St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-04-09

Gospel Taken Into the World
of the Affections-Faith Leads
to Christ = A Reproductive
Work.
] Rev. j. Wesley Hill. noted and elo-
auent divine OF Helena. Mont. preached
| at Oxford NJ. E. church yesterday the
opening sermon of a weeks revival
meeting. His ttSeme was christian
/ Achievement"
Text: 'sHe that believeth on me, the
works that | do SHALL he do also; and
greater works Chan these shall he do.
because go unto my Father"
THESE are iflieA words OF Christ. Let
us not stagger at them or modify them
by limiting them to another age or to
other people. They were uttered by
Christ when the shadows of Calvary
and Gethsemane were upon Him. They
have withslood all the attacks of the
higher critics and still belong to the
church as legacy of Christian posi-
bility. through faith in Christ.
Christ relied upon two lines of evil
dence to substan tate Ills claims, His
works and His words. 70: these He
added the one of the text. namely. that
believers in Him shall have power to
perform not only the works that He
wrought, but greater works than these.
Miracle-working power existed in the
early church; it existed so long as the
world needed special evidence cor
roborating the divinity Of the gospel.
The time comes, in the history of every
case, when the evidence lis all in and
the case made up. God is not to be kept
ill the witness-box forever. He has filed
His affidavit once, for all time. to the
divinity of His Son. The sacred canon
is complete, and the case has. been
given to the jury.
Christ did not come to establish ma
terial but spiritual kingdom. He said:
''rhe kingdom of God is within your
and again, 1.-THE kingdom of God cometh
not by observation. He touches this
fact ill the text when He declares,
Greater works than these shall he do,
because go to my Father"
The ascension of Christ meant the
end of the sensuous. We no longer
heed the divinely-inha5ited cloud; the
unseen has been ushered in, crowned
by the diSpensatIun OF the Holy Ghost.
Pentecost substitutes Bethany; coll
verted Peter Is better than reSur-
reeted Lazarus. We now look toward
the Unseen for the exhibition of the
highest power.
Science reaches her true glory in deal
ing with the intangible, and so Chris
tianity is gloritied in ushering in the in
visible agencies of the Eternal. The
true field of Christian achievement Is
not in the material, but the spiritual.
We are to take this gospel to dead and
decayIng humanity and hold up its Won
derfal truth until the Shepted dead hear
tile voice Of lite and leap into the life
and consciousness of the sons OF God.
We are to take this gospel into the
realm of the mind; weare to prese mt it in
the spirit of love; we cannot compel
men to think correctly. The thumb
screw and the gibbet are Of no service
to an intellectual Christianity. We
cannot make Christians by using the
anvil or the wise; we appeal to the rea
son: we echo and re-echO the question
OF the ages, NV ifat think we OF Christi"
We present argument. we array evil
dence, and wien we have broken the
spell upon the intellect and iifuminated
it with the light OF heaven we have
accom- plished a greater work than
walking upon the waters or multiplying
loaveS and fishes.
We must also present this gospel to
the will, which is in state of anarchy
and moral revolt. Men are not saved, be-
cause they will not be saved. Saliva
ton is contingent upon human co-opera-
ton. The will is SO sublime as to be
terrible. 1t marshais the faculties,
builds the character and fixes the deS-
tiny -: it fixes it in heaven or fastenS it
in hell. God will not drag us to the
cross; He will not invade with His omni-
potence the charmed circle of the Will;
lie only enters where He is invited.
We are also to take this gospel into
the world of the affections.
Faith leads to Christ; faith links us to
the Godhefd, and brings us i'll contact
with all the treasures of immensely. We
are not to believe in priest or a
preacher Or philosophy. 1t is not nee
essary that we believe all that comes 10
us through creed or legend OF tradition.
Christ says. HE that believeth in me-"
But before such faith materiaIiSm
vanishes, pantheism is oyerthrOwn, and
unltarianlsm goes down into the dust,
while the soul holds communion with
the Father. has fellowship with the Son
and receives power and comfort from
the Holy Ghost.
The work of the Christian achiever is
reproductive. 1t is immortaiized through
all the ages. The material works of
Christ were limited to the aye in which
He lived. He Gained the sea, but it
ragged again; He multiplied loayes and
fishes, but that miracle ended there; He
healed the arm of the paralytic. but that
arm was soon paralyzed by death; He
turned water into wine, but that wine is
no more; He commanded Lazarus into
consciousness. but Lazarus was soon
clothed in burial robes. Not so with
Christian achievement. 1t works upon
spirit, and spirit is immortal. 1t touches
thought. and that is the kingliest thing
i'll the universe. 1t plays upon the keys
of the volition, and that music will swell
forever. 1t untwines the tendrils of the
heart from the things of time and sense,
and trelllSeS them TO the skies.
We know not when the glad hour
shall come, but some blight day OF some
dark night the shout OF universal victory
will arise. The shadows of the night
will whlten into the lilies of the morn
ing. and the morning will redden into
the rose of triumph, and the shout will
roll forth along the paths of space, "rhe