Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-13
GOSPEL AND KINGDOM.
Two of the Essential Characteristics
of Christian Work.
GOOD TIDINGS FOR ALL PEOPLE
Came With the Christmas Angels and Still
Come Down to This Day.
TIE DUTY OF PASTOR AND CHARGE
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH. |

Jesus Christ preached the gospel of the
kingdom. He sent his ministers to preach
the gospel of the kingdom. These two
characteristics are essential in Christianity:
That it is q gospel, and that it has to do
with kingdom.
Now, the gospel, however much the word
may be misinterpreted, means the good
tidings;" the good tidings, that is, first of
all and including all, that God SO loved the
world that He sent his dearly beloved son
into it that it might become, through Him,
aworld worth living in. That good news
begins with the birth of Jesus Christ and it
continues without end through all the
gracious blessings which God forever minis
ters to us by His Holy Spirit.
We have the good authority'of of the Christ
mas angels for affirming of these good It'd
ings that they bring news of great joy, and
that they are meant for all people. So
that we are able to say with complete
assurance that the Christian religion is
meant to make everybody happy. 1t is in
tended to bring happiness into the world,
and TO bring it to every inhabitant OF the
world.
Came in a Benightee Age.
That was a dull world into which this
great new happiness came at the beginning.
All things were dark, sad, bad, disordered,
and seemed hopeless. The old religions
which had held the allegiance of the fathers
were discredited by the sons, and in their
place were superst1tions, and idolatries, and
witchcrafts, and hypocrisies, and crimes,
and fears. Everywhere men looked with
despair in their faces toward the black sky.
And with religion, the virtues had departed
out of common life. The State was des-
potism, administered without care for JUS
tice. Society was made up of few wealthy
and aristocratic people amidst unnumbered
muititudes of slaves And all that belongs
to such a society existed. Even the pleas
ures of men had no longer any pleasure in
them, but were filled with cruelty and all
uncleanness. There was no Joy in life.
The light of life was gone.
And then were heard those singing angels
chanting carols over the fields of Bethle-
hem, and bringing good tidings of great joy.
And presently there were discovered men
and women walking about along the COM
mon roads, sharing in the common tasks
living the common life of the time, but in q
new wav, after better fashion, and with
quite a new spirit. These people were so
different from the other folk about them
that they could be recognized by the lipht
in their faces. They were happy, marvel
Gus, miraculous. In this sad world there
had somehow been discovered by these peo-
pie the lost secret of joy.
Rejoicing the Rule of Their Lives.
It made little difference what sort of lot
came into.the lives of these new-fashioned
men and women. They were always re-
ioicinc. That was their rule of life They
might be insulted, put upon, treated with
Injustice, smitten with fists, or sticks, or
stones, thrust into prisons, tied to stakes
amidst the flames of martyrdom, nothing
could daunt their uncensing happiness.
These people were Christians They had
learned the Christian secret. They had
heard the good tidings which came into the
world with Jesus Christ, and they actually
believed them with all their hearts And
that made ali that old world over new
five are not as happy, am afraid that
the reason IS that we are not as Christian.
The purpose of Christianity is to make peo-
pie happy. The mission of the minister of
God which was written Of old time in the