New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-03-06
NO CARNAL AIDS FOR THE GOSPEL.

DIR. PARKHURsT SAYS CHRISTIANITY is NEVER
so POWERFUL As WHEN UNPROTECTED.
DR. Parkhurst at the Madison Square Presby-
terrain Church yesterday morning based his ser
mon on the story of ST Peter attempting 10 defend
Christ with his sword when the Lord seized
by mob nstlgated by the chief prizes, and directed
by Judas He said in part
CHARACTERIZATION conducts to civilization, but ciy-
cation has no necessary bearing on evangeNzation;
that is to saw there Is In civilization no energy IN
herenty calculated to yield Gospel effects. Culture
is even third cousin TO holiness What Is SAID
about trying 10 make better. about trying
TO make nations better by introducing among them
the subduing influence Of letters and arts Is nine
tenths Of it-not to say ten-tenths-aside from the
mark And who live eighteen hundred years
after Peter, and who understand the Gospel IN a
have seen distinctly set forth in later portions OF
and the kind Of kingdom he came TO establish-we.
with all this light. ought to be restrained from thus
disastrously mixing things that ought to be kept
BY carrying schools and arts trade and manu-
facture. among people that are now sayages you
may be able to refine the quality OF their devltry.
but that is not even the first step toward making
angels. or even saints. OF them An elegant thiei'
an educated libertne. an accomplished courte-
san is no nearer the Kingdom Of Heaven than Is a
ity will very likely vary with the degree Of cviliza-
ton but Judging from Christ's way Of dealing with
all Of sinners. the different styles OF deprav-
ity leave but little 10 choose between
sake Of trying to civze him his children may be
pardoned for receiving with only chill cordality
Gospel
for the purpose Of Christianzing them. II Jesus
had gone armed IL would have been confession on
his part that the brute force OF the visible world
Is more than a match for the spirit power Of the
invisible world You cannot make a man believe In
God II you do convince him you believe In
yourself Peter. by brandishing his sword, denied
the divinity OF Jesus. And any other man cheapens
God when he goes about 10 yoke Cod spirit along
side Of carnal contrivances. II Is the absence 81
such carnal contrivance that explains the rapid eX
tension Of Christianity during the first three centu-
ries of our own era. God worked nightly because
he had backing. Up 10 that time armies and
navies were the side Of the pagans. Christianity
is powerful as when II Is unprotected. and
evangezation that depends upon soldiers and gun.
boats has no future.
am not reasoning on general principles. but put
ting in current terms the lessons unanimously
set forth in the Gospels and Epistles and
LUMINOSITY illustrated by almost nineteen hundred
years Of history. The instant Christianity begins 10
lean on anything It's divine vitality dries out OF Il.
The cause Of Christ prospered In the Roman En-
pire till became the State religiOn-till II
deteriorated into a plous kind Of politics with a
good deal more politics than piety.
All that the world needs in order that the un-
fertile wastes Of heathenism may be transformed
into a blooming garden Of the Lord is God and
missionaries. God Is ready
The Rev. Edward Hunting Rudd Or. Parkhurst's
assistant prayed that Rudyard Kipling and his
two little daughters. Josephine and Elsie. might be
speedily restored 10 health.