Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-10-22
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
IA LEARNED DISCOURSE ENTlTLED
THY KINGDOM COME"

i III kHSA0OM OOMEs
Ths Rev. DR.. Clarence Augustus Barbour
Makes Eloquent Plea For Fellow
ship-Cause of the ID earth of Candidates
For the Ministry.
+ BROOKLYN, N Yin the Emmanuel
| Baptist Church, ST. James place and La
fayette avenue, Sunday morning, the Rev:
Dr. Clarence Augustus Barbour, pastor of
the Lake Avenue Baptist Church, Roches- 'aas
ter, n. T., preached on the subject. Thy
Kingdom Come; Plea for Fellowship"
/ The text was from Matthew vi:l0: ''Thy
Kingdom come" DR.. Barbour, said:
Matthews gospel is distinctively the
gospel of the kingdom, but in very true
the kingdom. If: as one has suggested,
the conception of suffering Redeemer
runs as a blood-red cord through the
Scripture, it is no less true that the con-
ception OF the all-embracing kingdom and
the all-conquering King runs through all
My fundamental proposition is that the
Importance The kingdom of God, that
divine PoIiity over which, Jesus Christ is
King of Kings and Lord OF Lords-that
claims pre-eminent fealty.
The kingdom is Of greater Importance
than the local church, of greater import
ance than any communion in any COM
munity, of greater Importance than any
single denomination With any different
conviction the denomlnations 3 easily be-
come "sects,o something cut off in sym
Ipathy, as well as in organization and be-
lief, from the rest of the Christian world
There is real danger that the local
church or the denomination be exalted
above the kingdom Of God. You know
Professionalism is spit up into innumerabie
little sects. quarrehng among themselves.
In the Protestant missionary work of
Japan they say, ssthe Japanese, seeing
the headquarters of fifteen different and
operating sects in the square of
any more kinds of religion We of the
Catholic Chuch are everywhere the same
In America, in Africa in Asia, in Europe,
in almost every city and village of every
land; the same form of worship, the same
srticuate al and compact organizati5onn: We
might answer that this is not necessarily
q ground for self-congratulation; that
wherever there is freedom Of inquiry, free
dom Of opinion. freedom of will, there is
bound to be diversity. But We are not
now discussing the truth or falsehood,
the good or evil, in Roman Catholicism !;
we say that this argument the Roman
Catholic uses with powerful effect.
True it IS that narrow denominational-
ism is be,ittling and deadening. That was
significant remark made by one of our
college presidents. "rhe men who least
comprehend what I am trying to do in this
col1ge are some professors of the college.
Thew are noble, self-sacrifcing men, but
each one considers his own department the
only really important one, and the idea
of building uD a university is something
which none of them can grasp So there
are self-sacrifcing denominatlonaiists, who
: have no adequate conception of the dig
nifty and Importance of the church univer-
sal-the vast embracing kingdom of God.
"The field is the world,'' says our Mas
ter, nothing less; any smaller conception
is caricatrre of Christianity, a belitt]ina
! of our faith; any ideal short Of united
! effort for the conquest of the world-feld
is an ideal unworthy of the Christian
name ''The good seed, these are the sons
of the kingdom;' the words Immediately
'"lhe. good seed, these are the sons of the
KINGDOM" not the membership of any 10
cal church, nor of any single denonina
tional body.
i / believe that we are coming to recog
nize the essential unity Of the kingdom Q,
God. Many mountains, one globe; many
ravlnes, one mighty earth mass, vastly
greater than the wrinkles on her face:
many regiments. one army; many denomi
nations, one church; many creeds. one
faith: MANY ways up the hill, one city al
the top, where sits the King on His
throne. Denomina tionalsm, wisely man
aged, may be used for mutual provoca
tion to love and good works. Perhaps il
is better to be broken ur externally, that
each denomination may do it's own work
But there must be recognition, and thai
recognition more than normal one, oi
the practical fellowship, the cooperative
fellowship of believers.
I am a Baptist bv birth, by training by
conviction. I yield to no one in my 10y
atty to essential Baptist principles. There
ia.
and Methodists with equal loyalty. Bu
the Christian should be no bigot. and ne
species of bigotrv 5 more offensive thar
that of the denomina tional bigot.
Let no one misunderstood. We are moi
of those ser,timenta1ists who. decrv ecc,e
siastical and denominationai organization
We are not Of those who idealize the mar
who perches on the denominational fence
The fence-sittcr is nauseating as lultewarn
water.
We counsel no sacrifice of conviction
but mirroring forth Of the snirit Of ou1
, and for those who should believe on Hin
. Through their word. ''that they all may b.
one, even as Thou Father, art in Ne, anc
l in them, that they also may be in US
that the world may believe that Thor
/ didst send Me-" that as of old the worlt
may recognize us as His. in that these
Christians Glove one another"
Such a spirit is long way beyond the
spirit of .'toleration.'' Yet even federation
is in advance of what we have known
even in this Gland of the free" In the
Harvard baccalaureate of this year DR.
Van DYKE eloouentlv said OF the Puritan
Something too little Of sunlight ma,
have come in through the narrow windows
Of his house. But that house had founda
: tions. and the virtues lived in it, With
all difference Cue to our national forefath
ers-and to them Difference is due-there
were tenants in the house other thar
those readily recognizable as virtues. In
tolerance. intense and bitter. was charac
teristic of Pr1ritanism The Puritan failed
to apprehend the first principles of reiig
ious liberty. That it was his independence
of conviction and his demand for freedom
of worship which banished him from his
native land, but renders his failure in this
respect the more consnieuous. He had nc
charity for those who read the truth
through other eyes than his. The freedom
which he demanded for himself he would
, not accord to those of different faith. Tc
his view of truth the whole community
must yield assent; to his standards OF
worship all must conform. And this pur
pose to secure uniformity of worship did
/ not ooptoDt ,fco1f with ccpcinr fo ~