The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-12

out of sight of all eyes save His who
sees all things, but each one in. the
| place where God wants him. And
they fit well together, not shrinking
apart with the years, but more and
more closely Joined, cemented, grown
together as one solid wall or rock, new
err to be severed from one another nor
| from Christ the cornerstone
This church building is finished, but
Gods great and glorious church is new
err finished. It's walls rise higher and
higher every day; and every pure
| thought and every wish to be like Je-
sus, and every Christening rod meekly
borne, is preparing me and you for
our places in that glorious church.
| And, strange to say, while we are
worked into that great building which
| is to last forever, we are ourselves be-
coming workmen, laborers together
with God. Each one has his part to
| build as we'll as his place to fill Every
| day, every hour, something can be
! done to build or to beautify, to sweeten
| or to strengthen the church of Christ,
which he loves SO we'll and desires to
present to the Father without spot or
wrinkle, or any such thing; but that
| it should be holy and without blemish
Many are the rough timbers of the
forest around us, and God wants them
all finished and polished and fitted into
| the church of Jesus Christ. The Holy
| Spirit, the architect, has plans all
ready, the work awaits your hand and
| help. We throw wide open to-day to
you this great door of opportunity. The
voice comes to you from the infinite
distance: Go work in my vineyard -
and men and God and angels are wait
ing to hear what you will answer. VIII
you excel to the edifying of the
church?
REV. MR.. BALTZLY'S SERMON.
Rev. Mr.. Baltzly Of Stanford Univer-
sity spoke last evening from the text
For | am not ashamed of the Gospel,
for it is the power of God unto saliva
ton of every one that believeth y
Romans l., 16. He said:
Why should Paul have said that he
was not ashamed of the Gospel? 1t
seems to me that nothing could tell US
more plainly the state of things at
| that time, the odds the Gospel had to
| make its way against. Paul writes as
one conscious of being in a minority,
and an insignificant minority at that.
Again, he is writing to Romans, and
ne writes as one conscious of the feel
ing of superiority with which a Ro-
man regarded everything that came
out of Judea
This is Why he felt called upon to de-
clare that he was not ashamed" of
the Gospel Why he was not ashamed
appears III the second part of the text
If he writes as one conscious of being
IN minority, none the less does he
write as one that is not troubled about
that. His frame of mind is that of
the man that has hold of the long end
of the lever, who can bide his time.
You can't shame the man that has
gotten possession of a fact, who has
seen something, who really knows. He
is too conscious of having the advan-
tage to You. A crucified Christ which
was to the Jews a stumbling block,
and to the Greeks foolishness, was I'M
to them that had been drawn thereby
into newness of life, the power and
the wisdom of God
Paul had preferred another way of
salvation; he had tried another Way.
but he had not found it in that wav.
Then he threw himself in with Jesus.
and when he did so Gods power struck
him and lifted him. God appeared 70
be working in this new way, Well
that was all Paul cared to know If
Gods power is playing out in the Cos
pei, one will do well to place oneself in
connection with it. Slip the belt over
ones wheel and fall in moving with it
This will explain why Paul was not
ashamed" The belt was on him as
he wrote. He felt the power. There
fore, no matter how small a minority
ne was in, it was minority God was
with. Therefore, he was ready to
preach the gospel even to them that
were in Rome.
Paufs readiness to do this. consid-
cred in connection with the reason he
gives for feeling so ready. has a ne
culiar significance 1t was from his
personal experience, doubtless first
and foremost, this his confidence de-
! rived; but l conceive that that conf
dence increased when, looking forward
10 ministry in Rome, he bethought
himself how fortunate it was that the
gospei could be preached there as the
power of Cod
Inc Romans worshiped power. The
Empire was the greatest institutional
incarnation of power the world ever
| had seen His arm reached to the
frontier of the civilized world in every
direction, and was as heavy there as at
Rome itself. Everywhere were her
laws, Pro-Consuls, her soldiers
her tax-gatherers. Now. thought Paul
L shall not be ashamed to preach this
gospel in Rome for / can preach it as
the power of God, unto salvation. I
shall come, said Paul, to make YOU
strong, for the gospel is the strength
or GOD unto strength for you. the
channel divine strength runs in.
TO view the gospel so is not to view
it fancifully. 1t is strength we long
for when we long for life Weakness
is misery. Weakness and salvation do
not go together We are coming to see
more and more that salvation has to
do with the entire circle of human life:
that there is an intrinsic morality in
good health.
With gospel that could claim to
bring power to men Paul felt bold to
go to Rome. And what the Romans
longed for we all long for. We may
call it salvation, but what we call it
matters little. We all want to be made
strong. Paul had come upon the Sc
cret of the whole worlds joy. 1t is
power. Weakness is the curse of life.
for it is the lack of life. Salvation is
just more life, more health, more
strength. And what is the gospel but
the power of God unto power, unto sal
walton?
The gospel has been this because
bac hno,,