The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-12-17


 Morality-The Necessity of the Fact oi
 Redemption.
 Rev. Dr. c. T. Purves of New York city occupied the pulpit in Battell chap el yesterday morning and addressed the general religious meeting of the univer- sity in Dwight hall in the evening" The text for the morning sermon was taken from I Corinthians, i, 17, For Christ sent me, not to baptize, but to preach the gospel" Rev. Dr. Purves said in part:
 Much depends in mans views of truth and duty on where he puts the emphasis. In the same creed two men @4nay have almost opposite views, be- cause one puts the emphasis upon some one article. and the other an another article or articles of the creed. Be- cause men have a defective sense of perspective in judging what is written in it's ultimate meaning their differences are apt to result in totally false views and beliefs. So by proper regard of where to put the emphasis we may group the great truths of the Bible that the minor truths will move about their separate centers like stars about the sun.
 "So in the text above Paul did not mean to say anything derogatory of the sacrament of baptism. He means sim ply that in comparison to his mission to reach the gospel this religious form is of little importance. For him the su- preme overmastering purpose was the apostolic function to preach Jesus of the resurrection to mankind. Not the forms of worship, but the great concep- tions of sin and the redemption from sin God and His salvation, these truths were uppermost and filled the action of Pauls life. The trouble with the Church of the Corinthians to whom Paul ad- dressed the words of the text was that in their bickerings as to the proper manner of worship they had forgotten to put the emphasis on these truths.
 NOW it is certain that the Bible does lay stress upon some particular truths. The Bible is built up by a certain prin- ciple of selection. It selects. those por tions of history which bear most inti- mately upon the direct relations of God toward the chosen people. It operates by selection of literature. We know that there were many other productions of similar natur to the Bible which through the ages have been rejected and only the most valuable books have come down to us. Jesus did many oth- CT things than are recorded of Him in the New Testament, and those things that are recorded serve to tell how we may, through His meditation, be saved. | We find also that in the Bible there are parts of greater and of less importance; that the less parts are so grouped>as to 1 lead up to the greater by kind of cli- | max; that there Is proportional, archi- | tectural idea in it's building; that God | communicates His great ideas finally to appear set off in such a manner that they seem, as it were, underscored. On this canvas of human life, the Bible, we find printed and set off by blendings of ] light and shadow so that they cannot be mistaken three Fundamental truths. First comes the idea that religion rep- resents the relation between the indi- vidual person and a personal God. The soul holds communion with personal Savior. Next, the emphasis of the Bi- be rests upon the religious character of That which conscience tells us is the moral law the thunders of Sinai repeat and lay down to us again as part of religion. And, finally, in that which is the soul of the body in the Bible, the emphasis lies on the neces- sity of the fact of redemption. I need not tell you that the central thought of the Bible, the meaning of the ritual of the church, the theme of the evangel- ists, the vision of the seers, center in Jesus Christ.
 q appeal from the fact of redemption which embraces all, that you as stu dents may study all other truths in the manner by which they are grouped about this one central thought of life. appeal to those who know the accusa- ton of a guilty conscience, who know : the stress of temptation, however they may be circumstanced, to learn that final and most emphatic fact of the ( atonement which God made for the sin- ler and the assurance which God gave ] for the pardon of his sins'