Virginia gazette. [volume] (Williamsburg, Va.) 1893-192?, 1903-06-06


preached sunday morning on "'rhc Secret
81 Chrtetionity. lie took Tor his tcNt
Luke n. n: Unto you is born. this Jay.
IN the city Of David. Saviour. which -
Christ the Lord. and said.
I'm the Anglo-Saxon version OF The New
Testament the word Saviour rem
dereG for the Auglo-Saxon word helper.
You know also that the word Christ -
not proner name. but title equivalent
20 The Messiah'-the Lord.
Every great movement has az the hear
ri it some secret. which II we can discover
a.. viii disclose Go M the secret of that
goat movement. What Is the secret No
the heart OF Christianity. which has ~ Aa
AZ the great n0wer that 10 is, Tn asking
you to consider this question you win un-
dcrstand. Of course. that / am not under
taking nm bali an hour 20 answer the entire
question. | am only going Go trv 300 that
half hour TO indicate the essen, & Chris.
tlanitv-thc secret Of its vitality The
Jewish rcop.c were in moro than ono sense
a peculiar pconle. Among other things
IN this That their f'ccs were turned to-
backward for their Golden age huf these
peculiar people rocked forward for theirs
They believed chat n time was coming
when there would be peace instead 81 war
and Tor themselves prosperity 1n~trad ot
universal POVERTY. They believed that this
great slime would come through their own
nation and that Jerusalem would become
the how city and che mistress Of the world
ANU NIl.|N fInftiI..~ even pointed FORWARD
20 this divine consolation. and they lndi-
Gated that 10 would come through some de-
hverVr. Sometimes they regarded the nae
ton Itself as that dchvcrer; sometimes
succession OF prophets. sometimes single
prophet sometimes "a single man. rs n king
or nrinca. as n teacher as a priest. rs
Man oi Sorrows. and acquainted with
grief However different or incon vruOus
or inconsistent those nrophesics might be-
they pointed the minds of the nc0uie for
ward In J great delivery and sfnfr..nr.sH -
the shepherds perfectly well unders God
the angels when they said The dchvcrcr
has come. the helper is mere. You will find
HIM Graded in the mauCcr.' When Jesus
beran His ministry His first sermon. oil
which we have q record. was preached in
the synagogue at Nazareth he went into
the synagogue. roll WAS open before iiim
and he read one OK the prophecies OF The
great de'iVcrer who was coming and thcn
said This dav Is this Scripture fulfilled in
your ears J have come. ! nm that deIiv-
ercr. Having begun His ministry iu this
way Ic went ont 90 be n helper rrd fed
the hungry. taught Che Ignorant AMI healed
the si'S and di~ncr-ri the GOSPEL oi hope.
Once John the BAPTIST. rcrricxcf Cd know
II this was the Messiah. for Things went ON
much Che same and TAO GREAT thing seemed
20 be accomplished. seat Him message
SAVING. Art Thou the Nicss'aht' and
Christ said CD the messenger. '\Nait here
sec what Won viii see. and hon GO and tei
Nour MASTER The waited and saw. and
then Christ ,ol them. eco vour way and
tel John what things we have seen and
heard. how That the blind see. the JAIME
walk. tho lcncr- are cleansed. thc deaf hear
the dead are raised. 90 the poor thc gospel
A. preached"
No man c7n undertake Oh hc'n Dis fellow
men really sincerely. on large scale. with
on coming ln contact with men who DO
no. want the help. those who are making
something out OF the misfortuuC- Of their
fellow men. Christ came Don contact with
such. and thcv lcaCued themselves together
90 destroy Hum. He WAS arrested aud
brought before the Jewish tribunal and
asked. Are y ora the Mes-iaht" And UNI
der a solemn oath Tie said d" / am Plate
said. Are You king lie said. II ann "
To both the Jewish tribunal and the Ro-
man TIE said. Il arr. and for hat Tie was
condemned 90 die and for b. Hc died.
When lie died the hopes OF His disciples
dissipatcd. They sand. We thought Hc
was 90 he the great deliverer. hut evidently
lie was not kumors OF His ascension be-
gan 90 circulate. and. little hy little they
became convinced. and then they said.
All. Hc IS the dehvercr. after ali" II YOU
viii tarn Go the Book OF Acts and read one
~ the sermons there you VIII see that was
the burden oi all the apostolic ministry
No new Theology. cthic or law. Their mes
sagcs wore aI the same. "lhe deliverer IS
como. lie ls here, the delNerance has be-
gun
In the first century rule was hv absolute
oespol .sm- Gradually government has been
trensi urmcu. until now Do ls c0mulcreiv eS-
tablshcd. and there is mo- government Ia
Europe west OF Russia that does not az
least recognize the fact that government is
not Tor me government, but for the gov
crneI- All ln Iustrv was scrvi'e Half the
Roman population were slaves and the
other half were on the ed1e Of fiminc and
only Kept alive hy the largc-s Of Others.
Wherever Christianity has gone the chain
has dropped from the slave and labor has
N Rome an none among the jews. except
those COM ~ with the SynarOrue buf
wherever q uanitv has gone 10 has es-
tabhshed sCnnn.s and wealth has been diff
fused among c people. This is called an
ace or concentrated wealth That - NOT So
There never was an age. and that Il esp,.-
ctally true OF America when wealth was
more distributed. There ere charities
everywhere The church has also changed
the conception Of punishment. so that pun
ishment has become reformatory. The ob-
sect Of thc old pagan religion was not To
helm man, lt was TO apneaSe the wrath of
Nod or 60 purchase the favor OF n corr,lDti.
Ole God. Christianity has altered an that
with various degrees OF success The church
al Christ Is engaged in the work of lifting
the burdens OF men, IN inspiring them with
courage and noOler PURPOSES Christianity
- not mere sum of doctrines a new
method OF worship or new law of morals
III Is n great historical movement
Flowing down through the centuries with
ever widening and deepening current. bless
ing every land it has touched and carving
with 1t some measure OF helpfulness. Chris.
t@nity has done, through the centuries
what Christ did In those fonr short vears-
It has helped the helpless. fed the hunr~v
taught the ignorant. given courage 10 the
despalrlng and brought glad tidinrs 60 the
poor. The secret of Christianity. then +.
helpfniuess- This So Is that distinauishes
the theology of the Christian religion from,
the Theology Of all other religions. It i !