The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-08-28
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
THE JOY or CHRISTIAN SERVICE"


| NEW YoBR CITY When Rev DR.. Geo. ID.
/ Adams, the new pastor of the First lap-
/ fist Church. Lee avenue and Koup street,
/ preached his first sermon az pastor OF the
/ church, he selected for his text: Hebrews
/ XII. ! and 2: Therefore, Jet us Also seeing
we are comprised about with 80 great
2.Oud OF witnesses. lay aside every weight
| and the sin which il admired by many and
/ let as run with patience the race that IS
| set before u.s. looking unto Jesus, the au.
thor and perfecter OF our faith; who for
the JOY that was before Him, endured the
| cross, despised the shame and hath sat
down at the right hand Of the throne Of
/ God' IN. W, and said:
A very casual observer could easily tell
that many Christians have lost the JOY OF
the Christian service which they once had.
It takes no scholar, nor, indeed. a critic. OF
| Christian life or human living to see that
many, who one day reioiced with ''un-
| speasable Joy" in the service Of Jesus
Christ, are to-day Indifferent. Indeed, we
ourselves find some times, when 10 come TO
the house Of God is a burden, and we drag
weary body or reluctant soul into the
| presence Of the Almighty and try 10 wor-
shin Him in the beauty of holiness" We
find again and again, If we should follow
the inclination of our hearts and minds
that we should stay at home. But those
are new. experiences comparatively. Once
we could give up any pleasure for ar hour
with Cod aud when to have cen in His
| presence and feel that He was hearing US,
to enjoy the touch of kindred spirits; to
have enjoyed the song and the prayer and
the service, out of Gods heart would have
been better to US than riches and more
precious than fine gold. But that is gone.
| We find ourselves sometimes coming be-
c.use we think we ought, doing this or
a
ing into this form or that because it is
habit to do so, and in the saner ..oments
of our conscience we come sometimes to
say: "Why is this so" Has God changedg
Has the power of the old gospel to ale
viate human life OF its brudens and suffer
! ings gone? Is there less of power and eff
oacy in the saving grace of Jesus Christ
now than once? After all, is Gods service
really and truly at bottom nothing but
drudgeryg Or, has something taken place
| with US? Have we left behind something
we once had and have we passed beyond
| that moment of eNultant spirit when in the
presence Of Jesus our heart bounded with
/ the Joy of a new faith and the experience
of salvation? Well, we are perfectly sure
/ Col has not changed. We are perfectly
/ sure Jesus is "the same, yesterday, to-day
4 and forever" We have not a doubt that
! the old gospel will save men to-day, and
not the matter of being saved a subject of
! just as much JOY in the twentieth century
! as in the first century? Has there been
! any change in the attitude of the gospel?
! We are hound to confess there has been
none, and if that is true, then the trouble
! is with US Somewhere we have lost some
thing. and / am looking into faces this
morning that know better than / do. in
! their experience, that that something Is
the priceless treasure OF Christian hope.
! Now, to get that back When l was
bov | wept when first l saw the wrinkles
coming on my mothers face. l wanted
her to remain always young, and there are
thousands of Christian hearts, some repre-
scented here. doubtless that have wept at
the loss of their Christian experience-it is
dead, Joy is gone. Oh, what would we give
to get it back! l am persuaded that we
would give a great deal to get it back, but
am more thoroughly persuaded that the
way to get it back is to get into the atti-
tude of life that makes it constant. The
best thing is not to get back the Christian
experience of years ago, but to get into the
attitude of life that makes that experience
perennial.
am going, therefore, to discuss the
sources of JOY. The thing that most lies
behind that experience and the first thing
that confronts the Christian in the mat
ter is duty We do not like that word
duty. We associate with the word duty,
sacrifice, and are surprised when we find
that it is in itself a term Of freedom.
When | say to you, 81 want you to do
your duty" you say, Don't talk TO me
about duty; doO't like that word" That
is largely because the word has com, to you
to mean matter of bondage, when in re-
atty it ought to mean matter Of freedom
Why it was duty ehind the text: "Let us
therefore, seeing we are comprised about
with so great a cloud of witnesses lay aside
every weight and the sin which is admired
bv many Tor so delight income special sin
of the age, | supposed and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us
looking unto Jesus the author and perfect
er of our faith, who, for the Joy that was
set before Him, endured the cross, de
spised the shame, and hath sat down at the
right hand of the throne of Goo" Thai
is duty. In the light with which Jesus de
spised the cross we ought not to stop anC
reason about duty. l want you to notice
that duty is an ethical term, not legal
/ 4here is kind of doctrine abroad to-da!
which is called the ethical religious idea.
do not mean that at all Duty is ethical
not legal Duty resides in the recesses
a mans character, not in the external leg
islation concerning him. / am a mora
being, therefore | ought. A dog or
horse can never be called upon because o
oughtness-they are not moral beings The,
: are within the restrictions Of a master an,
. that is legal. There is something in maj
that is an oughtness II ought, therefor
G l must" Because / am moral being
ought, therefore duty is ethical. Many
/. man fulflls the law and breaks every pc:
[ sible moral duty. The saloonkeeper
+ keeping the letter of the law, but he
doing an immoral thing. It is not a matte
of legality or politics, but Of moral ought
ness. Until that moral oughtness is obeye
I am in bondage, but when l obey tn
moral oughtness ! am free. passe
through great sewing machine works