The times., 1899-10-30
THE TEACHINGS OF CHRIST.
a Sermon by Rev. j. st. Clair Neal,
of Baltimore.

The Rev J. st. Clair Neal. D. D.. pas
tor of the Harvard Avenue Church, Balti-
more. oficiated at the morning service at
Hamline Methodist Episcopal Church yes
terday in answer to cali made upon him
because Of the serious illness of Pastor
w r. Stricken, who Is confined to his
home with an attack of malaria Dr. Neal
chose as the text of his sermon Bear ye
one another's burdens and thus fulfill the
laws of Christ from Galatians vi 2. The
sermon was an object lesson Of the depend
ency Of man and sought TO show the utter
weakness of man when standing alone.
In opening his sermon Dr. Neal dis
cussed the law of Christ and defined it
as a principal laid out for the purpose of
mutual advantage Man" he said ''is
dependent in every sense of the word.
There is no independence among men. The
weak are wholly dependent and lean upon
the strong, and though the strong sup
port the weak they are not wholly indie
pendent and lean on each other. Christ
preached that doctrine and thus gave us
Gods revelation to humanity Christ told
us of his law and then illustrated it He
showed us that his law was the law of
love Told us that our lives were to be
of self-sacrifce; that we were to love one
another and do unto each other as we
the beautiful theme of the golden rule.
After Christ told US what his law con-
sisted of, he illustrated it to US, and by
his own self-sacrhce helping mankind.
Nor was his help a thing OF a moment.
Instead. it is always with US. and when
we stop TO consider was OF a mental,
moral, and physical nature. Mentally we
became improved and by his teachings
were better able to grasp the problems OF
love and life which he unfolded TO us.
Blind as man had previously been by tle
teachings of Christ he was enabled 10 see
clearly and to more fully comprehend
Morally Christ helped US by pointing out
the way that was right and that which was
wrong. He showed US by the PCre life that
he led that man could MAKE or himself
a creature full of love and the belief in
God: moreover, a creature who would
make any sacrifice in order to improve or
help his fellow man. He taught us t.
live virtuous lives and to help others in
doing so, and thus were we, with or i'm
proved inteIIeets, able to grdsp his teach
ings and improve morally. And this was
not all, for did not Christ by the laying
on of hands improve our impoverished
physical beings, that we might have
strength to continue in our work Of men
tai and moral improvement?
After Christ had defined his law and
Illustrated it he told us how We We're
to fulfill it, or rather, how we could fulfill
1t. His teaching was that men were all
alike and that there were to be no pre-
judices or pride He told US that we were
10 help each other irrespective OF classes.
( There were to be no classes. Al were 20
work in a common cause, the helping OF
fellow men. He taught US that there as
no condition too humble to be beneath
our notice, as it had not been beneath his.
We we're not to be proud, and We sEoCld
not take any great credit TO o-rse-ves for
what we did. II was simply 10 be a life
of self-sacrifce, and our benefit was
to be derived in seeing that others Ters
benefited. We were to go lovingly to our
task, devote ourselves to making bstter
those whom we felt were weak, and learn
ing from, the lesson we gave that all men
were equal and dependent The faults we
saw in others were to point out our own
and as we improved others so would others
improve us and we improve ourselves.
Our lives were to be those of sef-sacrifce
and denial and thus would We fulfill the
law of Christ and gain reward in
heaven