The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1892-04-14
No. 27.

begufsen Soa. God doS~s nos hate siss
world, be died that tho world ssi.h, b
saved. Whas Is the kingdom 0. Cox,
which Is TO Gomez What Is the kinssioul
that we are here 10 lsring to rs2ss9 wha,
sort Of world Il heaven 10 be- We have
outlined IN these passages Of Scripturg
this new k.nsdom. call your attention
TO four fundamental thoughts involved
in this ideal world that is TO be:
First-i saw a new heaven and a acw
earth. That Is. the new heaven and tbs
/ new earth are cotorminous. There viii
be no new heaven until there Is a new
earth.
Second saw the holy city. That Is,
heaven is u redeemed municipality: q
holy social organization.
Third-l saw the new Jerusalem. That
is. the new nation. Jerusalem was the
capital Of the Hebrew nation, tho por.
sonitlcation Of the nations life. And
lastly. saw no temple there. That Is,
there is no house Of worship visible. fol
the dwelling place OF God is among men.
That is 90 say. in the redeemed world
there is no ecclesiastical machinery. The
dwelling place of God is in the relations
Of his people.
That is TO sag, the trae eiarrh q
Christ is a holg city. a redeemed society.
a redeemed nation, redeemed trorid,
redeemed man ia redeemed refations
THE SHALL CHURCH.
This being true, there are soms I'M
portGnt inferences we necessarily araw.
First--It Is mistake to identify our
| little organization for public worship
with the true church Of Christ
The church Of Christ is an invisible
empire. Wherever the soul Of man looks
up into the heavens and says, "Our
Father" this is the temple Of the Most
High. 1t is exceedingly difficult for a
member of traditional denomination to
get into our heads this conception of the
| invisible, universal church.
1t was hard for the people in the days
| of Christ TO understand this. Jesus had
to repeat and repeat the great thought,
God is spirit. They that worship him
/ must worship IN spirit and in truth He
| had to repeat again and again the idea
| that Mother in the mountains OF Samaria
/ nor in Jerusalem could be found the
| true temple of divine worship, but il
could only be found in the soul of man.
an evangelist walking down The aisles
Of church on one occasion. after his
! sermon asked his usual stereotyped
question of lady, Madam, are you a
Christian?" The lady regarded the qnes-
| tion as somewhat impertinent. She drew
herself up rather stifiy and replied.
mo, sir; | am an Episcopalianr' Her
conception of the church was confined
TO four walls of an historic institution.
And so the Baptist is inclined to think
| that his church II which he was born
and reared is the true apostolic church
of Jesus Christ and all others are with
| out.
ELECTED FOR WHAT?
But what is the church? You ask me,
then. What is this organization for
worship-what is it here for? 1t is the
body of the elect. But elected for what?
There are two doctrines of election; one
is true and the other is false. The doc
trine of individual election for the pur-
! pose of individual salvation is doc
trine | cannot reconcile with the truth
Of spiritual religion in Christ. never
| saw man who believed in this doctrine
of election who did not believe that he
was elected. am always afraid of the
| doctrine because of that element of per-
| sonal self interest that seems to be its
| determining characteristic. | believe in
| the doctrine of Biblical election. The
children of Israel were an elected peo-
/ f,1p 1r1t nlanfa1 fpy baf (flaaa,, ln
in and through them the world might be
saved. The church is the chosen body
| through which Christ reaches and saves
the world. We are not elected to save
our individual selves; we are elected
that the outside world may be reached
and saved. | read a little poera the
other day which admirably illustrates
this conception of the elected position Of
the saint as contradistinguished from
the people in the modern minister. The
poem said:
The parish priest of austerity
Climbed up in a high church steeple
To be nearer God, that he might
Hand down his word unto the people.
So he daily wrote in sermon script
What he thought was sent from heaven,
And he dropped this down on the peoples
| heads
Two times one day In seven.
In his age God said come down and die,
And he cried from out the steeple,
where art thou, Lord1'' and the Lord re-
| piled,
| Down here among mr. people."
HIGHWAYS OF THE LORD.
Second-All the channels through
which the human and divine excellence
love and beauty and truth enter the SOU
Of man, these must he the highways Of
the Lord, and must be regarded as holy
| ground.
All societies then for the promulga
| ton of knowledge are not secular, but
sacred. The distinction between the
! secular and the sacred, honestly be
lieye, WAS the invention Of the devil K
deceive the elect. There is no sucl
thing as a secular world. 1t is Gods
world. TO inpart knowledge is t.
spread truth. What is truth? Truth i.
God: God is truth. To teach the trutl
is to teach God. Men talk about secular
education and religious education. / dC
not know what men are talking about
All education is sacred. To impart tls
truth is to impart God, whether it bC
taught in log cabin at the country
crossroads or whether it be taught from
the sacred desk. The great scientist
who discovers the laws Of nature and
us.ot,;s them to the world is trarslatin:
! Col into human language Kepler, tn
great scientist. when he had discovered
the laws of the planetary world, leape'
to his feet in ecstasy and exclaimed
''Oh, Almighty God, am thinking tn,
thoughts after theer And he was. FL
had followed the mind of God from sta
to star, from world to world, unfolding
the beauties and glories of the universe
teaching in language deeper and divine
than even the language of the poet tn
transcendent truth that the heaven
: show forth the glory of God.
: PAsTEUR INSTITUTE.
/; The work of the scientist today, Is j
secular? GO to Pasteur's laboratory L
%J,o xtayr will find fb