Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1898-06-17
BAccALAUREATE SERMON.
cresco Glass '9s. BY Rev. A. ". Gorrel1, of
the Episcopal church. Delivered Opera
House, Cresco, Iowa. June 18th '98.
And he opened his mouth and taught then

"And he opened his mouth and taught them.
st. Mat. 5. 2. The light of the body is the
eye 6. %.
/ know of no better mental tonic than the SER
mon on the mount. Our aim during our minor.
ity is character building. The best material
out of which to construct a well rounded moral,
and christian life Is, these utterances of our
Saviour on the horns of Haitian. The eight be-
attitudes are not separate pictures of distinct
characters They are the portrait of one COM
plete christian character, well rounded out from
beginning to end.
Following close upon them comes the appeal
OF the Master to his disciples to eXemplify this
picture which he had sketched: LET your light
so shine before mem and "A city set on Il hill
cannot be hid"
In the very beginning of his teaching our Di-
vine Lord sets the moral character of christian
lty and at the close of his sermon, he points
again to the man who built his house upon a
rock.
People proclaim today Il much Wanted stand
ard of morality as If they had just discovered
1t. The climax, morality of tile ages was dis
played to the hungry heart of humanity nearly
two thousand years ago. There is nothing
newer, nothing better than the morality of Je-
sus Christ. Where christianity has been
preached in its integrity this morality has been
presented. AS the Bishop of Ripon aptly puts it:
The wealth of such ethical teaching has been
invested over and over again in the great mar
kct place of the world"
We have then for our subject:
CHRISTIAN ETHICS.
i. Then, what is the standard of christian
ethics? The ethical standard of christianity is
the moral law as interpreted by Jesus Christ.
The moral law is found In the ten command
ments and its Interpretation is found in the SER
mon on the mount Thu Sonot God distinctly
enuncated his mission to fulfill the law. He
fulfilled 1t by living it, and in sense, and with
a completeness unknown before he lived and
taught. Between the observance of the moral
law as eXemplified by the Jewish rulers, and its
observance by Jesus Christ, the contrast was so
sharp as to elicit from the latter the startling
admontion: "Except Your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the Scrlbes and
Pharisees We shall In no wise enter into the
Kingdom of Heaven"
Between the pharisaical making clean the
outside of the cup and platter and the Christ
demand for singleness of purpose and subiug-
alton of appetite and desire, the gulf was i'm
passable. Even had the moral law, as penned
by the finger of God upon the two tables of
stone, been literally observed, the claims of
christian ethics would not have been fully met
Saul of Tarsus lived UP cOnscientously to the
requirements of tile moral law as understood
among the Jews of his time. Concerning the
Righteousness which is in the law blameless is
a part of his portrature of himself; and yet he
was fierce unreenting prosecutor of the
church of Christ.
Hence to say that the standard of Christian
ethics is the moral law. is not a complete def
milton; we must add the further clause as inter
preted by Jesus Christ. His definition of the
moral observance and requirement reaches to
the heart and life. Sensnality, for instance,
was to be detllroned. by the strong, positive
force, of self modification and the modification
must begin when the temptation begins.
We read of a man by the name of Helm, who
once dreamed that he saw the gods gathered at
a banquet, goblets of nectar were before them.
They drank and lived at ease, but suddenly the
door opened and there tottered in pale faced
man painting under the weight of a large cross
which he flung upon the table. The faces of
the gods turned pale. ana one by one they
shrunk away. Here we have the idea of self
sacrifice, sef-control and self-forgetfulness
1 Apply ~ W eht SuppICooiVl Ol
| every evil appetite and impure desire, nip
every temptationin the bud. crush every evil
| thought, every impure desire under the cross
| of Jesus Christ and you get your Lords mean
ing of keeping the law-"If thine eye offend thee
pluck it out and cast it from thee"
Christian ethics reaches down further than
| words and actions. They sound and purify the
| deepest springs of thought. impulses, motives
The fountain is made clear and the stream runs
clear The body of the moral life will only be
full of light as the eye" is single. Here the
lofty moral purpose of the christian faith stands
out in all its unparalleled beauty and sublimity
Society aims at the suppression of evil and en-
| acts laws designed to reach and control its out
ward manifestations. Itpunshes. and proper
| ~ SO, the transgressor, it deals with the seen
and the tangible.
But christianity goes deeper. 1t possesses q
power growing out of the superhuman origin
| and character, peculiar to itself and common to
| no other organization civil or religious.
In the active manifestations of that power II
| enters the sacred citadel of mans inner con
sclousness. 1t enObleS his thoughts, purlfie:
| his desires, curbs his appetites, and controls
| his passions. inspires his hope, and strengthens
| his faith. 1t quckens in his soul the sublime
sense or his divine lineage, and fires him with
| deeper hunger for God. He becomes more
| and more like his divine Master and hence ex
emplifies Gods law in his personal life.
Therefore instead of trying to Danish the
| moral law from the realm of Christian ethics
| we welcome it with renewed cordiality, and as
sign to 1t the lofty place which comes to it from
| the Interpretation and the life of the Lord Je
sus Christ.
2. Thus we are led in the second division O
| the subject to ask: "What is the impelling mo
tive to the due observance of the law furnished
| by christianity?
The answer to this question sets the chris
tian religion out in sharp contrast to the Jewish
faith and to every ether religion. The veneer
able systems which bear the names of Confu
| Gus and Buddh, Bremma and Guatama, dwar
by tue Side of christianity as a system. ant
manifestation of the Divine will Our christian
ity claims obedience to Divine law at the
hands and hearts of those who believe tina
Jesus Christ is the Son or God. and accept hi.
| teaching. Asa system christianity, values sci
denial, choosing others, in preference to one.
sell and seeking the good and welfare of all
IL recognizes the fact, that every human being
is, a redeemed Son and Daughter of God, ant
intended to occupy an exalted destiny amont
| men in this life, and with the pure and holy IL
| the life of Paradise and Heaven.
Christianity formulates Its requirements III
written moral precepts. But its obedienc
springs from hidden source. Its love of TIL.
truth is generated and quickened by an unsee1
| power. Its precepts are the expressions Of
principles life-a life hid with God in Christ
In all these particulars itpresepts character