The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-29
AN IDEAL CHRISTIAN LIFE
Discourse of the Rev. Dr. Bristol at
Metropolitan NJ. Z. Church.
Great Attainmenis in All Lines of
business the Result of SeIf-Denial
High Impulses Necessary - The
President Attends the Service.

The President occupied his pew at the
Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church
yesterday morning. The pastor. Rev.
Frank n. Bristol, preached on Tue
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
funess. 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 crucifxion,
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 ser
want was at last permitted to take on him
the form of 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, hoLor, righteousness, and
power? And is not the whole question of
the souls destiny involved in ones will
.ngness or unwillingness to pay that
price?
THE successful business man must pay
the price OF success. He cannot with
Walt Whitman, say: L loaf and invite
my SOUL His is not a gospel Of leisure
but 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 reclons 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 1t.
This law holds sway in the ethical
realm, in the spiritual life. The soul must
| pay the price of moral quality, of purity,
! generosity. Observation-Disclosures, spiritual
vision. happiness. and the power to do
good. 1t was said of Jesus that he was
made perfect through suffering. Is every
soul thus willing to pay the price of per-
| fcction?
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 1t cost a Savonarola to be
| great What il cost a Dante to be greati
What it cost a Lincoln to be great!
Our dreams of power and usefulness
! are disturbed by this shadow of what it
| costs soul to be good and great, what
| it costs man to be blessing to the
world. 1t takes great soul-stun in man
| to choose to suffer afiliction 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 world know that
! such a great soul is possibility and to
remind us of the fact that the personal
power to move and mold centuries or
| 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 1t is pos
| sible 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 ana the
| demand And that Simply means the
! courage to humble self, become obed;ent.
| take on the form of a servant; to toll. TO
| suffer- to sacrifice, TO serve, to save Ihat
| is the way to the throne. The highest
| throne is for the most faithful and most
useful servant