The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-10-09
MORNING SERMON.

work, and is as follows:
/ Corinthians, 1888: my beloved
brethren, be We steadfast, immovable,
always Astounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as We know that
your labor is not in vain in the Lord
Next to our blessed Lord. the most
illustrious name in the inspired records
OF Christianity is Paul. Although "a
philosopher handling with consummate
ease, the largest speculations of his
time, historian with an unrivalled fa-
Guilty for discerning in the issues Of
past ages the principles which govern
present events, prophet whose visions
of future glory lift him at times above
the limitations of time and sense" yet
in his teachings he always aims at
practical results. His supreme aim
was to win men to a fuller acceptance
of the truths revealed through Christ
and more perfect obedience to the
principles of holy living. He closes
his mastery and elaborate discussion
of the resurrection of the body and
the complete victory of the believer
over sin and death as guaranteed by
the historic fact of Christ having risen
from the dead, with an exhortation to
steadfastness in Christian faith and
earnestness in Christian work As the
future life is a continuance of this life,
in new environments, along lines end
less and forever widening, and as the
truer and holier We are here and the
more We abound in service the better
we shall be disciplined and qualified
for the higher service and the ampler
arena of the hereafter Therefore,
my beloved brethren, be We steadfast,
immoyable, always Astounding in the
work of the Lord, for as much as We
know that your labor is not in vain in
the Lord"
The work of the Lord" may be I'M
derstood as embracing two things
First the regulation of the individual
life by the teachings of the gospel, the
modelling of it after the example of
Christ; and then, the proclamation of
that gospel throughout the world, the
upbuilding and extension of Christ's
kingdom along all lines that tend to
manifest and enhance the divine glory
and contribute to the temporal and
eternal welfare of men,
The Importance of steadfastness in
matters of Christian faith cannot be
too strongly emphasized. AS a mans
faith controls his conscience, governs
his affections. shapes his life, and de-
termines his destiny, the Importance of
our Lords command when he says
Believe the gospel" cannot be over
stated. There are certain great truths
peculiar to the Christian religion which
differentiate it from. all other religions,
the neglect or rejection of which, ac-
eording to the word of God, renders
salvation impossible. First among these
is the incarnation of God in Christ.
1t is impossible to form a mental i'm
age of God as you would of an absent
friend. Spirit without form or local
habitation, existence without beginning
or end such as God is, is incomprehen-
sible to the finite mind. How often have
thoughtful, earnest men desired to see
God with their bodily eyes The unut-
tered feeling of many a reverent soul.
perplexed by the mysteries which con-
front 1t on every side, has been. 20,
that God would step out Of the solitudes
OF the unseen universe unto this earth
and manifest himself so that l could
see him with these eyes" Moses once
possessed such a feeling. After God
had talked with him from the burning
bush and the cloudy pillar and he had
witnessed the awful phenomena that
proclaimed his presence at Sinai. de-
sirous of beholding him, not as yelled
with clouds and clothed in fame, but
as he is in all his uncreated splendor
he prayed: Il beseeeh thee, show me
thy glory" The night preceding his
crucifxion, as Jesus sat in the midst of
his diciples, talking of his departure to
the Father, Philip voiced the feeling of
his brother apostles when he said:
"Shew US the Father and it sufffceth
us" Draw aside the veil that con-
ceals the invisible God from us, and
show him to our senses with the same
distinctness as We see our fellow be-
ings, and it will solve the mysteries and
settle the doubts which perplex and
trouble us in regard to your visible
withdrawment from our midst Christ's
reply was: Have been so long a
time with you and yet hast thou not
known me. Philip? He that hath seen
me hath seen the Father" These are
fathomless words. Paradoxical as it
may seem, they imply that the infinite
has been limited in form, the eternal
has dwelt in time, the holy and invisi-
BILE God has resided in and manifested
himself through human body. Jesus,
the Christ, is such a perfect image of
the unseen God that it can truthfully
be said that he that hath seen him hath
seen God, and he that knows how he
felt and acted knows how God would
feel and act If he stepped out of the
eternities and in unveiled glory moved
visibly in the midst of men. God, by
incarnation, by the manifestation of
himself under forms and in circum-
stances which we can understand and
appreciate, has met one of the deepest
cravings of human nature "God was
manifest in the flesh"
A second differentiating feature of
the Christian religion is the atonement.
Take away from the New Testament
the death of Christ, as exhibiting the
love of God, a loving God suffering and
sacrificing for the recovery and saliva
ton Of sinful man, and you drain it Of
its life blood. You strip it of its glory
as gospel. The cross reveals to the
soul of the sinner the evil and shame
of sin, forces him to look at it with
Gods eyes, hate it with Gods hatred.
Paul speaks of "the church of God.
which he hath purchased with his own
blood" To the Ephesians he wrote of
Christ as the one in whom we have
redemption through his blood, the for
giveness of sins" Peter declares that
we are redeemed with the precious
blood of Christ as of lamb without
blemish and without spot John as
sures US that "tl1e blood of Jesus Christ
his son cleanseth us from all sim" The
countless multitude whom, in apoca-
lyptic vision, he saw before the throne
of God arrayed in white garments.
were those who had washed their
robes in the blood of the lamb and
made them white" 1t is a sublime
truth that Christ died for our sins.
according to the scriptures" and that
death reveals the infinite love of God
and most effectively vanquishes sin
within the sinner.
A third distinctive feature of the
Christian religion is its regenerative
and restorative power. The great
teacher and savior of men declares that
they must be born from above, if they
are saved. What is regeneration? 1t
is that divine influence exerted upon
the heart by the Holy Spirit through
the fundamentally of the truth by
which the governing disposition of the
heart is changed. 1t is the infusion of
F@-nu~n.-..---------------~--