The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-07-03
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN INTERESTING DISCOURSE BY
Or LYMAN ABBOTT.
subiscti The Secret OF ohrishanity-ro Of
Fine Windows and Music. hut Making
the World Wiser and Bsttsr-A Cbris.
Hans Duty Summed Up IN One Law.

HANS Duty Summed Up In One Law
NEW YoRK CIrY.-At the Church Of the
Pilgrims, Brooklyn, Dr. Lyman Abbott
preached Sunday morning on THE Secret
Of Christianity lie took for his text
Luke ii: IL: Unto you is born, this Gay,
in the city of David. a Saviour, which =
Christ the Lord. and said:
In the AngloSaxon version Of the New
Testament the word Saviour" IA rem
dered for the Anglo-Saxon word "helper."
You know also that the word Christ" Is
not proner name, but a title equivalent
10 "The Messiah "-the Lord
Every great movement has at the heart
OF it some secret which IL we can discover
it. viii disclose to us the secret Of that
great movement What is the secret at
the heart Of Christianity which has made
It the great power that it is? In asking
YOU 20 consider this question you will I'M
derstand, of course that ] am not under
taking In half an hour to answer the entire
question; I am only going to try in that
half hour 10 indicate the essence Of Chris
tianitv-the secret OF its vitality. The
Jewish neople were in more than one sense
"a peculiAr people" Among other things
in this That their faces were turned to-
ward the future. All other nations look
backward for their golden age, but these
'neculiar neople" looked forward for theirs.
They believed that a time was coming
when there would be peace instead of war
and for themselves prosperity instead OF
universal poverty. They believed that this
great time would come through their own
nation and that Jerusalem would become
the holy city and the mistress of the world.
And their prophets even pointed forward
10 this divine consolation and they indi-
Gated that it would come through some de-
| livercr. Sometimes they regarded the ma.
/ ton itself as that deliverer; sometimes a
| succession Of prophets sometimes single
prophet; sometimes a single man, as a king
| or prince, as a teacher. as a priest, M a
! MAN of Sorrows. and acquainted with
| grief" However different or incongTuous
or inconsistent those prophesies might be,
/ they pointed the minds of the people for
| ward to a great delivery and delivered. So
| the shepherds perfectly we'll understood
| the angels when they said: "The deliverer
! has come: the helper is here. You will find
! Him Graded in the Manager" When Jesus
| began His ministry His first sermon. OF
! which we have a record. was preached in
! the synagogue at Nazareth. He went into
! the synagogue, roll was open before Him
and He read one Of the prophecies Of the
| great deliverer who was coming and then
said: This day is this Scripture fulfilled in
! your cars. | have come, am that deliv-
erer." Having begun His ministry in this
way He went ont to be a helper and fed
! the hungry, taught the ignorant and healed
! the sick and dispensed the gospel of hope.
! Once John the Baptist, perplexed to know
! il this was the Messiah, for things went on
much the same and no great thing seemed
to be accomplished sent Him a message
saving cart Thou the Messiah" and
Christ said to the messengers, "Wait here,
see what you will see, and then 60 and tell
your master" The waited and saw, and
then Christ told them; Go your way and
tell John what things We have seen and
heard; how that the blind see, the lame
walk. the lepers are cleansed. the deaf hear.
the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel
is preached"
No man can undertake to help his fellow
men really sincerely, on a large scale, with
out coming in contact with men who do
not want the help, those who are making
something out Of the misfortunes of their
fellow men. Christ came in contact with
such, and thew leagued themselves together
TO destroy Him. He WINS arrested and
brought before the Jewish tribunal and
asked, care You the MessiahY And UNI
der solemn oath He said. II am" PLATE
said, "Are You king" He said "I am"
To both the Jewish tribunal and the Ro-
man He said, II an" and for that He was
condemned to die and for it He died.
I
dissipated. They said, owe thought He
was to be the great deliverer. but evidently
He was not" Rumors Of His ascension be-
gan to circulate, and, little by little they
became convinced. and then they said,
"Ah, File is the deliverer. after all" If you
will turn to the Book Of Acts and read one
of the sermons there you will see that was
the burden of all the apostolic ministry.
No new theology ethic or law. Their mes.
al 10 4 III
come: He is here; the deliverance has be.
gun"
In the first century rule was BY absolute
despotsm. Gradually government has been
transformed, until now it is completely es-
tablished, and there Is no government in
Europe west of Russia that does not at
least recognize the fact that government is
not for the government, but for the gov.
erned. All industry was servile Half the
Roman population were slaves, aud the
other half were on the edge of famine and
only kept alive by the largess of others
Wherever Christianity has gone the chain
has dropped from the slave and labor has
been emancipated. There were no schools
in Rome and none among the Jews, except
those connected with the synagogue, but
wherever Christianity has gone it has es-
tablished schools and wealth has been diff.
fused among the people. This is called an
age OF concentrated wealth. That is not so
There never was an age, and that is espe
cially true of America when wealth wa:
more distributed. There are charities
everywhere. The church has also changed
the conception Of punishment, so that pun
lshment has become reformatory The OBJ
iect of the old pagan religion was not tC
helm man; it was to appease the wrath OIL
God or to purchase the favor of corrupt
bic God. Christianity has altered all that
with various degrees Of success. The church
of Christ is engaged in the work of liftinc
the burdens Of men, in inspiring them will
courage and nobler purposes. Christianity
is not mere sum of doctrines new
method Of worship or a new law Of morals
1t is a great historical movement.
Elnuinr dnNun thrn,lrh Ahn cnr Attrinr ~; %