The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1898-03-21
CHEERFUL OBEDIENCE.
We should so on Gods Errmnds
without GainSuyinG.

We should SO on Gods Erruntis
without Gainsnying.
DR.. Teunis S. Hamlin preached to
large congregation at the Church of the
Covenant yesterday morning. His sub
ject was The Beauty of Cheerful Obed-
fence" and he found his text in the four
words of Acts x:29, AZ came without
gainsaying" He said in part
The rhetoricians are always warning
US against adjectives, and they doubtless
have their perils. But they have their
good uses, too. 1t is quite possible to
fix ones thought so entirely on the
noun that the qualifying word, which
gives the noun its only real significance,
is overlooked altogether. We are going
to think this morning of cheerful obed-
fence to God.
"One might say. oh well, obedience is
the main thing. And it is a hard thing.
1t means surrender OF the will, and that
is always hard. 1t means self-denial.
often the change of lifelong habits of
thought and conduct. If God gets obed-
fence he should be content.
But are we content if we get bare
obedience from our children? Grudging.
reluctant, grumbling obedience? Often
a child will really obey. On the naked
proposition that he has done what hd
was hidden, there is no room for argu-
ment The child has chung tenaciously
to his own way. He has silently but
Enthusiastically questioned your right to
require obedience and has yielded the
point only after a struggle. He has
caught at the fringes and shreds of his
Self-will. even after the main body of it
was surrendered. His itching fingers
have written their self-wil in the very
dust that has risen and settled out of the
conflict between pride and duty. His
body IS where We required ii to be, but
its posture is a protest: or its posture is
right but the quivering face tells of
anger and resentment at the heart. Is
this obedience? The answer depends on
whether you are inquiring about the
shell or the kernel. Can the Heavenly
Father then be content with the form of
obedience without it's heart and soul?
The prime obstacle to cheerful Obed-
fence on Our part is the same that it was
on St. Peter's-prejudice. We fail to dis
tinguish between this and fidelity to the
truth already attained. and no distinc-
ton is Of more practical Importance
To so value the past as to be both in
different to the future and afraid of it.
makes one a blind and stupid conserva-
tive: to despise the past, to count it's
truth all outWorn, to grasp at anything
&
blind head-long and dangerous radi-
cal.
st. Peter held the middle course He
was not insensible to the truth piety
divinity of Judaism. but neither was he
unwilling TO believe that God might have
something better for the world. He
knew the something better. He had
learned it directly from the master him
self. He had tasted il in his own eXper-
fence and found II better
1T is often said that the fate Of Chris
uanity was then and there at stake
that had st. Peter refused to enter this
open door of the worlds evangelism
Christianity could have remained only a
Jewish sect and would soon have perish
Cd. Had st. Peter proved unequal to this
emergency. the Lord would doubtless
have found a filter instrument of his
purpose to give salvation to the world
Il was the fate, not Of Christianity but
Of St Peter. that was at issue on that
day.
THE question was Will he be able
10 abandon all his preiudces and go as
cheerfully to a heather with the mes
sage of life as TO a jew? And mark you
the Cheerfuness was an Indispensable
element i'm the right answer to this ques-
ton. 4 half-hearted suIlen, grudging
argUmentatiye Peter would have been no
apostle for the noble-souled Cornelius 1t
was just because he went without gain
saying that he rose that day from
a provincial Jew to a far-sghted broad
minded cosmopolitan.
How different our homes would be,
our society, our churches. if we all did
our duties without gainsayingi ] do not
mean new nor extraordinary duties; but
just those that We are doing every day
only joylcssly. The obedience is already
fact. what is wanting is the cheerful
ness of obedience. We do well enough
but we whine or grumbie or answer back
at God, who sets us our tasks. Oh, if
we would only see how this robs our
hard-wrought work of it's charm and us
Of our joy. May God graciously hasten
the day when we shall go on his errands
without gainsaying."