The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-01-15
WORKING OUT SALVATION
Rev. DR.. Frank N. Bristol's Dis
course on Christian Character.
The President aud His Niece Attend
VI. T.. Church-Intercsting sermon
by the Pastor on the Gospel Theme,
"Mnn's Part In Justification"

"sInn'- Part in Ju-tifcntion."
President Mckinley. accompanied by
his niece, attended divince worship yes
terday at the Metropolitan NJ. T.. Church.
In the invocation Rev Frank NJ. Bristol
u. D.. the pastor. prayed earnestly for
the President of the United States and
all the authority in the National Gov
eminent, imploring that they might be
made to understand the will OF God.
The pastor preached the sermon from
the text: Work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling Philippians,
ii:12. BY way OF introducing his subject
DR.. Bristol said in substance that mans
character is the highest product of the
creative power OF God. 1t is invested
with the mighty power of choice and en-
dowed with the exercise of judgment be-
tween right and wrong. BY means Of it
the human being is a citizen of eternity
and a man of time. In his own hand he
holds all demoniacal power and the pos
sibility Of divine existence, and the choice
between the two resides in mans SOW
ereign will.
THE will is free or 1t Is not free, the
latter condition being the result of wholly
unnatural and abnormal circumstances or
surroundings by which the will becomes
enslaved. We know that the will is free,
ana it is unnecessary to speak of
the free will as OF wet water sweet
sugar. or sour acid. Moreover. We are
conscious of free choice in all the affairs
OF life. God has not only given man ali
the qualities OF other beings, but has
endowed him with glory and honor by
creating him a free agent and by plac-
ing in his hands the control of his own
destiny. God made him a little lower
than the angels.
I'VE cannot think of man otherwise than
as a creature OF responsibility for his acts.
Character. though acquired or hereditary.
does not assume its essential features as
the block of marble does under the hand of
the sculptor. Nor Is character hereditary
except In certain features or tendencies.
Man, on the contrary, must make himself.
He is the only being who can and the only
enc who must work out his own salvation.
Christianity ia founded in this fact OF free
agency, aud the whole scheme of redemp-
tion. justification. and Qualification depends
upon 1t.
There is seeming conflict. it is true.
among the writer's OF the New Testament
on this question. One says we are saved
by grace, another by faith. another b.
works. and another by the knowledge and
fulhIlment of the law. 1t is true salvation
depends upon all of these, but nowhere Go
we read that IL depends upon one alone.
There is a plan of salvation just as there
was plan for Solomon's temple.
I'm the working cut of mans salvation it
begins in choice. And when the Will
finally yields to the divine influence. the
work OF degeneration is instantaneous and
effective. The man is saved from that hour
4 miracle has been wrought in his moral
nature. and the writer of old was right in
saying. 'Ye are saved by grace. Then the
act OF faith following that Of obedience to
the will Of God is an important step In the
process of salvation. II soIidifes the prin-
ciple of regeneration and gives stability to
the Christian purpose, and the apostle was
right in saying that by faith are ye saved
Faith finds its natural expression in works.
hence the injunction that faith without
works Is dead Finall., We are admonish
ed in Scripture that salvation depends upon
the knowledge and keeping OF the law
Salvation depends upon many things.
and has many steps in its development.
and each of the forces mentioned enter
into the final result OF full-fedged Chris
tan character
1T Is essential to the Christian scheme
that no part of the man is lost in the
process OF salvation. The kingdom of God
is not one of violence or force. The ents
OF divine grace are secure in the heart.
and the man himself is responsible for
their proper cultivation and for bringfn.
them to perfection.
God has made it possible for man to
work out his salvation by giving him the
opportunity by making him a moral agent,
and by surrounding him with the facili-
ties for framing HIS own destiny. God
gives his grace. but man must develop
virtue and moral principle. It is the work
OF years.
Man was not placed in the world Until
the earth was clothed with heritage, trees,
fruit, flowers. and animals suited to his
use The Creator had minerals and metals
In the hHlsides and surrounded man with
all things requisite for working out his
material progress as an Individual and
civilization in his collective capacity. Man
got food in the chase and ate bread by the
sweat of his brow. He was to create
nothing. but was to take the things already
created and build upon them He was not
to create fruit but to subsist upon it. He
was not to create timothy seed. but TO
build a haystack from the seed that was
given him. He was to build a locomotive
from the ore in the mountains. and TO send
a telegram by the flash of lightning
already in the storm-cloud ready for his
use History shows how man has worked
out his material salvation and his educa-
tional advancement by making use Of -
gifts OF tod.
Precisely so il must be in the moral
sphere. We are to take the gifts Of reve-
lation and atouement and work out our
salvation with fear and trembling
Salvation Is the accumulation of
thousand deeds virtues, and endeavors in
well doing that have been accomplished
through the years"