The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-09-27

unto the Lord. Glorify Goa, not IN
your spiritual life, but glorlfy Him In
your body"
That Is the message that comes to us.
or course it includes the other. THIS
gospel is so great not simply because 1t
Is appointed for the time that now Is; II
has to do with the life to come.
Second, it is great in the nature OF Its
demands.
What are the sacrifices of God? 9th
er religions say it is penance; others
the Notifying of the physical to salts
~ the spiritual; scourging the pody
that the sins of the flesh may somehow
be atoned for; enduring physical pain
that the spiritual God shall be APP
peased. So it is with every one OF the
co-called ethical religions-the suffer-
ing Of the physical in order to atone Tor
sin; and in that respect Christianity
rides above these other things as the
stars above the earth. In this respect
1t stands as the peer and superior of
every possible truth men have ever lis
tened to-. The grossness Of the concep-
ton of these others at once dismisses 1t
from the candid mind. Not the suffer-
ing physical, not the suffering of that
ourselves because of sins of the past
Not even the conception Of the Univer-
salist, that mortal man must suffer
here and also suffer in another sphere
to make up for the past, No! Chris
tianity makes this demand and offers
this proposition: 1t says the sacrifices
of God are not in the shape of physical
suffering, but in order that man shall
make up for the past Of his life, let him
become righteous: come in touch with
God. The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit; a spirit that is out of
rebellion now. The sacrifices Of God
are broken spirit. A broken and a
contrite heart will not be despised. In
other words righteousness, goodness,
purity of life, uprightness Of character
these are the things that God asks at
our hands. Not that we shall mortify
the body; not that we shall make fla
gellants of ourselves; not that fast
ings, nor scourgings, nor culture, nor
development shall atone for our sins.
No! There must be something in the
death of Jesus Christ. We cannot un-
derstand, but somehow he bore our sins
in his own body on the tree so that now
the physical part is done away, and we
stand face to face with God.
What salvation is this to which we
are invited? What a salvation! No
wonder the apostle says, $50 great,
a salvation" Our hearts ought to
warm to it as we think of it tonight.
We Christians ought to be more CRATE
full. You who have been led through
sorrow and sickness, who have had
strength measured to you in time of
weakness, you ought to appreciate
your gospel Truly it is a. great saliva
| ton.
Third, it is great in it's gift of the
| things which it demands.
| 1t Is great because the things which it
| demands it gives, and that makes it
unique in the history Of religions every
where. What does it ask? A new
| heart, new life, new service-absolute
spirituality in Gods sight. That's
what it asks Of you 1t asks you to live
an upright life, pure life; to have a
sympathy and love for other people.
| Tt calls upon you to live in the ever
clear atmosphere Of Gods heaven. But
our gospel does not simply present a
scheme: it does not say thou shalt"
and thou shalt not" 1t points the
way; it gives the grace, the strength to
fulfil it's every demand. 1t makes the
i demand, it gives the power to fulfil.
That is the uniqueness of our gospel.
Surely it is great! 1t is as though a
man should say, "Thou shalt pay the
| $780, and then provides the
means to pay; or, "Thou shalt sat
isfy the law, but here are the means"
"Thou shalt have the right spirit! Be
/ hold! l give thee the Holy Spirit
Thou shalt be right in the sight of
God,'' and the definite promise is that I
shall be given the means of grace.
1t does not simply say to you thou
shalt" and thou shalt not" 1t does
not say, my brother, that you must be
perfect and stop there. That is not all
of it. The gracious part of it all-that
which makes it greats that it fur
nishes the power whereby men may be
what they want to be and in their best
| thoughts wish for So great salvation
is this of ours, SO unspeakably great,
that you and I ought, tonight, to fall
upon our faces and say, ''Here, Lord, I
give myself to thee. 1t is all I can do,''
That is the demand. 1t calls upon eve
1 ry man and every woman in the
church, and upon everyone, every
| where, to yield in surrender That is
the demand. And this salvation of
ours is great in the fact that it's gifts
satisfy the demands made 1t does not
simply declare what men shall be, but
shows the way by which they may be.
Fourth. And 1t is great in another
espect-namely, in the means used to
accomplish its purpose. And now we
are face to face with the greatest and
most sublime fact of all our history
the coming of the Son of God clothed in
human flesh. verify, he took not upon
Himself the nature Of angels. He took
on Himself the seed of Abraham. He
became clothed with our humanity and
He stood In our place. In order to
bring many sinners unto glory it was
meet for Him that He should suffer as
His brethren did. Taking men by the
hand, He said. mo longer am I above
you Gin one sense); know your weak
ness, Il come that ye may have life
and have it more abundantly."
| -
Fifth. 1t is great in the vista of pos
sibilities which opens UP to humanity.
but this can only suggest now.
/ Interstate Fair at Trenton, September oY
20. 20, 80 and Octobar1