Newport weekly independent., 1902-05-30
The Power of the Cross.

Of God.
 The Power of the Cross
 Text.-For I determined not to know any thing among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.-1 Corinthians, 2:2.
 Ut was a hazardous thing for the apostle to announce this to the Corin- thians," declares Rev. $. Parkes Cad man, D. D., in a sermon written for the New York Witness. "They were people who rejoiced in a va riety of gifts and were eager to express themselves in mani fold ways. Breadth of view and inclu- sive sympathy seemed to be necessary in order to succeed among them. They were prone to turn away from the Christian system and were especially sensitive to the offense of the Cross.'
 "St. Paul made this bold assertion of the compelling theme of his minis try among them, because he perfectly understood them and was determined to bring their acts and habits and as- pirations beneath the unifying power of great principle, which was the moral and spiritual dynamic of the uni verse, the solution of all mystery, and the clarifying of all aim. People who turn away from systematized religion to-day are the intellectual children of these proud Corinthians, inheriting their weakness as we'll as their strength. Men and women are found everywhere who possess capacity for the right and it's doing, and indigna- inc of In their various walks of life they follow after an ideal; they know the nobility of self-repression and of labor for the social estate; they are kindly, honest and gracious, but they tell us that the evangelical faith has poverty aspects and neglects some things which are all important to them. be- cause apart from them they could not live their lives"
 Dr. Cadman claims that there are several ting features in this announcement of St. Paul which will help us to understand each other bet ter. For most of the differences which vex our progress are due to the dim ness of our earthly vision, and St. Paul urges upon us his voluntary dedication of all knowledge beneath the superior knowledge of the power of the Cross, because
 First. he says, nothing is discarded which is legitimate. minor themes are not lost but they are absorbed in the major one. A second point he makes is that "the power of the cross is the power of a fact" The explanation of that fact we may only attempt, but the fact itself shines steadily on, un- hindered by warning statements.
 ''But, further, the power of the cross is happily expressed in the text, in the combination of the person of Jesus with the principle of sacrifice.
 And lastly, the power of the cross, as we survey the future, is multiply ing power. There are two classes of religious forces, those which absorb and those which are absorbed by them, and the cross is the supreme absorb ent, whose vitality, always recurring, can never be impaired. Rest assured, you cannot eXaggerate this statement and there is no need to qualify it. It is the legitimate generalization of Christian manhood, Christian thought and Christian effort. While dialectics change and literary fashions decay, the pledge of the permanence of the cross is in the person who died there on and in the need of man for the bene fits of that passion and death.
 Let us dismiss our fears and weep not for the Cross Bearer, but for our- selves and for our unfaithfulness and our lukewarmness. For did all tongues fail and all prophecies cease, the holy hill of Golgotha would send out afresh new light and truth. There shall we keep our tryst with men and with the Father of men, and if we fail, God will raise up ministers and peoples which appear dumb as the stones of the streets, and they that are far off He will bring nigh, until the work has been completed, which is pledged by the very manner of it's beginning to completion. Then shall the High Priest of our profession prof. fer unto God the Father Rims elf the Kingdom thus recreated, and having delivered it up, God shall be all and in all."
 
 Gist of Many Sermons.
 Tn the divine sight unselfish exist