The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-09-25

deserving the righteous judgment Of God.
WORLD ADVANCING.
1t is true that for all these centuries
the world has been advancing. | believe |
In human progress. Tho world does not
go round in its old track. Nevertheless
Pauls classification nolds good today
Sweep the horizon of your widest vision.
Il is Greek and Barbarian still, ard
when we study human history and human
hearts we are left to say that after the
wonderful progress some would have us
believe has been made, there is none
righteous, no not one.
The field for Gospel preaching then, Is
practically what II was when Paul went
to Rome. But Paul went to Rome; fnd
also, he went to Athens and Corinth.
That is to say. when he would get n foot
ing for the Gospel in Europe he went to
the literary, the commercial and mill
tary centers. 1 cannot think he went to
these cities by accident. He lad his eve
on them, not because II would bring any
easier work. for never sought tn"
easiest place: he left small mon look
for easy berths.
Paul was not only an enthusiast. he
was n strategist. He took in ;he whole
of the campaign. Like Grant, who
mapped out the war, he centered his
| blows on strategic points, so Paul looked
| across the darkness Of Europe. saw three
! and its darkest stage; he saw Athens
| with its elegant and goddess religlosity;
| Corinth with its thronging crowds at
white heat of commercial ambition; Rome
| making roads all over Europc-and he
said: "Give me these centers for Christ,
and they will carry out the Gospel TO
the pillars of Hercules" And Paul was
| right.
Does some sylvan philosopher say
| "Cities have lost their pre-emlncnCc;
| they no longer monopolize the culture
or brains of the continent" There may
| be some truth in the statement, never
| theless, cities today as In the Roman
| empire are the controlling and piopcllnC
force of society. The heart is a great
pump. Cities are the heart of the ma
tion. All roads went from Rome as well
| as to it.
The city gathers up the average life of
| the nation and filings it abroad. Here
| are the mill races. Into them come the
| leisurely streams from field and forest.
| In their compression they are shot white
| and quivering against the wheels that
| Grinds the nations gr!st.
| After Rome came Constan tinople, the
| gateway of the east and Alexandria, ;he
| gateway Of the south. And later when
Europe was to be awakened from her
| iorg sleep, it was from Geneva that the
| Alps heard the reformation cry.
| | think the demand for city evangelical
ton more eXigent today than Il was in
| the days of Paul. Tho streams Of life
| of this continent are tending towards
| cities at a tremendous rate, gathering at
once the elements of power and peril
There is the energy to lift us up, and
| there is also the dynamite to blow us up.
LARGE CITIES VICIOUS.
1t is in our large cities that the rats
Of social vice and business vice are
swarming like vermin. Let MS not de-
ceive ourselves The gospel in the city
does not mean merely fine churches on
fine avenues.
If 1t does, the downfall of chur ,hly
Rome may be ours. Pauls conception of
the gospel carried II equally to the slave
in the quarry and the Caesar on the
throne. And we will be true to the gen.
ius Of the gospel when we have courage
and faith to match it against the saddest
and the worst: 10 carry 1t to the pur-
lines of vice and the dens of infamy, and
say, here is liberty for every captive, com
fort in every sorrow, and hope for the
hopeless.
AS to the message Paul brought tc
Rome during those years that he dwell
in his own hired house. those sermons
belong to the silences of Scripture. But
knowing the man we may have an idea
of his message to the gay and dissolutt
city. We can imagine how he almost
broke his'heart over them, und with wha
pathos and ringing logic he must have
arraigned them for their sins and of
fered them the Savior.
We have also his letter to the Romans
That gives us the message of his lov
ing voice. I believe Paurs method o
! saving men must be ours. The Gospel h
preached must be the message for today
: His message was truth-telling abou
their condition. In these days Of ros
leaves and rose water preaching W
would call it severe. 1t would be to-
: plain for polite ears.
? 1t was a terrific catalogue of sins an
: crimes of which the Romans were guilty
2 1t is an Indictment to be guilty of tina
| which brings the sure judgment of jus
tice. Paul, over these crying sins, erecte
I the white throne of God, assuring ther
that Jew and Gentle fell equally unde
it's condemnation. Again his gospel wa
| revelation of hope even for desperat
| sinners through faith IN a redeemel
over against the Ebal OF their crimes h
a thrusts into view the gerizim of hope.
BLESSEDNESS EQUAL
: And the blessedness was always equall
9 for the Jew and Gentle. In graphic pic
, turing he shows the body of death-th
I carnal life-and the chains that bind til
man, as face TO face against that corps
n until he Is forced to cry as in hopeles
9 agony, "Who shall deliver me from til
n body of this death" Then, as if gettin
/, a sudden flash of Christs delivering han,
# his means burn into triumph. II than
8 God through Jesus Christ our Lord" an
g then he lifts their thoughts above then
l, | selves-CarTies them as on eagles win
l. upward above their sins
q No condemnation is the bound wit
Il which he springs upward. He sees eve
the sorrows around strangely transhgu
Is ed, the very suffering of this world b,
II coming evidences of approaching glor
IS And so he rises on through that eight
Q. chapter of Romans the sunlit summit
e the word of God. The very gates
It heaven seem to burst open before h
It triumphal cry.
le l am persuaded that neither death m
1t life nor angel shall be able TO separa
le me from the love Of God which is
rs Christ Jesus. His Gospel is like n risir
n stairway of truth, fairer than pentel
II marble, leading from ruin, Ihroul
righteousness to redemption.
- I have said Paul was an orator mo
le than a peer of Cicero, but his messai
ld was not depending on elocution for powe
Id but by the majesty and power of Il
n truth delivered by a soul on fire. II
re words were mighty only through Go
TX Glance a moment into the judgment hs
d. at Caesarea. There he stands nothil
= commanding in his personal appearance
Agrippa is before him. Hear him as
makes his mastery defence, there
something in the courage and the weg
of his words which holds the audien
spellbound.
IN DErSTT IVGS rIIARrE