The Monmouth inquirer., 1893-01-19

brotherhood OF man Denea Il the unive5
sal fatherhood Of God, the fat1erhoo
he came to declare. How vast would
be the sweep Of such gospel To
preach that all nations and all races
and all tribes and kindreds and tongues
are one, are brethren, are bound by the
laws that bind brother to brother. How
vast the sweep Of such gospel, how
limitless the domain of thought withinitl
THE CENSUS OF HEAVEN.
Fourth--To preach Christ and him
crucifed is to proclaim that salvation
means incarnate truth. That salvation
is to be found in divine human life
Jesus declared, HE that belieyeth into
me hath everlasting life." He said, 81
am tho way, the truth, the life" 1t has
been most graphically said in recent
work, "Jesus came into the world not
to increase the census of heaven, but to
improve the status of earth, and Jesus
proclaimed salvation by living faith"
To preach Christ is thus to preach the
way of life, to be the incarnation of the
4 divine.
I | read some time ago of the discovery
! Of new cure for pneumonia. They
took the blood Of a convalescent patient,
/ opened the veins Of one stricken with
/ the fatal malady and poured the new
/ blood into the fevered veins. The result
/ is said to have been a remarkable cure.
4 1t is the work Of Christianity thus to
pour the blood of new life into the
veins of a dying world. To preach
Christ is therefore not to proclaim a
theory or a creed, however ancient or
however respectable, but to preach q
+ vital religion, to preach a Saviour who is
Lord Of the living as well as the dead;
! to proclaim the presence of d living
j spirit, guiding the world today in the
way of all truth, convicting the world
/ Of sin and of righteousness today, lead
ing the conscience of man into the ways
of new truth from age to age, ever I'M
4 folding the mysteries of the kingdom in
every age, in every century. To preach
such a religion is necessarily to bring q
sword sometimes-not peace. So Jesus
with scourges cleansed the temple; SC
Jesus said in SO many words, 81 am
come not to send peace, but sword"
Ak AT THE ROOT.
Fifth-To preach Christ and him
crucified is to declare that the way of
life is the way of death. It is there
fore to contradict the materialistic
philosophy of the world To preach
Christ and him crucifed is to assail the
foundations of the business and the
trade and the whole social fabric of this
4 age. Jesus said, 'sHe that would find
his life must lose it." Jesus said, "He
4 that would save his life shall lose it. y
way of Calvary is the way of life. 1t was
his lot to be spit on, to be beaten, to be
4 crucifed, to bear the burdens of those
who did not appreciate his love and his
sacrifice Are we ready thus to contra
dict, are we ready thus to assail all the
powers that today rule in the SO called
secular world? Do we understand what
it means SO to 'spreach the Gospel
SOCIETY ARRAIGNED.
Sixth-To preach Christ and him
crucified means to preach the regenera-
tion of the whole fabric of society, OF
business and of government. The fore
runner of Christ proclaimed, "Repont.
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand .
4 Jesus declared that he came to establish
kingdom. 1t was ever on his lips
the kingdom of God-the kingdom is at
hand. The kingdom is an organization
a social structure. The Gospel of Christ
is thus designed to affect not simply the
units in society, but to ssve society, to
save the organization, to save the whole
world. All real progress made by
i human society since the crucifixion Of
Christ has been made through the cross.
4 The cross is the focus of all the worlds
progress. We have not made single
step along the heights of true civiliza-
tion save in sacrifice and self renuncia-
ton.
In other words, man has really made
progress only as he has denied himself
only as he has been willing to walk as
Jesus walked. If society would be
saved it must repent and follow Christ.
To preach Christ therefore, him cruci-
fed. today, is to aTraign society III SO far
as it fails to incarnate truth in Christ
What is wrong in the individual is wrong
in the state. He came to set up king
dom. 1t is to arraign society. What is
wrong in the individual is wrong in So
ciety, and it is not true that il we have
regenerate units we will at once have
regenerate organism. A corporation
may be composed of good men individu-
ally and the corporation itself be guilty
Of deeds that will not stand the light.
One of the great difficulties today with
our social organism is that it is fifty
years behind the Christian sentiment of
the world. It is in the hands of the
enemy. It should be redeemed. re
deemed by the Gospel Of Jesus Christ.
WORTH THE LIVING?
In Jesus we have the fountain of
worlds hope. The dream of the cross
( il the thought that thrills the soul Of
man. Every scheme for the salvation
Of the race finds its roots in the hope OF
the cross. Where materialistic phi
losophy has grown weary with life and
asked the question, SIS life worth liv-
ingy' Christianity rises then with its
triumnhant answer: