The Penn's Grove record., 1903-03-06
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
POVERTY AND PiETY."
TIT Rev. James Alexander Jenkin Says
That the Preaching of the Gospel to
the Poor is an Evidence of Far-Reach-
ing Mercy of God.


h Poor is an Evidence of Far-Reach-
ing Mercy OF God.
New YORK CIrY.-"Poverty and Piety''
was the subject Of this sermon delivered
by the Rev. James Alexander jenkins,
pastor Of Emmanuel Congregational Church.
his text was chosen from Matthew xi: s.
The poor have the gospel preached to
them"
The words Of our text constitute part of
the reply of Jesus to John when He sent
two of His disciples with the anxious ques-
ton, Art Thou He that should come or
do we look for another In this reply
the Master assumes that John is familiar
with the character of the work of the ex-
pected One, SO He sets before the messen-
gers Ills W work as meeting the require
ments. The blind see, the lame walk. the
lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised up, the poor have the gospel
preached to them"
The preaching of the gospel to the poor
may be regarded as only an evidence of the
tar reaching mercy of the great God, but
it may also be regarded as testifying to the
preparation of the poor for receiving and
spreading the good news from God. III we
Believe in the fitting of means to ends in
the world of nature, if we are upholders
of the great law of design, may we not
with reason insist that the Father through
the course of the ages prepared certain of
the sons of men for the reception of the
truth. If we concede this we behold in the
preaching Of the gospel to the poor an ar
rangement of providence, a far reaching
plan of God.
The pages of the gospels reveal Jesus as
the preacher to the poor. The rich He re-
garded as being for some reason less fitted
to be chosen as pioneers in the work of es-
tablishing His kingdom. OF the rich men
OF the New Testament, not Dives, not the
rich fool, but the young man who came to
Jesus with eager inquiry, may be regarded
as typical in the mind of Jesus of the
hosts of the rich and powerful. Thinking
of him Jesus said: at is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for
q rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God." From this statement we naturally
infer that the absence of wealth or poverty
is most favorable to the reception of saw
ing truth. to the entering of the kingdom.
Jesus Himself, coming as the founder of
the kingdom of God, chose the material
upon which that kingdom shall be built.
He did not preach to the poor because 9TH
ers would not hear Him. The influential
He could have commanded, strength of
arms He could nave enlisted, wealth would
have served Him. But He chose, desired,
determined, to preach the gospel to the
poor. Says DR.. Bushnell. speaking of the
character of the ministry of Jesus: He
adheres to the poor and makes them The
object of His ministry. And what is more
peculiar, He visibly has a kind of interest
in their society, which is wanting in that
of the higher classes, perceiving, apparent
ly, that they have a certain aptitude for
receiving right impressions which the 9TH
ers have not. They are not the wise and
prudent, filled with the concert of learning
and station, but they are the ingenious
babes of poverty, open to conviction, pre-
pared by their humble lot to receive
thoughts and doctrines in advance of their
age" With equal acumen does this great
writer recognize the fundamental and dis
tinguishing nature of the choice of Jesus,
as contrasted with the teachings of the
statesmen and philosophers who had gone
before Him. They began at the top, He
began at the bottom, and SO His work, be-
cause it was true to nature, was lasting,
abiding, eternal.
The twentieth century finds society di-
vided. as it has always been divided, into
two classes, the rich and the poor. Civil
cation has crept onward, changing many
things, but it has not removed the distinc-
ton between wealth and poverty. The
distinction may be less brutal, less crude,
but it still exists. and the very refinement
of the classification of men is often the
cause of added bitterness. So to-day the
student of men and events, whether he be
sociologist, economist or preacher, is tom
ht ny tnC OiilCtltN il ddluotlES oAlC
part of society to another. We are con-
stantly asking certain questions and clam
orlng for a reply. Can the poor man Sc
cure a just share of the good things of
earth? Is it possible for him to get an ed
ucation? Will society receive him? And
now, it seems, another question presses
upon us. What is the relation between
poverty and piety?
1t would seem that the world, i'll an
swering this question, has lost sight of the
teaching and practice of Jesus, for the con-
clusion usually arrived at is that the poor
man is at a disadvantage in his struggle
for the soul culture which every human
being should desire. Many, listening to
the reasoning of the world, have, because
of their poverty, surrendered their religion,
deserted the church and rejected the
Christ. To them the Christian worker las
come to seem the advocate of impossible
ties, but this attitude of mind is not con.
fined to the simple and unthinking, FOR we
are reminded that even thoughtful writers
seem to assume the existence of a natural
hostility between poverty and piety.
Let us keep in mind the attitude Of the
Lord Jesus toward the poor as He deiiv-
cred His message, and let us, remembering
that, ask ourselves what that piety is, the
relation. of which to poverty we are to de-
termine. Let us ask whether there is in
piety any element to tie producing OF
which poverty is hostile. and let us find,
on the other hand, whether it may not be
possible that poverty assists the soul III its
endeavor to become the possessor of true
piety.
Piety is not, primarily, something in the
atmosphere; it is the rather something in
the heart of man. Among the elements
which enter into it, a few of the principal
ones may be mentioned: Sensitiveness of
things true, beautiful, good; receptivity,
or the ability to appropriate the good that
appeals to the soul; power to apply the
principles of truth; recognition of love as
knowing principle. Let us see whether
poverty may not be an aid to the soul in
its development along the lines indicated.
We may, / think, claim with justice that
poverty renders the soul supremacy sensi-
tive to the best things. Poverty is too fire.
quently regarded as synonymous with pau
of grim, unfeeling heedlessness. Pauper-
ism is cold, Indifferent, dead, but poverty
is warm, alert, alive. Poverty needs its
every faculty, its every power. 1t must
fight battles and anticipate the onslaught
of unseen foes. 1t must read the signs of
the morrow in the evening sky and adapt
itself to sun and shower and storm. The
man with the hoe" is not the poor man,
for poverty neither deadens nor brutalizes.
Were / to choose my illustration of honest
poverty / should find it in the humble toll
ers of "The Angelus.D Clad in the rough
! garb of workers in the fields, holding in
their hands the cumbrous instruments of
their daily toll. they are, nevertheless,
keenly alive to the beauty, the poetry, the
suggestiveness of the sounds waited upon
the gently stirring summer breezes. Truly
typical are they, as with bowed heads they
stand, of the succeeding generations of
Gods poor, as, amid toll and tribulation,
they seek to find the good, to know God.
The sensitiveness of honest poverty /
see it in the little children of the rabble as
they followed Jesus through the streets of
Jerusalem, and | see it in the children who
to-day clutch the flowers carried into the
homes of the poor by sweet charity. I see
it in the zeal, the devotion of the slaves
who first heard the Gospel message, and |
see it in the enthusiasm of the mulsitudes
who caught the Inspiration of the Renais-
sance. | see it in the faces of the common
people" who heard Him gladly" and /
see it in the faces of the lowly as they lis
ten tc a Chrysostum or a Moody.
Disguise il as we may, deny it il we viii,
the soul Of poverty has been the one at
tuned to catch the messages sent from
heaven out Of the heart of God. Wealth
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