The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-01-17
FAITH THROUGH LOVE.
PrOf. burton, of Chicago University
at First Baptist Church.

at First Baptist Church.
The pulpit Of the First Baptist Church
was occupied yesterday morning by Ernest
D. Burton, a professor in the University of
Chicago, who delivered an eloquent dis
course on the text, For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision availeth anything nor
uncircumcision, but faith working through
love-" found in Galatians W 6. The church
was crowded to the doors and the music was
especially good Mr.. Burton spoke in part
as follows:
The apostle Paul was the first preacher
or the gospel among the Galatians. Though
nlmselI Jew, he presented to them pure
~ spiritual gospel, intoxicating faith in the
cruclhed Christ and imposing some or the
ordinances or the Jewish Jaw. But after he
had gone there came among the Galatians
certain Jewish Christians who taught them
that 1t was necessary TO be ADOPTED into
the family OF Abraham by CIRCUMCISION in
order to be heirs of the promises made to
Abraham. Their argument, based on the
Old Testament statements concerning the
covenant with Abraham and circumcision
as the seal of it, was very spacious, and the
wonder is not that any were mlSled by 1T,
but that any escaped from its mesheS. And
yet, in fact, 1t made religion Fundamentally
not a spiritual but a physical thing. Men
were acceptable to God not because of state
of heart or attitude toward Him, but be-
cause of a purely physical fact. This Paul
saw, and, having come to see that religion
was fundamentally spiritual and moral,
them back to this simple and spiritual gos-
pei. The central teaching of the letter is
contained in the words, Neither circum-
cision aVaIleth anything nor unclrcum,
csion, but faith working through love
Here are two of the greatest words or the
New Testament vocabulary.
by faith Paul means a recognition of
ones own insutficiency and an acceptance
of the life of God in Christ to be our life.
liveth in me, and the life that 1 now live 1
live by faith upon the Son OF God. Be-
tween such a life and one OF self-de-
pendence and self-seeking all men make
choice sooner or later, and many make it
very early. The cry after God often makes
itself heard in the heart of a little child,
and the WiseSt lesson one can learn in life
is that men were created to thirst after
God and never to be satisfied till they find
Him and His life becomes theirs. II Is the
glory of man that he is created Tor lie
of conscious dependence on God.
by love Paul means the desire to serve
others. BY love serve one another he says
him how many and how much we shall love
he says with Christ, Love thy neighbor as
myself He who accepts this injunction
will not devote a fraction Of his property or
power or time to the good of others and use
all the rest selfishly for himself, but will
seek so to order his life that, whether
spending for himself or for others, he shall,
in fact, be all the time serving humanity.
He must love as Christ loved, who came
not to be ministered unto but to minister
and to give His life ransom for many,
as God loves, who so loved the world He
gave his only begotten son and forever
gives himself for men. Such an ideal OF life
is high but 1t is the New Testament ideal,
and it is one which an increasing number of
men and women are striving to realize in
their own lives. They are no longer con-
tented with divided lives, but are seeking
to find a life through which, whatever its
daily occupations, one constant purpose of
love and service OF COO ana mankind snail
increasingly run.
ut is this ideal of life that Paul sets forth
in the words of the text. Bound by faith
~ lie
our own. and since God is love, are our
selves filled with love. The stream of di-
vine life, which is love, coming from God
flows forth in words and deeds of service
to mankind. Union with God through faith
in Jesus Christ is the secret of the power
of such a life of love to our neighbors the
world over, and service of them up to the
limit of our power is the keynote of it's ex-
preston"