Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-03-12
Abstract Of J. $. williamson's Sermon o
March 10,

The following abstract of Rev 7 6
Williamson's Sunday sermon was crowded
out Of Yesterdays issue:
1t Is only when we take our stand nv
the manager of Bethlehem, the cross of
calvary and the open grave of the first
Isaster morning, that we see mankind
iiiiiitiess as space, vast as eternity, high as
nou, ilgnt as Heaven, or debasing as the
Evil One, and dark as the abyss itself
Ihese great historical facts about the
MAN OF Nazareth are as powerless to move
men as last winters dream, till the spirit
ehey breathe becomes embodied in human
conduct Therefore man owes to him
self and to his fellow man:
l. Christian character A man must
be true to himself or else he loses ,hc
power to know truth from falsehood He
not only believes, but becomes a lie He
owes it to others that his life shall he GO
iuli OF genuine Christlikneness that he
shall create in Others a rcceptivitv and
longing Tor things spiritual and Divine.
II. courage. A man of iInpassioned
reason, bringing his life under its highest
ana hottest dictates Some persons are
AFRAID TO let their conditions out for an
airing. Their ideas are like jelly fish,
they lack backbone and can twist around
self-intercst as deity as the snake twists
around the branch from which he springs
upon his victim. / haye supreme con-
tempt for the man / can only trust when
l know his environment or the way his
self-lnterest leads a man who sells his
principles by keeping quiet at critical
times, keeping back the only thing with
which he can bless the world What
sarcasm life would be if all men did so
III. TO live up to date. Some men
are SO fossilized in thought that any re-
form must crush before it can win them.
Life must be brought up to date or it be-
comes rancid, bigoted, intolerant, veil
across the face of God, and a stumbling
block to man. This refers to theology,
politics, medicine, science and art Life is
progress. The spirit of the living God
cannot be confined in the museum of anti
quated thought. Our creeds and politi-
cal platforms are useless while they are
merely the mummies of extinct expert
ences. A mummy is good thing to
bury, in theology, in politics and in
science, but is simply an unmitigated
curse to live with
". A true standard of success. What
Is success? Is man successful whose
wealth consists only is outward posses
sions-in things he has raised together
speculating in the ruin of the helpless
grinding the faces of the poor, with heart
as hard as stone and an ear as deaf as that
CT the Evil One to the cry of sorrow? Is
he success who, to win the world, has
lost his soul? On the other hand, is
Jesus q failure because he dies in the
darkness of the cross? Is Paul failure
because he is beheaded in obscurity? Is
Huss failure because he is burned at
the stake? Is Milton failure dying with
the stings Of slanderous tongues tortur-
ing his last moments? Is David Living
stone failure, dying in the mental and
moral darkness of Africa? Are not some
lives that go out in the bare room of a
Door farm-rather than sacrifice truth for
coDlfort-more successful than many
which end in gorgeous palaces where
Christ has been simply moral enthusiast,
and God practically dream?
V. A Catholic standard of life Men
who would not lie, would not steal, would
not beat their wives, or commit adultery
may pass before the world as orthodox
Christians, yet they are as hard and
penurious as finty rock, their souls as
contracted as dried apple, their hearts as
avaricious as q lecch. A penurious
Christian is as great Il missioner as
licientious or drunken Christian.
VI. 10 recognize that he cannot come
to perfection alone, that he cannot cut
himself off from the claims of society like
a hermit. He is like key of an organ
his only reason for being is that he con
tributes his part to the harmony OF the
whole A man can only perfect himself
as he aids society to come up to the spirit
of Jesus of Nazareth, and fuliills so TAR
as he can that high -priestly prayer, that
they may be one even as we are. Ii the
highest tribute that can be PAID TO tne
most perfect of all men is that WINE
rich. for our sakes he became poor, that
we through his poverty might become
rich'-what constitutes his coronation
can never be our degradation.