The Penn's Grove record., 1903-10-09
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE 6Y THE
REV. DR.. S. PARKS cADMAN.

uFera D R0WefluI AuurcSs I'm ltleu
1.-THE Calling of Life"-why We nust
Offer to God muir s~ainthood.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-Dr. Samuel Parkes
Cadman. pastor Of the Central Congrega-
tional Church, occupied his pulpit for the
first n Sunday morning since his vaca-
ton and his return from Europe A large
congregation had assembled. The sermon
was pom THE Calling of Life" and the
text from the First Epistle to the CORN
thians IL, Called to be saints DR.. Cad
man said In the course of a strong sermon:
To-day we enter upon the fifteenth year
OF our church's existence and work. Be
hind us lies the honorable past, comforting
obligation more than feeding pride, a holy
prophecy IN living deeds and a strong root
of confidence that God, even the God OF
bis name and glory, will not break it in
the midst. So this year of jubilee is upon
us, and these considerations make it 4
priceless possession which our Stewardship
must guard and increase.
These divisions of time are arbitrary, but
influential. January / is but a moment
space from December 81, and yet the birth
Of a new year has witnessed in ~numberless
instances spiritual and moral revolutions.
A few hours separate Good Friday from
Easter Day, but if near in time, how dis
tant are they in meaning! These distinc-
lions of the calendar arrest US. They
break the crust of our conventionality,
they recall us to our original work and
purposes and they inspire us with the re-
alities of vision and of hope.
Let US beware Of blaming our surround
lngs for our weakness, our failure to in
strumentally convert men and control the
present WILD In the interesls of the kind
dom-ThN scant supply of living waters is
too Often caused by the choked pipe and
its paucitN prevents man. from seeking it.
Pastors, teachers and workers of all
churches should remember that the mighty
tide of Gods life and blessing finds its
way to human hearts through their ap-
pointed agencies. And the greatest church
shore, dependent on it for increase and for
strength.
Dredge deep the bar and cleanse ava
the silt of daily cares. Then, when the
text is thus understood and obeyed, COM
merce with the unseen world shall bring
us Weather freights, and life, which now
seems far away, and inland shall be lifted
upon this resistless affiuence of blessing
and brought back to God.
But sainthood is no passive movement,
dependent on our inaction, hesitating when
we are alert and shy of any effort we can
make to secure its franchise. 1t absorbs
into one fame Of devotion altar and sacri-
fee. 1t insists upon the full employment
OF every capacity and new and better ODE
diences. 1t bids you rise from the low
grounds of despair and cease to say:
What might I not have made of Thy fair
world had / but lived Thy highest" Gods
love and health are yours, willing to meet
your readjustment of energy and of aim.
Lord ~Salisbury's favorite advice to those
who pestered him about his world-com-
-peiiing diplomacy babe them Study larger
maps" And the sweep of Gods plan in
your life and mine is wide unto the inf
mite, tender and wise and capable beyond
our utmost imagination. When the apostle
wrote these words he was conscious of
their high supremacy, and yet they are but
God has chosen to give perfected char
acter after the pattern of the Master.
1t we see the excellency of this calling it
should mean for us the objective point
where the finest energies of the soul are
constantly in service. The pity of it is that
We re hu4 trivial and imma-
terlai things and struggle in the meshes of
the commonplace.
Our souls pace is liable to be set to
perishable strains, where noble means are
used for little ends. Strenuous life is wise
when It's aims are c-orrespondingly high,
but it was said of a noble Roman sDomi-
tan Is always busy-catching flies"
To be born a man and die-not a saint,
defeats the central thought of our loving
Creator. Manhood sacrificed to anything
less than the Makers purpose is manhood
lost. We may pursue the petty round un-
til high achievement and its possibility are
paralyzed.
You naturally ask, What is ~sainthood?
1t is spiritual health and moral thoughtful
ness. 1t Is" to quote a significant utter
ance of DR.. Arnold, of Rugby, "the inquir-
ing love OF truth sustained BY the devoted
love OF goodness" 1t is wholesome, be-
cause it is holy, set about and adorned by
the abiding beauty of holiness, rightly IN
derstood. 1t is practice, not theory; con-
secratlon, not perfection: a condition of
character and not a theological definition.
1t is the kinship in willing and feeling of
your spirit to the spirit of Christ, who was
flesh.
Because it flows out of the fitness of
God and is accepted by our belief, it is a
catholic blessing, and there has been 10
more mischievous teaching than that which
has limited it to a sect within the church.
Being Gods gift, its only condition of ex-
1stence in you is your hearty trust and ac-
ceptance of the same, followed by constant
effort to walk in Christ's way. Alike for
all who profess and call themselves Chris
tians, for brilliant but blameworthy Corin-
thians, for generous but tickle Galatians,
for Ephesus In her dearth of first love, as
for Sardis and Laodicea, with little more
than a mere name to live; let none draw
back from this divine election or declare
the boon is not for them.
Many shrink from this term saint be-
cause it has been DETAINED by the charlatan
and soiled by all ignoble use. Pharisaical
sanctimoniousness and bigoted exclusive
ness and false standards Of the real meas
ure and quality of sainthood have hindered
Its free range.
But, rightly known, it is the spirit of the
heavens within the wheels of earthly inter
course.
Cardinal Newman reflected upon the
church of his birth that she failed to pro-
Gee sainthood, and the Roman commun-
ion, he declared. was first and singular in
this respect. How rudely he challenged
Anglican eomplacency some of US know.
Capable of much, it was wanting here.
Bishops, theologians, exegists, ecclesiastical
Statesmen it could and did afford, but
saints, no. Bishop Kew, John Keble and
dence to the contrary. And I only quote
the cardinal to show how segregated ideals
and types of sainthood may mislead a fore
most spiritual genius.
The challenge Newman flung down we
are bound to take up for ourselves. No
more searching question than this can be
brought to our fftieth anniversary, How is
this ideal of the New Testament being re-
allied by this flock Of God?
His we are whom we serve. He Justly
claims us for His own, elect and precious.
And beyond our cautious Puritan temper
and our dislike for the mystic and the ESQ.,
ieric, all the heaven of His purpose awaits
the sweep of our faith. ] plead for aban-
don in the front of this gracious calling;
for that sanctifed recklessness which led
st. Augustine to cry, Give what thou
commandest, then command what thou
wilt"
Two main lines of Christian culture are
all. First, we can seek for a
(st-SSGT smn,ssr~ssa personal relation to
We may prove with the pure In ali mes
that the frontiers Of a mans life are not
the stronghold. Remote, aloft and lonely
y tne source of uncreated strength and
And second, from the mount to the mill
tilude - but q step. Christ Continually
tfok q, meditating between the vigil Of the
fgnt 2 the burden of the day.
What can / be? What can I doe Nm
yer, oh, thou God of my people. thou Ire
eemer of my soul!
Neither of these methods Of soul devel-
6ment should be without its naEfner.
s{ohtude - to character what spacef & to
atree And alone with God, our hiding