The age-herald., 1901-05-06
AN ABLE SERMON BY . DR, ]. P, M'FERRIN 
 What We Need in UpbuiIding
 Our Characters FIRST METHODIST. CHURCH We Must Acquire Knowledge, the Bl. ble Puts No Restrictions Upon an Enquirine Spirlts-our Greatest
 Danger Is Ourselves.
FIRST METHODIST. CHURCH

Rev, pr. J. P. McFerrin preached an eloquent sermon yesterday morning at the First Methodist Church on the subject of
 character building. his text being from II Peter. 1;3-S. Whereby are given unto
 us exceeding great and precious promises:
 that by these ye might be partakers of
 the divine nature having escaped the cor
 ruption that is in tho world through lust"
 'Tho important work that we have to
 do in this life as regards ourselves" said
 pr. McFerrin, lis to build up character The apostle In the words we have read
 tells us how. He first informed us that Divine power has given us all things nec-
 essary for the development of life. We
 cannot unaided, build up ourselves We have exceeding great promises that God
 will help us and the inspiring ideal that
 he holds out to us Is that we have natures that may partake of the divine. Man is
 not all animal. That which he has in common with the brute creation. and of which some make so much. Is but an in significant part of him He has a nature akin to God and capable of becoming
 more and more like him every day. If 1t were not for this nature there would be
 no need of the apostles exhortation to build up ourselves, or the Instructions as how to proceed.
 We are told that to faith we must add l virtue. Faith is the foundation of all lifa | and more particularly of the spiritual life | A man must believe in the infinite, in the mighty forces that work In this universe. | in a personal force in a God. A belief in
 God Is the foundation of all obligation, l and therefore of character But we must atn ayith u;hn ct l there has but one layer, so to speak. on
 the foundation of character. He must ex- ercise faith or lose 1t, and in the exercise of it, virtue Is supplied. -s This word virtue is used in the sense of manliness, valor. courage. We are to be strong and manly in our faith. for | we are to arise above the infirmities of | our natures, and overcome the evils and | temptations of the world. Character Is not only to be beautiful
 but strong. To be Christian does not
 mean to be a weakling. No one can be a
 man in all that manhood implies without being Christian, for Christianity de-
 mands strong minds, strong affections l sErong characters.
 "What are the causes of human wreck ] age? Why have so many gone down in defeat in the battle of life? Because they | lacked this very quality of manliness. l Temptations came and they were over 1 come; trials assailed and they succumbed. | Seductive voices whispered and they
 needed and yielded; the world with it's
 manifold entieements allured and they
 followed to their ruin. Young men are
 often ashamed to confess Christ and walk I in His ways for fear they will be regarded
 as weak
 Pray tell me, which is the weaker he
 who yields to a temptation, or he who overcomes; the man of impure thoughts n nv,6 hah h xrr1.o xxytlI .1I. l unciean thing to cloud the Armament of | his soul; the man who tells the truth to
 his own hurt, or he who lies for tenn porary advantage: the man of starving | honesty, or of successful fraud; the man who will sell himself for millions. or for | paltry gain or for position, or he whom I all the gold and srowns of earth cannot | allure from the path of right? Qoung
 gentlemen, don't be deceived Into the be-
 lief that the religion of Jesus Christ Is a weak thing, and appeals only to weak men. It demands the strongest traits of character, and has developed the man | Hest of men. Go look at the world 8 strong man. after a decade. if indeed he | lives so long in a life of sin. He Is a | victim to strong drink impurity has stamped It's image on his face and writ | ten it's sentence of doom all over his body | Long before the sun of life has reached | its noon, shattered in body and decrepit | in soul he totters to an early and dis | honored grave He had not the manli- | ness to say no; thought 1t weak to be | good, and silly to be sound in moral con- | ducr I have seen young men laugh and | turn up their noses at the good young | man, and regard him as weak because he would not run with them in the ways to | do evil, and years afterward I have seen | the good youn gman in positions of trust and honor, respected an dbeloved by all m VI nf | would-be seducers had either perished | from memory or stood out as symbols of wreck and ruin.
 Add Knowledge to Courage. When vice is popular and sinners en- tice. 1t requires manliness and courage to turn deaf ear and pursue the way of
 truth. To this strength of manliness or | courage we are to add knowledge. We | must know the right and to know the | right, we must have the true light. How often we have said: If had known
 what I know now. would not have done
 as did. Knowledge is necessary to avoid
 mistakes. 1t is a mans duty to know. and to know all he can. Tn no true sense was ignorance ever
 bliss; and 1t was never folly to be wise. | The man whose heart is set to do the right has nothing to fear from study and | research, The courage which faith sup | plies Is evidenced by the fact that 1t
 trusts us out into all the works and ways | of God to learn all that deep thought and
 potient investigation will reveal I have
 no sympathy with that feeling of dread
 of consequences from investigation and
 flndin gout the whole truth. The Bible | puts no restrictions upon inquiring
 spirit God. for His throne. would not letter a human mind. He throws wide | open all the doors of his kingdom and in-
 vites us to enter and learn Search and investigate in any and all departments
 of knowledge and you will never find
 anything that will contradict or set aside