The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-11-04
4 SERMON FOR SUNDAY
DISCOURSE ENTITLED "LlFE'S YIELD
TO THE MORAL cONQUERO2."

~ tnE MOHHL
The Rev. T. T. Williams Urges Us to Spend
Our Few Erief Years Fighting Sin and
Serying.NIao Until We Pass to the Great
Eeyond-An Uplifting Discourse.
BROOKLYN, n. Y.-The Rev. I. Rhond-
da Williams, pastor OF the GreenLeld Con-
| gregational Church, Bradford, England,
preached il ,e1 r0ut5 inpsen re anenes sHeSy
oes; Tbe Rev. Dr. Nc Newell eli Dwight Hills intro:
| duced Mr.. Williams. Earnest attention
was given to his thoughtful sermon, The
subject was "Life's Yield to the Moral
| Conuueror.' and the text was from pas
sases in the Apocalypse. MIR. Williams
said:
Each one OF the messages to the churches
Of Asia closes with promise, They con-
tain threats and warnings and command
ments, but at the close stands the promise
/ like a distant hill in sunshine, seen
through the storm, to lure on ever the
worst.beatcn to the better things OF God
and man. The messages lay down the
moral task without compromise, but they
| close with the assurance that
"The toppling crags of duty scaled
| Are close upon the shining tablelanos,
lO WHICH Oul oOo 11ilisSAA 10 ANooS
SUM-"
There is here a twofold aspect CT life
which every morally earnest man IS ac-
uuainted with. He knows that its condl-
! tions are stern, that there is vlgor, IN IT.;
+; but he knows also that the vigor is blendec.
with tenderness, that all its struggle IS
! permeated by promise. We might indeed
say that moral earnestness and hopeful
! ness 90 togther. Stand Loyalty under the
! bower of duty, and you will hear the bird
! of hone sing. Unfaithfulness to the moral
/ ideal breeds pessimism of the worst kind;
! fidelity, while it does not encourage cheap
j and lightsome optimism, does inscribe IN
! the heart of the blackest duty the shining
! word of the coming time. God has so made
: us that enfolded in the bosom of loyalty
| hes the assurance of triumph for the. good.
Now, it is this loyalty to the good, this
attitude. which I take to be indicated in
! the word overcoming" or "conquering."
! Every promise is made to him who over
! cometh'' or who "conquers." Not, mark
YOU, to him who has overcome, or who has
!. conquered in any full or final sense. These
! promises are not Of gifts to be bestowed
! at the end of the course, but Of experiences
to be realized in going on, so long as you
go on in the right way. Now, is it fact
| for it is no use preaching theories away
! from the facts of life-that the promises
made to those Asian churches in the name
of Christ. sent to them by John as direct
from Christ, are to be regarded as promises
made to us by God9 For myself I can
not regard them so. except so far as
they contain truths attested by the exper-
ience of men. Indeed, the messages given
to the churches of Asia are not entirely
from Christ as He was, not, from, Christ as
We understand Him to-day: but from
Christ as John understood Him. When
read not only the facts of our. moral expe-
rience. but also a certain Interpretation
given by more than one bias. such as the
I personal bias or the national bias. The fu-
ture we depict may be in essence guaran.
teed by the universal laws of the moral
life, but the depletion may bear personal
or national colors. which rust fade; per-
sonal and national elements which must
be eliminated. John was Christian, but
he was also, Jew. Like every man. he
had a temperament, both the nationality
OF the future Our Christ never takes abb
solute land full possession of US. cur very
best understanding of Him has some mix
ture of ourselves in it, which is not in Him.
ITO him that ovcrcometh and keepeth
My word will l give power over the ma.
tions, and he shall rule them with a rod of
iron, as the vessels of potter shall! be
broken to shiv,ns, even as ! received OF
My Father" Here are words attributed
to Jesus which none of us would like to
think of Him as speaking. We could not
find in Jesus any promise of authority
over nations to rule them with rod of
iron. as the vessels of potter are broken
to shivers; nor do we think of Him as
claiming to have received such from His
Father That is not orr way OF thinking
of Christ TODAY. Then how did John
come to hear Christ say that? Because
John had been reared in the atmosphere
and fed upon the sentiments. of Psalm IL.
His Jewish teachers hau taught him to re-
gard Psalm ii as Messianie. And what was
the Messiah to do? The Lord said to Him,
tions for thine inheritance and the utter
most parts of the earth for thv posses.
sion. Thou shalt break them with a rod
of iron; thou shalt dash them to pieces
ike a potter's vessel" Some Jews some
times believed that that was one of the
things the Messiah would do. When a
Jew came to believe that Jesus was the
Messiah you would think that he would
at least throw off that old notion. Jesus
had said. "Cone unto Me all We that labor
and are heavy laden" etc. "I am meek OF
etc. "Other cheek" etc. The general
character and teaching of Jesus was the
very opposite of the Psalm ii conception OF
Messiah. Yet the Jew who believed that
Jesus was the Messiah carried over with
him a good deal of the old national con-
ception and attributed it to Jesus. That
is what John does here. 1t was not Jesus
speaking, but his oHn nationalism that
was representing Jesus. This is, not very
surprising when YOU remember that Chris
tians even yet take the Psalm ii to refer
to Jesus. Nothing could be more unlike
Jesus of Nazareth than the description OF
protest. as Cheyne does, against the habit
of "fnding Christ" in passages unrelated
to Christ and His religion" II fearr,"'
says Canon Cheyne, that our. unmiti-
! gated adoption of the Psalter as it stands
may counteract that spirit of love which Is
one-half Of Christianity" The fear is too
well founded What did the great St.
Bernard say long ago regarding the wars
of the Crusades upon the Mohammedans?
! These are his words: They are ministers
of God to inficct His vengeance. For them
most glorious deel the Son Of God de-
lights to receive the blood of His enemies.
He is glorified in the death Of the pagans.' y
It is most astounding that Jesus could
have b, en conceived as the incarnation Of
Gods redeeminS Durpose and love and yet
as One who could delight in the blood OF
| His enemies. The Messianic Interpretation
OF many psalms undoubtedly tends to nm:
| dermine the value of the revelation of God
in Christ. In Christian MAGAZINE Of
some time ago one article is entitled THE
| Tenderness OF Jesus" and the next is "The
In,precatory Psalms Findicatcd." I al
ways maintain that there is severity in
the law of life, that divine love ls not soft
ness, nor mercy T. license to indulgence; |;
pain. suffering. retribution are here; there