Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-22
MODERATOR CRAIG's SERMON.
He breaches Against Human Attempts tc
Improve on Gods System.

MODERATOR CRAIG's SERMON.
He breaches Against Human Attempts to
Improve on Gods System.
DR.. Willis G. Craig, the moderator of the
assembly, preached the sermon to the assembly
yesterday morning. The church was crowded.
1t was generally expected that in this address
the moderator would declare in some manner
his adherence to the conservative side Of the
controversy in the church, and in this respect
he did not disappoint his audience. DR.. Craig
is ready and forcble speaker. His general
theme was the fidelity of the ministers to the
trust imposed on them. He said that the de-
post Of the faith with the church is the mighty
thing which dignifies her above all other insti-
tutions upon the earth. Humanely, he said, so
large party in interest in this deposit of the
faith has the right to expect faithfulness on
the part OF the church to this sublime trust
He spoke of the constraint imposed upon them
as custodians OF this faith and by their vows.
THE PATHos OF 1T.
"But after ALL" he said, these are not the
constraining considerations Men may be
without influence under these considerations.
They may be able, by reason either of the
indiferentisn OF the human spirit or it's ca
pacity at self-deception to elude the constrain-
ing power OF these wide-ranging considera-
tons which force them toward fidelity to their
solemn trust. But man that has got broth
er's heart beating within him and is accus-
toned to walk amid the tumultuous throng of
men who themselves are walking beneath the
twin clouds Of death and judgment, and who
knows that he alone, and the company of the
faithful with him. have any specific that has
any power whatever to deal with this tremen-
dous verify of a sin-cursed and sin-darkened
world and does not find himself constrained
by the pathos of the situation. by the urgent
demands of pitiful humanity to stand faithful
to a trust which involves their everlasting re-
demptlon, then that man. to my mind has
passed beyond the power of any CONSTANTS
whatever intended to make him faithful to the
trusts which he has undertaken.
IL wish to illustrate this briefly. If st. Fran
els dAssizi. the founder of the great mendi-
cant order of the thirteenth century, had had
communicated to him during some ceaseless
vigil OF the night. sovereign remedy for iep-
rosy. among whose foulest victims he appeared
as ministering angel, nursing. tending and
solacing with a self-abnegatlon SO rare to
make him the hero Of his generation-if there
had been communicated to him, I say, this
specific for leprosy, the very fact would have
rendered his person sacred by the Importance
of the trust confided to his care.
IF he. in ruthless folly or curious speculative
zeal, had stopped, by the specious arts of an
improved method of inquiry. to spend his
mornings and his evenings in dssectinR this
he had ruined its virtue and then stepped out,
with its parts critically separated and divided,
and sought to make application Of them to
this hideOus disease, and failed when he came
to make the application. by reason OF the fact
that he had extracted the sovereign virtue by
his vain and puerile attempts to make dscov-
cries which elude the mighty sweep Of the
human understanding. the pitiful spectacle Of
lepers dying by the thousands for want Of the
specific which had been confded to his care
NO hnv 20 a<p - Ill
reverence and to consign his memory to per-
petuai obloquy.
No "IFs" OR Outs"
In summing up DR.. Craig said Now, finally,
how shall we exercise that guardianship? and
am through. How 2 Only moment
The Scripture is prompt to tell us. We shall
exercise this guardianship by renewed conse-
Grafton manifested in two particulars. First
Preaching this wordwithout Ifs" or lands or
butts" We don't in this day quite seem to be
willing to let God speaking after the manner Of
men, keep up His end Of the row. We have got
to do something to help God in this matter Of
regenerating the human family. And SO il we
think that the specific is n little wrong here or
a little wrong there or might be bettered here
and so on, we stand out az valiant men, with
eyes Of aquiline keenness rs We say. casting
around the whole sweep of the three great
postulates of human thought-God, rational
creatures and the universe-and then we say,
1--WE Will apply this remedy according to our
new prescriptions"
Now. say we can't be faithful to our conse-
Grafton in any such way as that. and I would
like to be means in the hands of God, per-
chance. Of helping some sweet-hearted Chris
tian today, who is not averse to being spoken
to by the instincts Of brotherly love, by saying
to him: My brother there are two little
difficulties that have pushed you on that path
one simply the pride of intellect, simply the
disposition out of which grows all rationalsm
and on the other side a little difficulty, to wit,
tina. not seeing the application of this great
deposit OF the faith Immediately successful,
You get a little uneasy and try to inject into
competence OF God the feeble strength Of q
mortal worm.
There is no plus to Gods infinity. There is
no plus to Gods omniscIence. There is no
plus to Gods omnipotence. And what is the
use when God has sent US as instruments into
the midst of the death and doom of our fellow
men with a specific compounded by God and
backed by the spirit and Gods honor pledged
to make it efficaciOus-what is the sense,
because the specific don't work a universal
cure in fifteen minutes after it has been swal-
lowed. that we, in the fear of failure, should
begin to make experiments Of our own in the
form OF plus and but, in connection with the
Word of God. There is no plus to Gods
omnipotence. and Gods omnipotence is back
ing this blessed trust of faith"
THE SIMPLE GOSPEL ENOUGH.
Ana say TO you, my dearly beloved breth-
rem Of the holy ministry and eldership, with the
simplicity of child's heart toward you, Just as
/ say to my students over and over again, who
are afraid that unless they incorporate into
their movements some human potency they
will fail as ministers, and they often want to
incorporate some human potency, like some
new idea of the powers Of the will, new powers
wrought by civilization in the human nature.
under the forces gathered from new thinkings.
And tell them, Don't do that These are but
weaknesses added to weaknesses. Go out with
this sovereign trust that God has deposited with
you-the word of God; with that. the power of
God of and eternal lite; Gods vivacious word;
Gods word that cuts down through joints and
rlarrows to the very center of human being,
and there, as it comes in contact with the qu,v-
ering nerves of human life, waits in august
silence until God himself speaks, in accordance
with the great truths Of the written word the
omuipotent final word of regeneration, and sets
them free and inducts them into life. And so
just simply go with the potency Of God. as that
is manifested in the truth and exercised by Him
at fit times absolutely, personally and without
any intermediary"
God will keep up His end Of the row." the
speaker declared. If you will give Him a
chance. And in the second place the way in
which to exercise the guardianship is that your
conversation and mind shall be pure and IN ac-
cOrdance with it, as we are instructed in the
text. Oh. brethren, Il conversation and char
acter that has been formulated by the unadul-
terated word, used as aliment. used as drink.
instead of being used as n mere instrument of
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