Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-02-07
PULPIT TOPICS SUNDAY
Synopsis Of Some Of the Sermons
Delivered.
spirit Filled Iiyc" by DR.. Iohnsou,
at Cumberland street N. L. Church
-"Jndging" Discussed bv Rev.
Smith, Ut Disciples Church.

an able sermon on the spirit Filled
Life" taking as his text, Eph. Sis:
And be not drunk with wine wherein
Is excess. but he filled with the Spirit"
The Doctor said that the text was
n peculiar one, because of the two op-
posLtes contained in it-one being the
spirit OF evil, the other the spirit of
good.
"A man filled with intoxicants it not
himself. He Will expose matters con-
nected with his domestic affairs, IL he
Is man of family. He is not in his
normal state. Ho will roll in the gut
ter, get covered with filth and mud:
he will walk the streets in that con-
dition and commit many other acts
that he would disdain to do II in his
right mind. I
On the other hand IL he is filed with
the spirit of good he will be free from
All selfshness. and his life will be upon
the highest plane reaching beyond the
nero moral and intellectual into the
realm Of the spirit.
The reason the church to-day is not
more alive to It's great work and in
terest is because It is not filled with
the spirit Of the Master.
III the more than six hundred mem
beers OF Cumberland Street Church
were panoplied with the whole armor
captured for Christ and the revolution
In society would be so uniform and
great that O. purer and better state OF
things would permeate the entire city.
A church united to Its Divine Lord can
pull down and demolish the strong
holds Of Sin and erect thereon the Ark
Of Salvation"
JUDGING.
Rev. w. f. Smith preaching Sunday
morning at the Freemason Street
Church of Christ taking as his subject.
Judging" Matt. 7th. and said:
The inward and logical act OF judg-
Ing depends for It's quality upon It's
motive. Hence the context of the word
determines It's value. In Matt. IL 1t is
used in It's bad sense as is shown by
the prohibition and penalty. The pen
atty Is no hindrance to a merciful and
loving Judgment. The question about
attention fixed upon another's mote to
the neglect OF your own beam Is not
complimentary. SO address your friend
and he will understand you to charge
him with Hypocrisy. Such persons are
hypocrites. because. by professions they
oppose notes. by practice they tolerate
beams. They are not opposed to OBJ
structlons in the eye. They dislike
some eyes. Hence Judge not condemns
censorious o1iicious thinking. We are
not to judge. Yet the context says that
we are to Judge. Hear II. Our Savior
declares that the eye from which the
beam is drawn will see more clearly.
Not blindness. but the removal of the
mote also Is contemplated. The work
and safety OF the disciples requires
them to decide who are dogs" Swine"
and wolves"
About those in whom we are inter-
ested we must think. Piety increases
our interest. Shall thought travel for
ever and reach no station. the mind
work. and produce no conclusion? And
is not such conclusion Il judgment?
And is not such judgment allowed
when Its law is given in the woIGg,
"By their fruits we shall know them"
Isaiah on dumb dogs" and Ezekiel
OH silent watchmen and the New Tcs-
lament on our duties towards certain
classes and descriptions of persons
make safe the assertion that We are To
judge. We are not TO judge and we are
to judge.
Both statements are true because the
word Eve" does not refer to the same
characters. We who have first re-
moved the beams from our own eyes
have duty and an office from the
Lord to rebuke, eXhort. reprove and
teach. What, then, Is the beam? 1t
is the spirit and practice of harsh cen
serious decisions upon the conduct OF
others. 1t condemns a man with zest,
rather than his sin with sorrow. This
disposition Is to any fault which we
may volunteer to correct in another rs
mote. With 1t in our hearts we have
no office from God. no duty of correct
ing our fellows. In this spirit we dare
not think of them. We must be gov
erned by love or on we go to our own
destruction. Hence Jesus names this
solution in the Golden Rule which is
here found: Love never falls and
gives place to disgust, envy impatience
or any other temper. Are we to be at
ease with this teaching? Was Jesus a
great talker? or did he speak only nee
esSary words?
How are we to overcome and reach
such high love? The answer is here
and it has two sides. One is intense
effort and 1t is expressed in the words
ASK" seek" and knock" The other
is Gods strength received through
prayer. ASK and yet shall receive"
Great is the sweep of the tornado and
the movement of the avalanche. but
more irresistible than either is the pro
gressive righteousness OF the decided
soul clad with Gods armor and In
prayer sustained by the mightiest force
In the universe. And Jesus spake a
parable unto them to the end that they
ought always to pray and not to faint"
MYTHS AND LEGENDS.
Rev DIR. w. ]. Young preached at
Epworth M. L. Church Sunday night
the first of the series OF sermons on
The Myths and Legends of Christian
Lands" his subject being THE Super
stitions Of Every Day, Life" He said,
in part:
These shperstitions seem we'll nigh
ineradicable. This would seem to indi-
cate that there is in every mind some
realization of the supernatural-we all
feel that there is more in nature than
what we see Even IL we trace our re-
iigious beliefs back to the savage state.
as some forms Of skepticIsm would
ct