The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-05-15
SERMON.
A LAYMAN'S SERMON
BY MARK HOLROYD.


nd done this evil in thy sight. Psalm
"And the Scribes and the Pharisees be-
2 an to reason, saying, Who is this which
peaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive
ms, but God alone2
E.But when Jesus perceived their
thoughts he answering said unto them,
What reason We in your hearts!
whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be
forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk!
'EBut that We may know that the Son of
man hath power upon earth to forgive
ms, Che said unto the sick of the palsy,)
say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy
ouch, and go into thine house.-Luke V.
1-24.
THE following sermon was preached in
he M. E. Church, Northwood, Iowa, and
repeated last December in the Congrega-
tional pulpit in Morrisville, N. Y. MARK
HoLRoYD is layman of our church well
known in Chicago.
Mr.. Holroyd writes to the editor of The
UNIvERsALIsT: 81 do not know as you have
a freedom sufficiently independent of the
ecclesiastical spirit, as to think it wise in
you, as an editor, to allow what is called a
ayman in ecclesiastical phraseology, to
presume to have anything worthy of pub
ication as a sermon in leading paper of
the denomination The discourse may not
meet your entire approval, yet I think it
does not deviate much from Universalist
theology" Our answer is the publication
of the discourse EDITOR.
CEVERAL years ago the words
- against thee and thee only
have l sinned," were in a Sunday
school lesson. A Bible teacher of
education explaining them to his
class. said "Sin against man is finite
and against God infinite, deserving
infinite punishment and in this sense
sin may be said to be against God
only"
Does the Bible or reason say mans
sin is infinite? The psalm is said to
be David's, after he had committed
adultery and murder. Can we ar
rive by fair conclusion that the
psalm is not David's? When reading
a book on electric telegraphs, we
know the book was not written by
Franklin, the electrician, who died 100
years ago, for telegraphs were not
then invented. Apply this rule to
the fiftyfirst psalm. In the psalm
we read:"O God of my salvation, do
good in thy good pleasure unto Zion.
Build thou the walls of Jerusalem,
then shalt thou be pleased with the
sacrifices of righteousness"
The word Zion is peculiar to the
later prophets. 1t began to be used
little before the destruction of Je-
rusalem. Build thou the walls of
Jerusalem" plainly indicate the psalm
was written about the time of the
captivity, 800 years after David's
time. Against thee only have 1
sinned," are proofs that David did not
write the psalm. He knew he had
done evil in the sight of man, against
Bathsheba; against Uriah her hus-
band; against his chief councillor
Ahitophel = Bathsheba's uncle =
against his religion; against his nation
and against the intrepid prophet Ma
than, who went to him and charged
him with the crimes, saying, "Thou
art the man." David was not so dull
as to pray to be delivered from blood
outlines when he knew he was gull
tyof it.
whats done is done,
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this
blood
Clean from my hand? This my hand will
rather
The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
Making the green ocean red. -
The impossibility of deliverance
from an overt act points to the ma.
ture of the sin. 1t was a secret one
not developed by action. The psalm
is confession of one who lived in a
later age, when they began to dis
tinguish between thought sin and sin
carried out by action. Isaiah makes
this distinction: "Let the unrighteous
man forsake his evil thoughts" The
writer of the psalm was one who had
been harboring blood revenge against
another whom he thought had done
him deadly wrong. He began to
see that revengeful thinking was
known to God, who knows the state
of the heart and that, when persisted
in, results in action. Hence the me-
cessity of his prayer, "Cleanse thou
me from secret faults" which is a
part of the psalm.
The Infinity of Mans Sin?
This is an old position. Is it true
one? Every school boy knows that
finiteness being one term in proper
tion the consequence cannot be in
finite. The moral proportion stands
thus: God, the first term, infinite;
finite man, the second term; the sin
of finite man, the third term; the con-
sequence will be finite one. Math-
ematical law obtains in morals and
retributions. 1t is Gods law. Not
long ago it was argued that non-elect
infants shining in Adam deserved
endless punishment because its sin