The Penn's Grove record., 1903-08-07
. SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
.THE JOY OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE"
The Rev. DR.. George d. Adams Tells of
the Spiritual Uplifting Which Abides
With These Who Walk Constantly With
Gad-Pleasure in Christian Suffering.

&S
With These who Walk Constantly With
Gsd-Pleasure in Christian Suffering.
New YORK CITY.-When Rev.Dr. Geo.D D..
Adams, the new pastor of the First Bap-
fist Church, Lee avenue and Keap street,
preached his first sermon as pastor OF the
church, he selected for his text: Hebrews
xii: ] and 2: Therefore, let us also, seeing
we are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight
and the sin which is admired by many and
let us run with patience the race that is
set before US, looking unto Jesus, the au-
thor and perfecter of our faith; who, for
the joy that was before Him, endured the
cross, despised the shame and hath sat
down at the right hand OF the throne OF
God" IN. W, and said:
A very casual observer could easily tell
that many Christians have lost the joy of
the Christian service which they once had.
It takes no scholar, nor, indeed, a critic, of
Christian life or human living to see that
many, who one day rejoiced with "un-
speakable JOY" in the service of Jesus
Christ, are to-day Indifferent. Indeed, we
ourselves find some times, when to come to
the house of God is a burden, and we drag
a weary body or reluctant soul into the
presence Of the Almighty and try to wor-
ship Him in the beauty of holiness" We
u1Q again dQQ again, IL we SuOulQ lOlOW
the inclination of our hearts and minds
that we should stay at home. But those
are new experiences comparatively. Once
we could give up any pleasure for ar hour
with God, and when to have .een in His
presence and feel that He was hearing us;
to enjoy the touch of kindred spirits; to
have enjoyed the song and the prayer and
the service, out of Gods heart, would have
been better to, us than riches and more
precious than fine gold. But that is gone.
We find ourselves sometimes coming be-
c.use we think we ought; doing this OF
that service because it is customary; enter.
ing into this form or that because it is a
habit to do SO, and in the saner lAoments
of our conscience we come sometimes to
say: "Why is this 500" Has God changed:
Has the power Of the old gospel to allie
viate human life of its brudens and suffer.
ings gone? Is there less of power and eff
cacy in the saving grace of Jesus Christ
now than once? After all, is Gods service
really and truly at bottom nothing but a
drudgery? Or, has something taken place
with us? Have we left behind something
we once had and have we passed beyond
that moment Of exultant spirit when in the
presence of Jesus our heart bounded with
the JOY of a new faith and the experience
of salvation? Well, we are perfectly sure
Col has not changed. We are perfectly
sure Jesus is Sthe same, yesterday, to-day
and forever" We have not a doubt that
the old gospel will save men to-day, and
when we come to think of it after all il
not the matter of being saved a subject Of
just as much joy in the twentieth century
as in the first century? Has there been
any change in the attitude of the gospel:
We are bound to confess there has been
none, and if that is true, then the trouble
is with us. Somewhere we have lost some
thing, and / am looking into faces this
morning that know better than / do, in
their experience, that that something is
the priceless treasure Of Christian hope.
Now, to get that back. When I was a
boy I wept when first / saw the wrinkles
coming on my mothers face. / wanted
her to remain always young, and there are
thousands of Christian hearts, some repre-
sented here, doubtless, that have wept at
the loss of their Christian experience-it is
dead, joy is gone. Oh, what would we give
to get it back! I am persuaded that we
would give a great deal to get it back, but
I am more thoroughly persuaded that the
way to get it back is to get into the atti-
tude of life that makes it constant. The
bessthing is not to get back the on mrs tba
attitude of life that makes that experience
perennial.
( I am going, therefore, to discuss the
sources Of Joy. The thing that most lies
behind that experience and the first thing
that c~onfronts the Christian in the mat.
ter is duty. We do not like that word
duty. We associate with the word duty
sacrifice, and are surprised when we find
that it is in itself a term of freedom
yons dd ! say y to y ssy. . ap Usqt t sHa t. 70 n nt
about duty; I don't ike that word" Thai
is largely because the word has com to yor
to mean a matter of bondage, when in re
atty it ought to mean a matter of freedom
Why it was duty -ehind the text: Let us
therefore, seeing we are comprised abou'
with so great a cloud Of witnesses lay aside
every weight and the sin which is admired
bv many Tor so delight in--ome special siI
of the age, / supposed and let us run Will
patience the race that is set before us
looking unto Jesus, the author and perfect
set before Him, endured the cross, de
spised the shame, and hath sat down at thu
right hand of the throne of God" Tha
is duty. In the light with which Jesus de
spised the cross we ought not to stop ant
reason about duty. / want you to motto,
that duty is an ethical term, not a legal
There is a kind of doctrine abroad to-da,
which is called the ethical religious idea.
do not mean that at all. Duty is ethical
not legal. Duty resides in the recesses o
a mans character, not in the external leg
being, therefore ought. A dog or
horse can never be called upon because O
oughtness-they are not moral beings. The
are within the restrictions of a master an
that is legal. There is something in ma
that is an oughtness. 81 ought, therefor
/ must" Because I am a moral being
ought, therefore duty is ethical. Many
man fulflls the law and breaks every pos
sible moral duty. The saloonkeeper ]
keeping the letter of the law, but he j
doing an Immoral thing. 1t is not a matte
ness. Until that moral oughtness is obeye'
I'm in bondage, but when I obey tn
moral oughtness I am free. ! passe'
through a great sewing machine works i
Belvidere, ILL.,, and saw the machine Gale,
the automatic screw. The ordinary ma
chine knows more than a lot of men. Me
can't do a thing as you tell them to. Yo
set a man on a job of work and he Wi
change the way of doing it just as sure q
he hves-that is, if he is an American. |
he Is q Chinaman or a Russian he won't
man, because he will do no more nor les
than he is told. But you tell an American
to do a thing precisely in a certain way
he won't do it; you can't hire him to do it
But a machine will. You say that is re
stricted. No, it is not. It will take tn
pig iron and turn it out perfect screws a
small as a piece In your watch, and do
oil day long. That is liberty. The irol
was restricted in the pig iron, it is at lib
erty In the screw shape because it Is dom
its intended work, and man is at libert,
only when he is doing his God-intende.
service. Morally speaking, duty is ethical
then. l do my duty before God. not be
cause ! must, but because | ought. l an
less q man and less free when l refuse t.
do a thing / was made to do. The chic
end of man, says the catechism, IS to wor
ship God and enjoy Him. Exactly. 3
that duty is a part of JOY in service.
Selishness is incompatible with service
The servant is not the servant when think
ing more of the wage than the business
You cannot serve and be selfish. The sll
~oE4hiGb-age is sel6shness, my friends.
am thankful thafI live in the age of cleo
tricity, wireless teiegraphy and automo
biles, but let me tell YOU, the sin OF tn
ace is pure, unadulterated selhshness. lei
thousand people to-day in this great cit,
are seeking absolutely their v seihsl
pleasure, and when self dethrones God an,
enthrones itself the sin of all sinNln TIN
heart" NO." you say, you cannot Lav'
heart to myself" I was reminded as
came down from Binghamton through TIL
mountains on Saturday II love thos
mountains. Il have been hungry out Oh
the Western plains to see a hill. You
would be. surprised to see what they call
hill out there. Why, an Irishman with
~wheelbarroW could build a bigger mountain