The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-02-26
"THE FULL REWARD"
Sunday Sermon By Rev. DR.. J. Wilbur
Chapman.
The SpIrit that Is Needed In the Church-f'ov
to Win the Crown Which Is lncorruptibIe
New Plan Of Salvatios.

TO Win fne Cr0Wn WHICH is lnCorTuPupN
New Plan Of Sslvatios.
NEW YoRK CITY. - The distinguished
evangelist, the Rev. DR.. j. Wilbur Chap.
man, is the author of the following sermon
entitled "The Full Reward" which wa.
preached from the text, Every man that
strfveth for the mastery is temperate in
all things. Now they do it to obtain cor.
ruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.
But / keep my body under, and bring it
into subjection, lest that by any means,
when I have preached to others, / myself
should be a castaway." Cor; tx: %, 81.
Paul, in the figure of speech, is on the
race course. He is striving to. reach the
goal AMI win the prize. Here, therefore, it
is not a question of life, but entirely o
question of awards He h not writing to
the. unregenerate, but 70 the children Of
body body, lest lest shall become @ castawayS tsN S
The word "castaway" in the Greek is lie.
orally "disapproved." Paul is teaching
that even if he is to win the crown that is
incorruptible, he must deny himself, he
must put forth heroic effort, he must be
faithful until the very end.
This spirit is needed in the church. If
the first crown Is for the passive Christian
the second is for the enthusiastic follower
Of Christ, and next to the baptism of the
Holy Ghost the church to-day needs the
baptism of enthusiasm. It is great mis-.
take for men to allow their prejudices to
lead them against the methods of church
work upon which God has set His seal
There is cry to-day against new methods,
and people say the need of the time is for
the old methods of our fathers. There is
some truth in this. but the trouble with
the advocates OF this proposition is that
they do not. make their methods old
enough. we, ought to go back to Pente.
nocta1 tnofbO1o of ~, Co. -. l..
the disciples gave all they had We ought
to go back to Pentecostal methods of
preaching; the early preachers had lust
two themes in mind-namely Jesus and
the Resurrection. We ought to 90 back to
Pentee 'ostal living, for in the o!den times
each new day would bring back the Lord
Himself, and having this hope in Him their
lives became pure and their testimonies
powerful.
Ever. church ought to change its method
every Sunday. il the methods in use do
not compel the peple to accept the gospel
We have no responsibility for conversion
we do have tremendous responsibility
resting upon US to make every man. wom-
an and child understand that the Son Of
God died to set them free from the pen.
atty Of sin, and that He ever pleads at
Gods right hand to liberate them from it's
pVWph Hc CHuECH lS NOI Nh enQ, Dut
rather a means to an end. II counted an
end. the membership becomes satisfied
with the church in itself. its preaching,
its music, its social standing. its ability to
influence the minds Of the 'peonle. and in
all seriousness l dare to say that such
tho thought of God, rather than bless.
ing. We have this to remember: when
counted as q means to on end the church
loses sight of herself and realizes that she
is In existence only to bring to every lost
sinner the message Of the gospel So long
a. e. there Sr is Ea Gne Sa sGn in the world nnsaved
sage of peace and glad tidings of great JOY
to that one.
There is Scriptural warrant for this
frequent change of method. Tt is all
summed up in one word until. How long
did the father wait for hi; son; Until
search for the lost piece of silver? Gun
tiP she found it.. How long did the shen-
herd look for his sheep? "Until" he had IL
in his arms and was bearing it back with
rejoicing to the fold. How often ought
We to- change, our methods in the church?
Until, we have method upon which
God will set His seal. and to which the
Holy Ghost will give His approval, because
that method compels the peoole to hear
the gospel and to known that Jesus Christ
died to save all mankind
Paul was willing to he counted a cool il
only he might better influence men. To the
wise he would be wise; to the ignorant he
was willing to be counted ignorant; TO
the weak as q man of weakness-if only
by all means he "might save some" MAY
the Lord God fiji the church with this
spirit! We could shake the cities and
move. the world with the power of God:
come. simnly because we had been dead in
earnest. had counted personal ease as
nothing, had lahored incessartly nv day
and by night, in heat and in cold, we
should receive the crown that is incorrupt-
ible:
THE CROWN OF REJOICING.
Thess. ii: l9-"For what is our hope,
or JOY OF. crown OF rejoicing? Are not even
ys IN the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at His coming?"
When Paul remembers the Thessalon-
mediately replies: eye are our crown of
rejoicing" and 10 this third form Of the
reward is properly called the soul-win-
ners Gown.
Alas! some who are born of the Spirit,
who have been trained in the Christian
church, or might have been, who have
lived all their lives dead in sin, shall never
wear it. But it is possible for everybody
Himself.
Inis IS the crown that the sainted Spur
geon Is to wear. It is said that $4,000 peo-
PIE joined his church in his ministry, and
this was only the beginning of the multi.
tude of others that have been influenced
by his life the world around. 1t is the
crown that Mr.. Moody is to wear, because
all parts Of the world he has pointed
men to the crucifed One. IT is the crown
That faithful Sunday.school teachers and
eyoted workers are to wear.
I mad in my home at one time a very
y. ceieerated; Sunday y-school worker He told
NE now ne became servant OF Christ. He
~was converted as boy before the Young
feoples Society Of Christian Endeavor was
= n k,nwn. known. He wanted to do something for
cnrist, and all he could think Of was to
Ieach Sunday-school class. He went to
tne supsrntendent with request that he
might be made a teacher, and was re-
i 33nnsed. he went second time. with q
iike result. He went third time, and
proposed to bring in a class from outside.
Ana this time he secured the consent OF
the superintendent. When he went out to
nnd ppys bis first visit was to a great
oroynstone mansion. He rang the bell
and the servant opened the door. He
eeked u the lady Of the house could be
ssen. He was shown into the parlor, and
ns .sd n0shsT hS9. Of the boy entered @ l.
pcH cen come to Sunday school"
her race flushed and her eyes flashed
q she, replied; my child has been to Sun
uAy-sehool and has had such miserable