The record-union., 1899-05-08
RIGHTEOUSNESS
MINISTER'S BEST SERVICE TO
HIS FLOCK.
Sermon by Rev. j. B. Silcox on the
23d Anniversary of His Work
Y in the Pulpit.


23d Anniversary of His Work
e in the Pulpit.
Rev. ]. B. Silcox, in the Congrega-
tional Church yesterday morning, an
snounced that twenty three years ago,
on the first Sunday morning in May, he
preached his first sermon as pastor of
church. 1t has been his custom to
commemorate this event by preach-
.ang sermon on some aspect OF the
preachers work. His theme yesterday,
he said, would be THE Preaching or
righteousness He selected his text
from the ninth verse of the Fortieth
Psalm, Il have preached righteousness
IN the great congregation. He said:
No higher ideal of ministerial fidelity
can be suggested than these words, |
have preached righteousness in the
great congregation. Lo, 1 have not re-
Trained my lips, o Lord, Thou knowest.
Il have not hid Thy righteousness with
in my heart. 1 have declared Thy faith
fulness and Thy salvation. l have not
concealed Thy loving kindness and Thy
truth from the great congregation.
8 The best service the minister can
render the people is to deliver to them
the message he has received from God
The word of the Lord that came to
Jonah comes to the true preacher to-
day. Arise, go unto Nirrevan, t-lat
great city, and preach unto it the
preaching that 1 bid thee" The word of
the Lord that came to jeremiah come
to men in the pulpit to-day Thou,
therefore, grid up thy loins and arise
and speak unto them all that I COM
mand thee, be not dismayed at their
faces"
The worlds great preachers have
<been mighty voices of God to the ma
zion. Luthers message evangelical all
Europe Wesley did more for. the moral
regeneration of England than all the
oathedrals and colleges combined The
preaching of Paul und ermined Caesar
ism and gave wings to freedom. The
sermons of Puritan preachers shattered
the doctrine of the divine right of kings
and paved the way for modern democra-
cy- Jesus began His work as a social
performer by saying, "The Lord hath
anOinted me to preach" The saliva
ton of men and of society depends
largely on preaching. There is no regen-
Grating, reforming power equal to the
power of divine truth coming direct
from the heart and brain of the heaven
sent preacher. Ruskin is right in say
Ing No hour in all the week is so
precious to civilization as the one in
which some prophet tries to raise the
dead in a single hour A pulpit loyal
to the truth of God, devoted to the up
lifting of humanity, has illimitable pos
sibilities before it,. He who can throw
some of heavens clear light on cart h 5
dark problem and bring some of heav-
ems glad comfort to earths sad heart.
has a mission that an angel might
covet. God seldom gets SO close to the
heart and conscience of man as when
He is voicing Himself through a preach.
er whom He has called and qualified.
When prophet of God stands in a
pulpit to- announce a great truth, to
denounce great wrong, you have a
sort of day of Judgment brought down
into the very midst of throbbing human
life. Jesus is present wherever His
truth is faithfully and lovingly pro-
claimed Go preach, he said, and 10,
l am with you
The preacher of righteousness will
seek TO create and foster individual and
social righteousness He will urge men
TO get right with God, with themselves
and their neighbors. He will make it
emphatically clear that without right
eousness or holiness no man shall see
the Lord here or hereafter He will
seek to create in men passion for
Righteousness, SO that they will hunger
and thirst after it and be willing to
bear persecution for the righteous cause
Jesus was insistent and consistent in
demanding a high type of character in
His followers. He founded His kingdom
on character. The sermon on the mount
Is Chiists explanation of what right
eousneSs is 1t is righteousness of heart
as Well as of hand If a man does not
Delleve. IN the Sermon on the Mount and
believe in 1t in the sense that he I'M
dertakeS to live it, he does not believe
IN Jesus and can by no figure of speech
be called a disciple of Jesus The ideal
of character held up in this mountain
sermon Is part and parcel of the Gospel
message 1t Is the Christ standard of
character for all humanity. These are
the laws of the kingdom Jesus came to
establish Obedience to these laws is
required of all who would be subjects
OF his kingdom Jesus did not say that
faith constituted citizenship in the
Kingdom of God. He said that obedi,
ence was the door into the kingdom.
He that doeth the will of my Father
IN heaven" shall be accorded citizen
ship in the Kingdom of Heaven. When
He had come to the end of the sermon
He said, Every one that heareth these
sayings of mine and doeth them builds
on the rock and is safe. Every one that
heareths these sayings and doeth them
not builds on sand and invites disaster ::
Believing something about Jesus
does not make man a Christian. Ac-
cepting the historic facts concerning
Jesus does not make a man a Christian.
Your Willingness that Jesus should
save your soul and take you to heaven
when you die is no evidence that vol,
are in the Kingdom of God. You NAV
believe in the divinity of Jesus and ho,d
the doctrine of the atonement and vet
not be in sight of the Kingdom of God.
Faith saves only as it leads to a holy
life. Faith in Jesus is faith in His laws
as well as His love. He that hath
my commandments and keepeth them.
he 1t is that loveth me and is in my
Kingdom. If your religion does not