The herald., 1897-09-06
Sunday Sermons By Vari-
GUS Local DivineS
AN Affirmative RELIGION
ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF JESUS.
MANS EXAMPLE
DR.. McLean's Address at Simpson Tab
ernacle-Services at Christ's
Church Yesterday

Rev. Burt Estes Howard preached from
the subject christianity an Affirmative
Religion" at the First Presbyterian
church yesterday, saying in part:
Christianity differs from the religions
that have preceded it in its Affirmative
ness. its positive attitude toward moral
Righteousness. Until the Master came
the moral and spiritual life of the world
revolved in a staggering orbit around
negative center. The watchword Of all
the teachers Of Righteousness was a ve-
hement Thou shalt not"
When the Great Teacher stood before
the men Of the world and delivered His
message. it was no call to a negative
type of religion but a summons to a
positive practical Righteousness. He
lifted the soul and religion out of the
chilling atmosphere Of remonstrance in
to the free light of performance. The
old ten commandments, of which all but
one has mot" in them, he gathered into
two, and translated the negative in them
into a mighty affirma tive: Thou shalt
love the Lord, thy God;" and "Thou shalt
eousness was defined no longer by the
degree in which man avoided trans
gression of a written law, but it was
defined in terms of personal character,
by the degree in which man possessed
positive moral qualities.
The Masters judgment with respect to
man was to be passed not upon what
he did not do, not upon what he avoided,
but upon the actual amount of earnest,
tangible, moral force he possessed, and
was using in his daily life; not in life
merely emptied Of overt wrong doing,
but in life that was bringing some.
positive helpful spiritual power to play
upon the worlds need.
Holiness is not synonym for sinleSs-
ness; the root idea of holiness Is positive
not negative, and wholeness is far bet
ter synonym for it than sinlessness. The
highest form Of manhood is that type
which resolutely and devoutly faces the
demands of life anG reckons itself less
by its aloofness from transgresSion of
code of moral precepts than by it's en-
ergy as cleansing force in it's commun-
ity and helpful factor in its environ
ment.
The Christianity OF Christ is affirma-
tive an6 aggressive. The blessed ones of
the gospel are the ones that are. trying
to do something. Profession must be
backed up by practice in order to amount
to anything. A knowledge of divine
truth iSa good thing, but revelation was
not given to satisfy our curiosity, but to
stimulate our activity. The end of truth
is not knowledge, but being. The teach
iv,rr of s.,
us with an articulated system of belief,
but it was designed to provide men with
a basis and an inspiration for their liv-
ing. mot everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord shall enter the king
dom of heaven, but they that do the will
Of my Father which is in heaven"
The religion that Jesus tried to es-
tablish was a substantial, constructive
religion, aiming to make good men, but
calling no man good or godly who was.
not entering with God into a true and
positive work in the world. The Chris
tianity of Christ is a creative religion.
1t seeks ever an opportunity for re-
demptive service. 1t measures itself UP
against the demands of life. 1t calls
men to be clean in heart, but it also calls
them to bare their necks to the yoke of
service. 1t demands that we shall be.
empty Of evil, but it also insists that we
be filled with the spirit.
1t is a marked characteristic of Jesus
that he sought in his dealings with men,
not only to eliminate the evil and the
error in them, but also to stimulate the
good and the holy. He seemed to have
little faith in moral work that content
ed itself with the destruction of the.
bad, without accompanying it with the
construction of the good. This is His,
teaching. This was His practice also.