The times., 1901-04-29

President Attends the Service.
The President occupied his pew al the
METROPOLITAN Methodist Episcopal Church
yesterday morning. The pastor, Rev
Frank NJ Bristol, preached on The
Greatness Of Service" taking as his text
Phil liz: And he took upon him the
form Of a servant" He said in part:
Jesus Christ is the worlds ideal Of
personal power, greatness, and use
fulness. He shows us the way to highest
usefulness by treading the path of hu-
mility and pain and advancing thereby to
moral supremacy. Between every soul
and its throne there is a wilderness Of
temptation, a worlds appeal for light and
help, a Gethsemane of surrender to the
will of God a Calvary of crucifixion,
resurrection of vindication, and an ascen-
sion; an opening of the heavenly gates,
an uplifting of the everlasting doors. He
who humbled himself was highly exalted;
he who took upon him the form of a ser
want was at last permitted to take on him
the form of a king. Is there law of
power usefulness, and exaltation here
revealed to us in the method of the Christ
life? Must not every soul pay the price
of goodness, honor, righteousness and
power? And is not the whole question Of
the souls destiny involved in ones will
ingness or unwillingness to pay that
price?
The successful business man must pay
the price of success. He cannot with
Walt Whitman, say: I loaf and invite
my soul His is not a gospel of leisure
but a gospel of labor. So the scholar and
the successful professional man must pay
the price of education, mastery. power.
He humbles himself, takes on him the
form of a servant, becomes obedient to
the laws of discipline, subordinates his
pride to his purpose. He waits. He takes
time to acquire poise, aim, reliance.
ability. He reckons with the future. He
bides his time, and his time comes. He
shall be exalted. He has paid the price
of power and he shall have it.
This law holds sway in the ethical
realm. in the spiritual life. The soul must
pay the price of moral quality, of purity,
/ generosity. high-mindedness. spiritual
vision, happiness. and the power to do
! good. It was said of Jesus that he was
made perfect through suffering Is every
soul thus willing to pay the price of per-
! fection?
Greatness is not an easy grace to wear.
1t imposes its burdens and infiicts it's
| pain upon the wearer. Many would be
great who never dreamed Of what 1t often
! costs to be great What it cost an Elijah
/ to be great What it cost Paul to be
! great What it cost a Savonarola to be
great What it cost Dante to be greatl
! What it cost a Lincoln to be great!
! Our dreams of power and usefulness
! are disturbed by this shadow of what it
costs a soul to be good and great, what
/ it costs a man to be a blessing to the
/ world. 1t takes great soul-stun in a man
| to choose to suffer afIictiOn with the
| people of God rather than to enjoy the
| pleasures of the world for a season,
| esteeming the reproach Of Christ as
greater riches than the treasures of
! Egypt. But a Moses appears only about
/ once in four or five Thousand years, just
! often enough to let the world know that
/ such a great soul is q possibility and TO
remind US Of the fact that the personal
/ power to move and mold centuries Of
/ thought and character IS to be had only
/ at price which large God-anointed
! souls have the courage to pay.
The courage to be all that II is pos
| sble for me to be; the courage to meas
ure up TO my ideal: the courage to be as
! good as God would have me be; the cOur-
age to open my soul TO all the fullness
/ of the divine life; the courage to face my
/ duty and DO it-that is the need and the
! demand And that simLiy means the
courage to humble self, become obedient,
/ take on the form of a servant; TO toll, TO
suffer, to sacrifice, TO serve, to save mat
/ is the way TO the throne The highest
/ throne is for the most faithful and most
/ useful servant.