The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-03-27

AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
THE FULL REWARD"
The Rev. DR.. ,. Wilbur Chapman Tells Of
the Spirit That IL Needed in the Church
-iiow 90 Win tho Crown which 10 In
corruptibls-Nesv Plan Of sAlvation.

the Spirit That IL Needed in the Church
How 20 Win tho Crown which 10 In-
oorruptibie-New Plan OF Aviation.
New YoRR CRY. - The distinguished
evangelist, the Rev DR.. J. Wilbur Chap
man, r. the author of the following sermon
entitled The Full Reward, which was
preached from the text, Every man that
striyeth for the mastery is temperate in
all things. Now they do it 10 obtain a cor
rupu6le crown, but we an incorruptDie.
But i keep my body under, and bring 10
INTO sqblection, lest that by any means,
when l have preached 10 others, / myself
should be a castaway." l Cor TX 2j, n.
Paul, in the figure Of speech, Is on the
race course. He is striving 10 reach the
goal an1 win the prize. Here, therefore, 1t
Is not a question Of life, but entirely
question Of awards. He is not writing to
the unregenerate, but to the children of
God. lie says: 81 will keep under my
body, lest l shall become a castaway"
The word "castaway" in the Greek is lit
orally "disapproved" Paul is teaching
that even If he is to win the crown that Is
mcorruptible, 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. IL
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 a great mis-
take for men to allow their prejudioes to
lead them against the methods Of church
work upon which God has set His seal
There IS a cry to-day against new methods,
aud 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-
costal methods OF giving, for in those days
the disciples gave all they had. We ought
to go back to Pentecostal methods of
preaching; the early preachers had just
two themes in mind-namely, Jesus and
the Resurrection. We ought to 90 back to
Pente ,ostal living, for in the olden times
the, disciples lived in the expectation that
each new day would bring back the Lord
Himself and having this hope in Him their
lives became pure and their testimonies
powerful.
Evers church ought to change its method
every Sunday, if the methods in use Go
not compel the peple to accept the gospel.
We have no responsibility for conversion
tie Spirit of God takes care of that. but
we do have a tremendous responsibility
resting upon us to make every man, wom-
an and child understand that the Son %
God died to set them free from the PEN
atty o. sin, and that lie ever pleads at
Gods right hand to liberatc them from its
power The church is not IN end, but
rather a means to an end If counted an
end, the membership becomes satisfied
with the church in itself. its preaching,
its music, its social standing IDS ability to
influence the minds of the people, and in
all seriousness | dare to say that such
church will be a curse to community in
the thought Of God, rather than bless
ing. We have this to remember: when
counted as a means to an 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
as there is one soul in the world unsaved
God calls His children to carry the mes
sage of peace and glad tidings of great joy
to that one.
There is a Scriptural warrant for this
frequent change of method. i is aIl
summed up in one word: until How long
did the father wait for his non. "Untip
he returned. How long did the woman
search for the lost piece of silver? "Un-
til" she found it. How long did the shen-
herd look for his sheep? "Untip he had it
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 a method upon which
God viii set His seal Ind to which the
Holy Ghost will give His approval, because
that method compels the people to hear
the gospel and to known that Jesus Christ
died to save all mankind.
Paul was willing to be counted fool if
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 a man of weakness-if only
by all means he might save some" Nav
the Lord God fill the church with this
spirit! We could shake the cities and
move the world with the power of God
And when the great day of awards should
come, simply because we had been dead in
earnest, had counted personal ease az
nothing, had labored incessantly bv 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 or crown of rejoicing? Are not even
We in the presence of our Lord Jesus
Christ at His coming"
When Paul remembers the Thessalon.
iang whom he had won for Christ, he i'm:
mediately replies: eye are our crown of
reward is properly called the soul-win-
ner'3 own.
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
to receive it from the hands Of the Master