Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-11-27

IIc Says the Sermon OF Today Has Too
Much Dead Wood The Sermon of the
Future Will Bo Short. Spirited. and It
T'nl Be Reported In the Press.
;Coryright 1871 by american Press Asso-
ciatiOn.]
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3l.-Most appro-
pirate to the times we live in is DR..
ralmage S discourse of today. All Chris
Iian workers will read it with interest
His text is Luke tx, GO, go, thou. and
preach the kingdom of God. "
Tho gospel is to DO regnant over all
hearts. all circles, all governments and
ali lands The kingdom of God spoken
dt i'll the text is to be a universal king
,:nln. and Just MS wide as that will be
ti:u realm sermonic. go. thou, and
.:oach the kingdom of Cod" We hear
!. great deal in these days about the
coming man and tho coming woman
;,lt! the coming time. Some one ought
to tell US of the coming sermon. 1t is a
simple fact that everybody knows that
laost of tho sermons of today do not
reach the world. The vast majority of
tho people of cur great cities never en-
ter church
Tho sermon of today carries along
with it the dead wood of all ages. Hun
llreds of years ago it was decided what
/. sermon ought to be, and it is the at
tempt of many theological Summaries
and doctors of divinity to how the mod
I'm pulpit utterances into the same old
.,tvlo proportions. Booksellers will tell
you thoy dispose Of hundred histories
Il hundred novels, hundred poems, to
one book Of sermons.
What is the matter? Some say the cage
is tho worst of all ages. 1t is better
some say religion is wearing out, when
it is wearing in. Some say there are SO
many who despiso tho Christian reli-
zion answer, there never was an age
when there were so many Christians or
50 many friends of Christianity as this
are has-our age; as to others hundred
To one. What is the matter then? 1t is
simply because our sermon Of today is not
suited to the age 1t is the canalboat i'll an
ago of locomotive and electric telegraph.
Tho sermon will have to be shaken out
+, of tho old grooves or twill not be heard
and it will not DO read.
Before the world is converted the SER
mon will have to be converted. You
might as well 90 into q modern Sedan
or Gettysburg with bows and arrows III
stead of rifles and bombshells and parks
of artillery as to expect to conquer this
world for God by the old styles of SER
monulogy Jonathan Edwards preached
the sermons best adapted to the age in
which he lived, but if those sermons
were preached now they would divide
IN audience into two classes : those
sound asleep and those wanting to go
home
The Sermon of the Future.
But there is coming sermon Who
will preach it have no idea; in what
part of the earth it will be born have
no idea; III which denomination of
Christians it will be delivered cannot
guess. That coming sermon may DO
born in the country meeting house on
the banks of the st. Lawrence, or the
Oregon, or the Ohio or the Tonibigbee,
or the Alabama. The person who shall
deliver it may this moment lie i'll q
cradle under the shadow of the Sierra
Ncvatlas or in New England farm-
house or amid the riceiields of southern
snvannas. or this moment there may be
some Young man in some of our theo-
logical seminaries, i'll the junior or mid
dis or senior class, shaping that weapon
of power. or there may be coming some
new baptism of the Holy Ghost on the
churches, so that some of us who now
stand in the watchtowers of Zion, wax
ing to the realization of our present in
efficiency. may preach it ourselves.
That coming sermon may not be ~
years off And let US pray God that its
arrival may be FASTENED while L an
nouuce to you what think will be the
chief characteristics of that sermon
when it does arrive, and want to make
the remarks appropriate and suggestive
to all classes of Christian workers.
First of all, remark that that COM
ing sermon will be full of living
Christ, in contradistinction to didactic
rechnicalities A sermon may be full OF
Christ, though hardly mentioning bis
name, and sermon may be empty OF
Christ while every sentence is repetl-
tious of his titles. The world wants a
living Christ, not Christ standing at
tie head Of formal system Of theology,
bat a Christ who means pardon and
sympathy and coincidence and brother
hood and life and heaven, poor man
Christ, an oyerworkod mans Christ, an
inyalid's Christ, t. farmers Christ, a
merchants Christ, all artisans Christ,
al every mans Christ.
A symmetrical and finely worded sys-
tenn of theology is well enough for the
illogical classes, but it has no more bust
ness i'll pulpit than have the technical
phrases of an anatomist or physician
in the sickroom Of IL patient The world
wants help, Immediate and world up
| lifting, and,it will come through SER
mon in which Christ shall walk right
down into the immortal soul and take
everlasting possession of it, filing it as
full of light as is the MONDAY iirma
ment That sermon Of the future will
not deal with men in the thrcadbare IL
Illustrations of Jesus Christ. LII that COM
ing sermon there will be instances OF
yicarions sacrifice taken right out of ev-
eryday life, for there rs not a day some
body is not dying tor others As the
physician, saving his GiphFheric patient
by sacrificing bis own life; as tho snip
captain, going down with his vessel
while lie is getting his passengers into
the lifeboat; as the fireman, consuming
in the burning building, while he is
taking Il child out of fourth story
window; as last Summer the strong
swimmer at Long Branch or Cape May
~ ,l-o CoO,,,n bi,,,cnIf mari shed irving