager. more widespread to-
day than it ever was in any past period
of human history Hence there is no
book today more read. more studied,
more love d than that book which reveals
to US the incarnation of the son of God;
that gives us his life. his works, his vic
torious death, his glorious ascension.
And amid the works of human author
ship, none find so willing place in our
libraries. none so ready place in our
hearts, as those which speak the most
lovingly and kindly of his mission and
endeavor faithfully to carry out his purS
poses.
Beneath ali this lies the acute pain, the
terrible agony of great need. Man
without God is not man, for the essential
feature is absent. Let us make man in
our own image, after our own likeness"
Man feels the terrible void, and his life
becomes a tragical mystery. Where is
Christi What is Christi Who is Christ?
is now the whole burden of inquiry and
though he often turns away from the Sc
we're moral obligations which the answers
to such queries bring, yet he recIrs again
and again to those answers as the only
vital, profound and logic replies. Our
inquiries after truth should chiefly relate
to the things that are essential, rather
than to those which are merely accidents
al. This was prominently the character
of the inquiries pressed by the wise man.
That which is accidental comes into any
and every inquiry, as it did upon this &C.
casion. For instance, it had been fore
told that Christ should be born. Behold
virgin shall conceive and bear a son and
shall call his name Emmanuel. Is. vii:
IA. 1t had also been foretold where he
should be born, AMI the fact that he
should be ruler was also told. But
thou, Bethlehem Ephratsh. though thou
be little among the thousand of judah,
yet out of thee shall he come forth unto
ME that is to be ruler in Israel" Micah.
W. Now all these lesser facts or acci
dentals find place in the inquiry of the
Magisns, as by reading their question we
will see: Where is he who is born king
of the Jews, etc? Yet is was not Beth
lehem they had come to see; not merely
the king" But where is he who is born
the great central figure of history the
Savior of the worlds We should, when
eluding or teaching biennial themes, keep
constantly and prominently in our minds
that the practical lesson to be taught is of
much greater Importance than the mere
biblical scholarship which may possibly
follow a continued course Of teaching
and learning. Therefore we should be
sure of the essential truth to be taught,
and be sure as TO its being understood
and all things else should be secondary to
that feature.
The emphatic term in the inquiry of
the wise man is not young, for young is
term that soon becomes age, not child,
for childhood soon develops into mans
hood and womanhood, but "born," for
| being horn our birth hastens to shape
itself into the permanent destiny of life
or death eternal.
The birth and life of Christ prove how
possible it is for one life to rouse world:
The magians travel four months jour.
ney TO see him and worship him. Kings
inquire about him, chief priests and
scribes meet to discuss his possible intlu-
ence, shepherds leave their flocks upon
the mountains and hasten to do him rev.
erence, and the heavenly choirs tune al
their harps and their song is GLORY te
God in the Highest, on Earth Peace
Good Will to Man" And all men ar
saying, HE shall have dominion fron
sea to sea, from the rivers to the ends O
the earth"
Mr.. Platt is man of pleasant address
q very earnest and forcible speaker, an(
his new flock expect to accomplish mucf
under his leadership.