The Progress., 1893-04-22

Flaming Sword.
New YORK. April 16.-Rev. Thomas
Dixon today delivered an impassioneC
sermon on the gross materialism and de
structive tendencies of city life. Hi,
text was John ii, 10. "And he made {
scourge of cords and cast all out of tn,
temple. both H. sheep and the oxen, and
he poured Ort the changers money and
overthrow their tables"
This is a most remarkable scene in the
history of the ministry of Christ 1t is q
scene in which we behold the indigna
ton of Jesus. so vigorous is this ex
preston that the result is physical vio
lence. To some minds of today such d
scene in the life of .Iesus is an impossi
bility. They refuse 20 believe in such Il
Christ. and these are the people who in
sist that they hnve the last word from
Christ TO the world. The trouble is that
they have looked only at one aspect of
the life of Jesus He is gentle, he
ia loving, he - tender, he wccps. and
yet he brings sword and deliberately
makes a scourge of cords and with phys
ical violence drives from the temple those
who were dasecrating his Fathers
house and with physical violence over
turns their tables. Christ is Christian
ity Jesus said. Il am the way"
What does tijs scene az the Ire Of JesUS,
directly ia tie line Of ms ministry, teach
as?
Certainly two things
1 6 =
to wicld the lash and use the knife There
is n time in other words, for all things
There is time for gentleness and ten
dernCsS and love. There is Il time for
wrath and Indignation and for Overturn-
ing. There u "a time to laugh, there is "A
time TO weep; there is a time TO sing,
a time to pray. time to fight. The
music of life il not made on a single
string. There are other elements than
the gentle and the soothing, which enter
into the essentials of a rounded, active
life. 1t is so in the individual. in socie-
ty and in the church.
I'm the life of every man there are times
for tenderness and love; there are times
for the assertion OF the sterner elements
of life and the assertion of wrath and
Indignation at the proper time, all as es-
sential TO the worlds welfare. to the sal
walton and happiness of mankind. as the
introduction and maintenance of the
gentler and sweeter elements. No man
can live a normal life in this world and
do his duty. endowed even with moder-
ate talents. without being confronted
with hours in which the soul must rise
in all the power of righteous Indignation
and assert in all their elemental power
the original forces even of anger and of
war
TIME FOR RIGHTEOUS WRATH.
So in the life OF society there are times
when the community must rise in indig-
nation and rid itself of pestilence. There
are times III the life of community in
which the seeds of JOY and of love and
of gentleness can be sowed and cultivat-
ed. But there are hours when, with
fame and ak, those who have the good
of society at heart must go forth and
burn and strike down and remove if the
people are to be saved from contagion
and death. So in the history of the
church there are hours in which the gos-
pei of JOY and of peace and of loving
kindness is preached and should be
preached. and there are other hours in
which the wrath and Indignation of
purity and truth and Christ must be
preached. 1t is useless to say that in
such an hour light will overcome dark
ness. gentleness will overcome violence.
Jesus Christ did not find it so. His dis
ciples would do well to follow him.
There have been hours in almost every
century of the history of the church in
which there was absolute call for right
eous wrath. and when only such forces
were adequate TO the salvation of the
church and of the people.
What could have saved the church in
the days of Martin Luther save the vio-
lence which resulted in the Protestant
establishment and in the publication of
the Catholic church? There could be nc
compromise with the corruptions that
had grown up within the body of Roman
Catholicism. Tctzel, the chief exponent
of the doctrine of lndulgences, preached
in the ear of Luther "Indulgenccs.'
said he ARE the most precious and sub
lime of Gods gifts. This cross (pointins
to the red cross has as much efficacy as
the cross of Jesus Christ. Draw near.
and will give you letters duly sealed
by which even the sins you shall hereaft-
er desire to commit shall all be forgiven
you. would not exchange my privi- .
leges for those of St. Peter in heaven
for have saved more souls with my in
dulgences than he with his sermons.
There is no sin SO great that the indul-
gence cannot reach it. Let him only pay
largely. and it shall be forgiven him.
Even repentance is not Indispensable.
Ii any man doubts that this be true
statement of the preaching of duly ac-
credited delegate from the highest Cath
olic authority in his age, let him refer
to the words of Pope Adrian. successor
to Leo X. crowned in 1922, when Ger
nanny was ablaze with Lutheranism.
Through his legate the pope declared at
the diet of Nuremberg, summoned to
deal with Luther. that ''these disorders