The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-09-19
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'THE ENTIRE GOSPEL.
REV. THOMAS DIXON ON OUR DUTIES
IN POLITICS AND RELIGION.

Preach Christ and Him Cfueined.
NEW YORK, Sept. 1s.-Before the reg
ular sermon Of the day Rev. Thomas
Dixon, Jr., reviewed the position of
Fammany Hall in the present political
Pampaign in fearless and very vigorous
Language.
For l determined not to know anything
among you, save jesus Christ and him cruel
kned.-I Cor. II, 2.
For 1t was tho good pleasure of the Father
THAT In him should all the fulness dwell; and
Through him to reconcile all things unto him
self, having made peace through tho blood of
Ihis cross; through him, I say, whether things
upon the earth. or things in the heavens.-Col.
h.19,e0.
AT all our summer gatherings where
questions of the day are discussed in re-
pation to the church, there is tho ever
present speaker with the perennial COM
monplace, that the solution of all our
difficulties, religious, social and political,
fs to "preach the Gospel" But sad to
relate, the men who insist with greatest
tvehemence on this remedy are the last
hnen In the world to define for us what
Us the gospel wonder IL the men who
use it have any real conception of the
depth, of the height, of the breadth of
THE meaning Of the Gospel of Christ, him
Icrucified. 1 fear that if many of our
churches really knew what the gospel
Us, many of the brethren would be at
poss for issues over which to wrangle.
lsaw the other day where church
demanded the resignation of it's pastor
because he wore a mustache. They
wished beardless man to preach the
Gospel, and their idea of the Gospel was
that a mustache would seriously inter-
fere with its proclamation. What was
their conception of the Gospel? To
> preach Christ, yes; but what is it to
preach Christ? To preach the Gospel,
yes; but what is the Gospel? Back of
this parrot echo. preach the Gospel, so
glibly given, there is real voice, and
ii is the cry Of the great heart Of hui
manity for real truth. 1t would be
dangerous thing for any of our churches
to really and truly enter upon the proc
1amation of the Gospel in its fullness.
Some of our buildings, l fear, would be
certain to topple and fall, shaken by the
echoes of such gospel.
What does ii really mean today to
preach Jesus Christ and him crucifed9
First-1t means to proclaim salvation
for the lost. 1t means to proclaim it as
the courier proclaims the message given
him by his superior commander. 1t is
a message Of glad tidings. 1t is
message of eternal import; and we are
commissioned to go-go into all the
world and make this glad proclamation.
The preacher of Christ must go with an
enthusiasm that will turn the world up
side down if he go as the apostle of old
went. It means salvation for The lost
and outcast world 1t means good news
for the poor. Jesus preached salvation
to the thief, and the harlot, and the
lRpsed world. The gospel Of Christ
means the pressing into the life of all
classes and all peoples the glorious proc
lamation of life and light The church
shat really breaches the Gospel of Christ
cannot be mere social club. 1t must
save the world.
SMASHED THEoLoGIES.
Second-To preach Christ and him
erucified is to tell the world all that
God is. In him dwelleth the fullness Of
the Godhead bodily. They said to
Christ, "Show us the Father" You
Lemember his reply: "Have been so
long time with you-have You not seen
the Father? He that hath seen me hath
seen the Father" To preach Christ is
therefore to proclaim to tho world the
fullness of God. AS Christ did and
thought, so God is. To fully interpret
Christ to the world is to sweep the whole
range of Gods nature. Is to preach tho
God of pity as he weeps beside the grave.
Is to preach God tender and consider
Rte even of the embarrassment of host
o6s at a marriage feast. Is to preach a
God of compassion and tenderness,
healing the multitude Of their diseases.
Is to preach that God is SO tender and
close to tho race, that he loves little
children, takes them into his arms, loves
10 sit and talk with his disciples. Is to
proclaim that God looks upon the great
multitudes with compassion, as upon
eheep driven without a shepherd, and
that his great heart goes out to them in
love. Is to preach God who was sc
full of love that he gave himself that
men might live. To preach Christ is
therefore to preach that God is love,
fhat he SO loved the world that he gave
himself To really preach Christ and
him crucified, today, would be to smash
our current theologies, reconstruct them
make them center in tho cross. Would
be to rebuild theology until the justice
Of the throne and tho love of the cross
are one, and there is real atonement
Would be to so reconstruct theology as
khat Christ would be made the revela
ion of God rather than proclamation
from God. To preach Christ him cru
eified, is TO sweep the whole range oi
Che nature Of God and his attributes. Il
Christ were less than God there is nc
meaning to the record of the New Testa
Sment
THE sINLEss HUMAN.
Third-To preach Christ, end hin
prucifed, is to preach all that man il
Ind is to be. Jesus was the divine hu
man prophecy, Jesus was the son o
man. Jesus sets the mark for the high
pst possible attainment of man. Jesu
proclaimed the inherent divinity of hu
nanity. Jesus taught In his life ant
Heath that humanity could be sinless
He was tempted and tried like as w
nre, and yet he did not sin. If his temp
tation and his trial were less real THAI
ours, there could be no meaning to hi
buuelinBb tuelo COulu De uO lneuilIlB "
his temptation, there could be no signiti
Cance to his death. To preach Chris
and him crucified is therefore to con
nemn the sin in man, and to convict tn
world of sin before the sinless Son o
man. 1t Is to teach the universe
brotherhood Of man beneath the uniyei
= Baf fatherhood Of God, the fatherhoo
he came to declare. How vast woul
be the sweep of such a gospel T
preach that all nations and all race
and all tribes and lzindreds and tongue
are one, are brethren, arc bound by tn
laws that bind brother to brother. Ho,
" vast the sweep of such gospel, ho1
limitless the domain of thnu pht wi thin /.