The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1894-10-01

human relationships more sacred and i'm
mortality more real. leading many doubt
ing soul to reverent faith in
That God. whoever lives and loves,
| One God, one law one element
And one supreme. divine event,
Toward which the whole creation moves
And here. too. now rests the mighty
Browning, a fresh wreath upon his grave,
and fresh hope has be breathed into many
hearts by that simple song. ending in
Gods in His Heaven,
AIS right with the world
Just round to the right from the Poets
Corner is seen the memorial to John and
Charles Wesley. for which, not Methodsts
only, but the Christian world are-indebted
TO the broad-hearted Catholic Dean Stanley.
Both sons of the Church of England; both
sons of God, well may the prophet and poet
OF mydern evangelical Christianity find
lifting memorial here. John Wesley is
represented i'm the marble has relief as
standing on the tomb stone of mis- fathers
grave preaching in the churchyard TO the
multItudeS, because the doors OF the church
had been closed against TINS earnest and
intrepid evangelist, who preached the sim
pie doctrines of grace and salvation. Two
OF his great words stand out in the inscrip-
tons: My parish is the world, and the
words of trust uttered on his deathbed:
The best of all is, God is with us Truly
the children of those who stoned the
prophet have risen to build his monument.
But it was my purpose TO tell you of the
| prophet in the abbey and not of West
minister itself. While we have sat medi-
| Eating a vast throng has gathered. The
seats are all filled. The aisles are crowded
| with people, standing. Truly the genuine
messenger of God draws men TO hear him.
Bishop Newman wise in that recent
| utterance in London when called upon to
| speak on the subject OF Empty Churches.
II
/ pulpit was empty. As general rule il is,
| empty preachers, empty churches; full
preachers. full churches.
The service of prayer and song over
/ the preacher enters the pulpit. His face
\ is pale, the outlines clean cut and marked
| with power. His general bearing is stamp
| ed with earnestness and genuineness. There
/ is a sad sincerity in his cOuntenance. He
| feels the burden OF his message. His voice
| is clear and resonant and utterly free from
cant ar drawl on the holy tone He speaks
one terribly III earnest. lie mas manu-
script. but his ringing voice and impassion-
Ell manner set his manuscript on lire. In
his zeal he beats his hands together.
Again, ne enforces the lessons OF the
old prophet ana draws the startling paral-
I lei in the church ana social life OF today,
his clinched fist rises and falls. His fine
eye flashes fire. His countenance SloWs.
Men see the God within him light his
/ face. He is a prophet of God with as
/ genuine message 10 his generation as
/ Hosea had for the people Of his day.
lie has taken his text from the Prophet
| Hosea, and like a prophet he speaks on:
%. Israel, thou has destroyed myself
| Hosea, 10: 3. He points out the danger of
the merely formal, conventional and unreal
/ in life. This unreality kills life and de-
stroys power. Unless preachers jealousy
watched their words the inevitable ten
| dency Of their sermons. OF all other
| religious exercises, would be to become
| empty, hollow and conventional. They
| would lapse only too easily into recognized
| shibbolethS ana customary texts. In the
| last century. when art had become
/ stereotyped everything else. a. we'll
/ known painter, looking at friends land
| scape, said, It's all very well. but where do
| you pat your brown tree 1t had become
| recognized trick-a regular ruIe-to put
! brown tree into every landaGGpe painted. al
| though no one pretended that there were
| always brown trees in nature. Still they
| were expected in pictures. SO far had art
| degenerated from the truth OF fact and
| ture. So too, might sermons easily degene-
| rate from the truth OF Christianity. Theo-
logy tended TO become quite fun OF brown
trees. and he. for one. did not wonder that
/ 50 many of their churches were empty, that
| so many men neld aloof from them; that
| they did not care for the endless iteration
| OF formulate and dogma, which seemed to
| produce so little effect on the minds of
| those who preached or Of those who listen
| ed to them. Perhaps the mass of men
| would believe more in the worth and good
| ness OF sermons ii they could see a more
! marked difference between the life of pro-
/ Tossing Christians and the lire Of ordinary
| men. As il was, they had preached Christ
| Tor centuries, until men had almost learnt
| to scoff, so few seemed any better for the
| preaching. The old cry, Christ has come.
| but when cometh salvation, was ringing
| more sadly than ever from many earnest
| hearts. They had multiplied services, but
| where the proof Of more gaining hoii-
| ness. They had multiplied Eucharists, but
| what sign was there that they had pro-
| duccd in the religious world more Of the
| love that was the fulfilling OF the law.
Now. as of old. the deadliest peril TO
| Christianity arose from the unTeality Of
| Christians. He had long been convinced
| that many OF their opinions and principles
] in these days differed enormously from the
\ simple gospel which Christ preached. They
| much more resembled the dead Judaism of
! priests and Pharisees; while in the world
/ selt-seelDng, worldly torpidity, and the
| sembances OF religion prevailed among
! trimmers and half-and- half people. or peo-
/ pie who were nothing at all except IN
| church. II these were bitter truths, il was
/ their duty TO speak truths, however bit
/ ter, rather than soft platitudes and silken
! euphemisms. lie saw but little hope of a
/ revival Of the true Christian ideal until
1 God in His mercy raised up amongst US
/ some prophet ike SavOnarola or Luther or
! John Wesley-sOme saint like st. Paul or
| St. Francis. who was saint indeed. Arch
/ deacon Farrar went to say that in
! every religion there must be doctrine and
/ principle and a basis OF doctrine on which
/ our life must be built, but that doctrine
/ did not need vast tones of sacerdotal and
! scholastic theology for its exposition. The
| Lords Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the
/ Apostles Greed would give more than
/ all we required for the salvation Of our
1 souls, and unless we saw that these were
/ revealed to US for one and one only object,
! namely to make US good men and good
/ women. we missed their most rudimentary
! conception. Christ came to show us that
/ Gods viii was our sanctifcation-'only he
/ Who doeth Righteousness is born of Cod
4 He knew nothing that this age this ma
1 ton, that church needed more pressingly
| than the lesson: Get sincerity, get reality,
! simplify your lives. simplify your religion.
/ return To the simplicity which is in Christ
! Jesus, burn up the ecclesiastical super
| structures of wood hay, straw, stubble
| which were built upon the one foundation.