Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1902-12-18
LIVE IN THE SUNSHINE"
An Eloquent Sunday Discourse BY DR..
Chapman.
Path Produces Men, and Their Living 10 the
World Is Contending For the Faith..Keep.
Ing In the Love Of God.

only twenty-five verses. 1t is, perhaps, the
last of the epistles. Though the date is not
definitely settled, it was probably written
after the destruction OF Jerusalem, when
most Of the apostles had finished their
humility in the letter. The writer called
himself servant, and the bondsman of
Jesus Christ and the brother of James, and
that is beautiful modesty, for, in fact,
it is generally believed that he was the
Lords own brother and the son of Joseph
and Mary.
To no particular church or people was
the letter written. but the accounts make
practical. The heart of Jude. was stirred
because certain men We're denying God
and the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, be.
cause of this, Il exhort you that you
should contend earnestly for the faith once
delivered to the saints" That expression
in the Greek, however, reads for the faith
delivered "once and for alp to the saints.
the days of Jude and before then. Read.
ing on to the twentieth and twenty-ffth
verses they indicate that we are expected
to contend as did the early disciples.
1t has always seemed to me that faith
produced men, and their living in the
world was ccntending for the faith. We
have the pattern of the life Of the apos'
|
the Acts of the Apostle, the letters of Paul,
Peter, John, and, better still, the wonder
full prayer of Christ in the seventeenth
chapter of John, you will see that there
were three great elements in their char.
acter They were in the world but not OF
ii; they were constantly looking for the
coming of Christ, and they were filled
with missionary fire and zeal. These three
| characteristics must predominant now II
the church is to have power. When one
is iii the world and not of it he realizes
he is a pilgrim and stranger here, and he
| endures trials and temptations because he
J knows that they are but for a little while
The second characteristic has just as great
am influence. The disciples were constant
ly exp ,,cting the return of our Lord; they
| remembered the testimony of the men who
had heard the angels on the slopes of Oil
vet, and again and again they opened their
eyes, expecting to behold Him face to face,
1t was this hope in their hearts which in.
spired their lives. TRANSPORTED the cross
and it's shame and kept them pure in the
midst Of all temptation and sin.
The third characteristic is equally i'm
portant. How much we need to long for
the salvation of others! Nothing SO
touches the hidden springs of the Christian
heart DIS to feel in some measure that he Is
responsible for those about him. Some one
| has said, when God would draw out all the
| fathom,eSs love of woman's heart, He
lays a helpless babe upon her bosom, and
it is true that the church will awake to
power when she awakes to responsibility.
! There is something which / have in mind
which will give us all the things ] have
| spoken about. 1t is described in the text.
If there could be any subject growing out
OF the text to describe it. | should say that
it would be Live in the sunshine |
know what the sunshine does, for the
| clouds; it gives them a silver lining.
know what it does for the grass and the
| trees and the flowers; it warns and nour,
ishes until they blossom into beauty and
fruitfulness. Take the plant away from
the light and it will droop and die; place
it where the sun will kiss it and every leaf
reioicss. This is the very poorest ilustra.
| ton as to what the love of God will do for
us, so let us keep ourselves in the love OF
God
L. That word keep is the key word of
Jude's epistle. In it we are told that God
will keep US but we are also told to keep
ourselves. We are told to perseverc, but
it is also said we will be preserved This
is God and man working together, and it is
singular, TO say the least, that the word
preserve and the word "persevere' are
composed of exactly the same letters. The
literal rendering of the expression that
God will keep us is "as in a garrison" How
secure. then, we must be.
HOW MAY WE KEEP OURSELVES IN
THE LOVE OF GOD?
l. No way SO efficient as by prayer.
There are different kinds OF prayer. Jacob
prayed when he met the angel of Jabbok,
and had his name changed from Jacob to
Israel. Moses prayed when he plead with
God to look with favor again upon His
chosen people. Christ prayed in the gar
den, for it is said Being in an agony, He
Ru u.
the kind OF prayer | have in mind it is
rather the kind that Christ offered when
He was alone on The mountain with God,
l imagine the Father talked with Him
more than He with the Father. 1t is tho
kind that David describes when he says:
My meditation of Him shall be sweet"
Faith is the eye with which we can see
God, and meditation the wing with which
we fly to Him. 1t is the kind of prayer
offered when the suppliant feels that he is
the only one in all the universe; it is the
kind of prayer which if our mother could
hear, or the dearest friend we had Oil
earth, we should feel that it had been di
verified and had not reached God. 1t is the
kind of prayer we offer when we let God
talk to us as well as talk to Him. This will
keep us in the love of God.
?. Few things will so help as this old
book, the Bible Two gentlemen were rid,
ing together, and when they were about
to separate one asked the other. DO YOU
ever read your Bibe?" yes" said his
friend; 81 do, but receive no benefit be,
cause [ feel that | do not love Cod
Neither did t., replied the other, but
God loved me- and that answer fairly
lifted the man into the skies, for it gavu
him a new thought. The question is not
at all as to how much | love God, but
rather as to how much God loves me.
Read the Bible in that way and it will help
you to live in the text.
Love dictated every word, lovo selected
every sentence, love presented every prov.
idence, love sent Christ to die upon the
cross, and you can not read it in this way
without keeping yourself in the love OF
God.
3. All the means of grace will keep us,
but if there is one above another it would
be the Lords Supper. The very coming
to the table and taking that which repre-.
the soul into such condition that it is one
with Christ. He that hath seen Christ
hath seen the Father, and he that is in
Christ is in the Father. What better way
could there be of entereing into His love?
III. There must be emphasis upon the
proposition in" The Greek signifies the
closest connection, the most intimate asso-
All these things are possible. The soul Of
Jonathan was knit TO the soul of David,
and there may be Just as close fellowship
between Christ and His followers. Now
and then IN this world we find persons
whose lives are so blended that they al.
most 'ook alike. This is oftentimes true
of the husband and wife. Tennyson had
it in his mind when he said: I'm the long
years liker must they grow" This commu'
MON of the believer with Christ is suggest.
cd by the stones in building, which take
hold upon the foundation; by the branches
which take hold upon the vine; by the diff
ferent members of the body knit together;
by the union OF the husband and We; by
the union of the Father and me son; 50
chic =, 40, i1tv VI,