The herald., 1898-11-07
At THE CHURCHES

"And John answered and said: Master,
re eaw one casting out devils in thy name
and we forbade him,
A Service because he followed
49, not with u.s. But
oA Aoso Jesus said unto him:
Forbid him not, for he that is not against n
Won Is for you" (Luke TX, 1850, were uhe
words upon which Rev. Burt Estes Howard
based his sermon at the Church OF the Gov
enant
H.Jesus Christ did not come into the world
to save religion or any form OF rehg19n. ~ ne
came into the world to save men, lie was
subordinated to this one mighty purpose, TO
cast wrong and misery and sin out OF human
life. He was thousandfold more con
earned about the casting out OF devils than
he was about preserving the integrity OF
system of theology or the customs OF the
ecclesiasticism of his day. The first thing
that .Jesus cared about was the salvation OF
men from sin, and the last thing he was
anxious about was the particular method by
which this end was accomplished
1"There is such thing as having too
much religion. There is such thing as
wasting all our energy in seeking selflsh,
personal experience e. at the expense Gi prac,
fical usefulness There is such a thing as
becoming rich in emotional and ecstatlo
niety. and at the same time becoming a
veritable beggar in the spirit and service OF
Jesus. The Christianity of Christ does not
consist in running to and fro through the
earth, holding meetings and conventions;
nor is the spirit of it exploited IN tarrylng
in upper chambers waiting for repeated
Pentecosts.
sWhen thd group of Jesus followers re
ceived his snirit and understood what their
function in the life of humanity really was,
there was no more lingering in ecstatic gath
erings in the Pentecostal chamber. There
was jealous fronting toward the needs OF
the world Too much has the church re-
garded Christianity as a clustered affair, too
tender to be transplanted out into the heart
of the worlds whirling life. 1t belongs
there or nowhere.
eve hear of following Jesus 1t was
phrase John used in explaining why they
stopped that man in the midst of his helpful
service. That solitary, unknown worker,
pursuing his lonely way through the miser-
les of his times, laying helpful hands on the
wretchedness of men, was far nearer to the
Master and following him with far closer
footsteps than was John, with all the in
timacy of his organic connection with the
company which had gathered about Jesus.
To follow Jesus was to get at the problems
of life. as he did, and to dedicate oneself to
the same mighty work which claimed the
heart and soul and strength of the Master.
The life of Jesus was one OF extreme bust
ness.
HE spent his time and strength in a ser
vice of love- Life was not made up OF spec
ulation nor spent in formulating views.
When he called men to come after him, it
was a summons to life of intense moral
activity, life that thrust itself, quivering
with a God-conscious spirit, into the thick
of human affairs, life that found its sole
reason for being in the fact that it was des-
tined to become salt and light to the world.
s'The history of the Christian church is
Il g nl,r ootC
once the broadest institution on the earth
in principle, she has been the narrowest in
practice Inculcating doctrines of lofty
charity, she has been an inexorable tyrant
in matters of conscience and opinion.
Preaching patience and meekness, she has
been cruelty intolerant of those who diff
fered from her in belief and method. Oh,
for the Christ spirit of liberation, which is
more eager to save soul than to preserve
a creed, more Jealous to make man tha1
to secure proselyte. The one great end
of the church and the Christian is to get
Christ realized in the life of men. The ques-
tion of method is of small moment. The
question of aim is supreme"
David Walk, in the Church of Christ, on
Eighth street, near Central avenue, read
Second Corinthians,
"A Royal xxx:1-l3, and an
Reformer nounced as the sub
ject of his sermon,
"The Reformation 1naugurated by King
Hezelliah."
Happy is the nation blessed with a
righteous ruler. Hezekiah was one of the
very few good men who reigned in Jerusa-
lem or Samaria. Seldom, if ever, has peo-
pile been cursed with such immitigable
moral imbeciles as the majority of those men
who bore sovereignty in Judah and Israel.
HezelSiah, the good son of bad father, was
o conspicuous exception to the rule. His
accession to the throne of Judah was syn
rhronous with as unhappy condition of
affairs, moral and political, as ever existed
among the nations of antiquity. He saw
with the clear vision of great statesman
that morality is the impregnable rock of
national prosperity, and he resolved upon
a crusade having for its object the spirit
ual regeneration of his kingdom.
Among the chief bulwarks of nation
strength and perpetuity. are its. memorial
ordinances. What the Fourth of July is
to the United States politically, the Pass
over was to the Jewish race 1t was the
one great institution comprehensive and
far-reaching around which the traditions of
the people crystallized. In drifting away
from God, as matter of course, this or
dinance was neglected and this is strange
TACT in their history, for it signalized their
disenthrallment from degrading servitude
to Egyptian taskmasters.
The king determined upon its restoration,
and after taking counsel with his chief men,
messengers We're dispatched not only to ev-
cry part of his own kingdom but also to the
remnant which still remained in the north
ern kingdom. His appeal to these latter is
among the most pathetic in history
The appeal was not wholly in vain. While
many Knocked and ieered, many others ac-
cepted the gracious invitation, so that there
assembled at Jerusalem a vast number to
keep the feast. The reformation sought bv
the king may have been superficial, and the
effects may have been transient, but the
effort was worth all it cost 1t demonstrate
ed that nothing can stay the downward
tendency of people who refuse to take
God into the account, and this is the mean
ing of the lesson of all these histories.
Rev. G. J. X. Jones of the Church of the
Unity took his text from /. Cor. xvi i:l3-
"Watch We, stand
men fast in the faith, quit
NOWADAYS you like men. Be
strong" announcing
his subject: "Men Nowadays"
Notwithstanding our recent war with