The Brandon news., 1903-08-13
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN No0UENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
THE JOY OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE"

With Those VINO Walk Constantly With
God-Paeasure in Christian Suffering.
:. New YORK CRY. When Rev DR.. Geo. ID.
Adams, the new pastor of the FIRST Bap-
tlsG Church, lSee avenue and Keep street,
preached his FIRST sermon as pastor OF the
cnurehs he selected for hrs text: Hebrews |
XII: and 2: Therefore let also, seelhg |
we are tcompassed about with so great |
cloud eft 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 tperfecter of our faith; whos for
the soy that was before Him, endured the
cross, despised the shame and hath sat
down at the right hand of the throne of
Goo" en- " and said:
A very casual observer nceud easily tell
that many Christians have lost the JOY OF
The Chmstian service which they once had.
1t takes no scholar, nor, indeed, critic, of
Christian life or human living to see that
many, who one day rejeiced with ''un-
speakable joy' In the service o. Jesus
Christ, are to-day indifferent. Indeed, we
ourselves find some times, when to- come to
the house of God Is burden, and we drag
a weary body or reluctant soul into the
Il presence of the Almighty and try to wor-
ship Him in the beauty of holiness" We
alnu again and again, if we should follow 1
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 Tor ar hour
with God, and when TO have leen in His
presence and feel chat 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 moEef
precious than fine gold. But that is gore.
We And ourselves sometimes coming be-
cause we think we ought; doing this
that service because 1t is customary; enter
ing into this form or that because it is a
habit to do 50, and In the saner 4AomeEtsi
eof our conscience we come sometimes to,
ssay: ''Why is this sop Has God changed?i
Has the power of the old gospel to allie
sviate human life of its brudens and suffer-
;ings gone? Ks there less of power and ELI,
<cacy in the saving grace of ,Jes:ls Christ
now than once? After ALL is GoG's 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 exuitaht spirit when in the
presence of Jesus our heart bounded with
the JOY of a new faith and the experience
of salvation? We'll, we are perfectly sure
sfsol has not changed. We are perfectly
4 we Jesus Is ''the same, yesterday, to-day
a I forever" We have not doubt shat,
! IL Nold gospel will save men to-day, and
! WI we come to think of it after all is
MOI 4e matter of being saved a subject of
q 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 rs true, then the troub:e
is with us: Somewhere we have lost some
thing, and [ am looking into faces Ehisl
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,
bov I wept when first I saw the wrinkles
IA 40o,,,ir0 ,afb faoa doA
her to remain always young, and there are
thousands of Christian hearts, some repre-,
scented here, doubtless, that have wept at
the loss of their christian experience-it Isl
dead, JOY is gone. Oh, what would we give
to get it backl L am persuaded that wei
would give 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
best thing is not to get back the Christian !
experience cf yerrs ago. but to get into the
attitude of life that makes that experience
perennial.
i am going, therefore, to discuss tie
sources of joy. The thing that most lies
behind that experience and the first thing
that confronts the Christian in the mat
ter is duty. We do net 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.
When 1 say-to you, II want you to do
your duty" you say. 1sDon't talk to me
about duty; don't ike that word" That
is largely because the word has com, to you
to mean matter Of bondage, when in re-
aTity it ought to mean matter of freedom.
Why it was duty -ehind the text: "Let us,
therefore, seeing we are oompassed about
with 80 great cloud of witnesses lay aside
\ every weight and the sin which is admired
bv many tor so delight in-some special sin
u of the age, suppose) and let us run with
tho that 70 oa% haforo nc
looking unto Jesus, the author and perfect
er Of our faith, who, for the JOY that was
set before Him, endured the cross, de-
| spised the shame, and hath sat down art the
right hand of the throne Of GoG." That
is duty. In the light with which Jesus de-
spised the cross we ough. not to stop and
reason about duty. want you to notice
that duty is an ethical term, net legal
There is kind of doctrine abroad to-day
which is called the ethical religious idea. /
do not mean that at all. Duty lis ethical
not legal. Duty resides in the reeesses OF
mans character, not in the external leg
.islation concerning him. am q moral
being, therefore I ought. A dog or
horse can never be called upon because of
oughtness-they are not moral beings They
are within the restrictions of master and
THAI is legal. There is something in man
that is an oughtnees. II ought, therefore
Il must" Because / am moral being |
ought, therefore cIfy is ethical. Many
man fulflls the law and breaks every pos
sible moral duty. The saloonkeeper is
keeping the letter of the law, but he is
doing an immoral thing. 1t is not matter
Of legality or politics, but of moral ought
ness. Until that moral oughtness is obeyed
am in bondage, but when l obey the
moral oughtness / am free. passed
through great sewing machine works in
:Beiyidere, Ill.,, and saw the machine called !
the. automatic screw. The ordinary ma
chine knows more than a lot of men. Men
cant do a thing as you tell them to. You
set C man on job of work and he will |
{ change the way of doing it just as sure as
4 he lives-that is, if he is an American. lei
aRe is a Chinaman or a Russian he won't. |
hat is why corporations hire that kind of |
ila1, bec&Ise he VIII do no more nor less.
than he is tod. But you tell an American |
/ to do a thing precisely in certain way; |
] he won't do it; yoa cart hire him to do it. |
q But machine win. Y Oh say that is re- |
stricted. No, it is not It will take the
spig iron and turn it out perfect screws as |
small as a piece IN your watch, and do it |
4 all day long. That IS liberty. The iron
q xz-a Restricted in IL rio iron n ia at liz /