The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1896-03-12


Of Truth--A Sermon Preached at PIym-
outh Church, Brooklyn, by Rev. DR.. Ly-
man Abbott.
TExT.--If we say that we have no sin, we
Igcoiye ourselves and the truth is not in u.s.
II we confess Cur sins, he is faithful and Just
TO forgive uS our sins and TO cleanse us from
all unrightcOusncss.- John /, 8, Q.
How many are there in this congrega-
ton, wonder, who would really say to
themselves, 1--WE have no sin?" l do not
mean would say it just in that form.
OF course not-we are too we'll educated
for that-but practically would say it
and would resaut witt cc,s3!derabls "a
dlgnatiun cndJ any one else should call
them sinners, How many are there in
the Christian congregations Of this coun-
try who are thus deceiving themselves
and saying, practically saying, 1--WE
have no sin?" / want you to look with
me little this morning and consider
how thus we do deceive ourselves.
Pseudo Virtues.
In the first place, we balance off
against our sins certain pseudo virtues.
We keep, not very correctly and GER
tainly not with very good bookkeeping,
debtor and creditor account. Over
against the evil in our lives we set GER
tain credit marks. We attend church
with regularity = perhaps the prayer
meeting; perhaps we say our prayers,
as the phrase is; perhaps we read our
Bible, If we are not too much driven in
the morning with engagements or too
sleepy at night to take it in And there
fore we are virtuOus. This is an old way
of self deception. 1t has existed from
the earliest ages. 1t is very curious how
lOath men are TO accept this most funda-
mental and simple truth Of religion that
God is a righteous God and demands
righteousness Of his children and de-
mands nothing else We do not like to
give him righteousness, and we try to
square the accounts by giving him some
thing else So the ancient Jew was ready
to give him sacrifice and fast days and
pilgrimages, and the ancient Pharisee
stood up and prayed within himself,
saying: 81 thank God am not as these
other men are, eXtOrtioners, adulterers,
unjust, or even as this publican. / fast
twice a week, l give tithes of all pos.
sess. " Mr.. Pharisee, are you fair mind
ed in your dealing and honorable ia
your work with other men?" II Ease
twice week" " Are you kind in your
family, patient with your children,
chivalric to your wife," Il fast twice
every week. " did you ever cheat a
man in bargain?' Il give tithes of
all possess " "Have you ever had
share in political corruption?" 81 give
tithes Of all possess. " Oh, it is an old
trick, this balancing of one thing over
against another and thinking ourselves
excused from righteousness by some
thing else than righteousness. We won
der that in the middle ages men would
put money into the Golfers Of the church
and think that balanced their iniquity
| We will have no such system Of indul-
gences as that, but there is many per-
| son today in the nineteenth century who
lives life as grasping, as selfish, as
| cOvetOus, as greedy, as ambitious as his
neighbor, and thinks the account is bal
anced because he goes to church and says
his prayers, or because he has at times
| ideals III which he rejoiCes He thinks
he is Christian because he admires
| Christ because sometimes his heart fills
with emotion as he sings One might as
well think himself brave because the
portrait of General Grant hangs upon
his walls as think himself holy because
beautiful pictures of holiness sometimes
enchant his imagination. 1t is not a
song, it is service, by which men are to
be judged; not prayer, but performance,
tests and measures them; not creeds,
but deeds; not what they think, but
what they are and how they live.
Have We Done Anything?
We assume virtues that are not our
own and think ourselves virtuous be-
cause Of them. That is very common.
Men pride themselves on their family.
Yes, it is "a good thing to belong to a
| good family. But what have you and l
done in our family? How much wiser or
richer or better or nobler or worthier is
it because we are members Of it? Men
| Slorify themselves because they are
Americans. Il thank God that | am not
Turk, that am not Russian, that /
am not even an Englishman-I am an
American. What have You done that
| is worthy of the name America? That is
the real question. What nave you done
to make politics purer, to make honor
! brighter, to make the America of the fu-
! ture more assured, to make industry bet
| tcY paid, to make government truer to its
purpose, to make the streets Of your city
cleaner and its life nObler? You cannot
get into a chariot and be drawn into the
kingdom Of heaven by the harnessed vir-
tues of others. The question you and I
must ask ourselves when we say, "Thank
God, l am an Americanl !" is this
"How much Of an American am I, and
what kind of an American am II" So
men pride themselves on their church
~ am a member of a benevolent church
look at the list Of its contributions; I
am member Of working church-see
its activities, how much it is doing. "
How much are you doing? How much
did you put into that list of benefaC-
tionsi According to your means? You
are not generous because you belong to
generous church, nor active because
you belong to an active church. How
much of the activity of thiF church is
your activity? Flow much of its gener-
osity.is your generosity? Men that laugh
openly at the theological doctrine of i'm.
putatiou practice it continually, only
they impute to themselves, not the vir-
tues of their God or of their Christ, but
the virtues of their fellnw men, Men be-.
| lieve in the solidarity of the race for the