The Penn's Grove record., 1903-06-05

out Confuefus would show You now 10 walk
so that you would keep out" Then a Bral.
min sees him and says, II am sorry, but
there is no help for you; you never can get
out. The only chance for You is to tau
into an eternal sleep and forget your mis-
cry" Next comes a Mohammeddn. who
says. RI am so sorry to see you there. but
Allah is just, and you deserve it. he is
not merciful, and Won will never get ont
Last a Christian, who says, Il my
self have been down there. / tumbled down
there once. | know just how you ran get
out" And he gets a rope and pulls the
man out of the hole ard puts his feet upon
a rock: That is the difference between the
Christian and the pagan religions. The
Christian religion is the only religion IN
the world that offers to help men out Of
the burden of their sins and the conse-
duences of their misery. But, o.. the pity
Of it, men don't want it. Napoleon said.
Scratch a Russian. and you will find q
Tartar" Scratch a Christian and You will
find a pagan. 1t seems to me that Chris.
tian congregations are full of paganism.
receive letters every week from men and
women who never vet have learned that ii
they have made a blunder or committed a
sin, and perhaps involved others IN PERI
because of their mistake. God can take care
of it all. and they can trust Him to help,
If only they will turn from their evil WAYS.
H~elpfulness is the secret of Christian the
ology. So it is the secret OF our Christian
ritual. Tt is at the heart OF all worship.
We come to church, not driven by fear OF
compelled by custom. and not by convic
ton. Why? Not to be entertained by an
amusing lecture. Then. why? At the heart
of it all is this: Some sense of the truth OF
that message that God is love and that,
somehow or other. we are dependent on
His love and have had something from
His love, and We want to give Him some
thing in return. / do not say that IS true
Of all, but still if it were not for the sense
of the love of God and the desire to be
thankful the church would close its doors
and the chimes cease to ring. What Is the
Roman Catholic service? First confession
and then absolution. The same thing OF
the Episcopal service, and OF the Congre-
g~ational. We don't go into the confession
al; we don't stand up as a priest pro-
nounces an absolution, but ID. i. Moody az
truly preached -absolution as any Catholic
priest OF Episcopalian rector. il you want
to know what men believe, don't go to the
creeds or catechism. Go to the hymn
books. They express our faith ana real ex..
perience; they are our creed. sung over
and over and over again. And what does
the hymn book say?
Love divine, all love excelling." Thanks
be to God who giveth us the victory"
Imagine, this Sabbath morning. a citizen
of Mars coming down and entering differ
ent churches. He would go into a Catholic
church and see the altar and the candle
and the robed priest and the incense, and
he would say, "What are you doing here"
The answer would be: eve are here to
worship the Lamb who hath redeemed u.s.
In the Episcopal church he would see no
candles and incense, and would again AK
the question. The answer would be: we
have come to praise the Lord Christ, who
hath redeemed US" In the Congregation
al, Baptist or Presbyterian church he would
see 10 altar or candles or vested priests;
'What are you doing here?" he asks, and
the reply is: 1--WE have come here to sing
the praise Of the Man of God who hath re-
deemed u.s." And in the Quaker meeting
house he would see no choir or preacher or
service and hear no singing, but they
would all be sitting still doing n~othing-ab-
s~olutely nothing. And their reply to the
same question would be: I'VE are giving our
praise to Christ, who hath redeemed US by
| His blood. We cannot find any utterance
which will express our gratitude, and we
| are simply speaking in the silence OF our
hearts" He would go back and say: They
were all drawn together by a sense OF
| Gods love that had given His Son for their
| redemption" 1t is the love of God that
makes us one, and only that. / was once
in a Catholic church in Paris and after
watching the service for a time walked
| around behind the altar and found there a
| service of deaf and dumb people. The ser
vice was the sam at heart; the love OF God
inspiring the thanks Of men.
I remember an old English divine begin
| ming his sermon: ct can do all things"
and then saying. THAT | deny. But let US
see, what is this: through Him tnat
strengthened me- All. that is another
thing; that I can do" 1t was a quaint way
| OF putting it. but it made the text stick IN
nv mind, and I have never forgotten. IT.
This is the secret of the power Of Christian
| itv. Yon will find men say: Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy,
| strength." is the summary OF Christianity.
| That is a mistake. Christ gave that as
| the summary of the Jewish law. When
asked, H.What is the chief end OF the jew
Lord thy God - and thy neighbor as
| thvself." but when He was about to die He
| left as a legacy to His disciples this: a
new commandment give | unto you; that
We love one another as / have loved You"
| How did He love us? He laid down His
| life for us. That is Christianity. Judaism
is Justice; Christianity is sacrifice. Whas
makes a Christian nation? Not a creed
| written in a constitution, not an esLao-
| ished church. an organ or music. What
| will make America a Christian nation! we
| have about us dependent and inferior races:
Loving our neighbor and the Filipino and
the negro and making them men-nothlng
else viii make us a Christian nation. And
what makes a Christian church! Not me
windows and music, but making the world
wiser and better. What would Christ do
for your employees and servants? Helpful
ness and service is Christianity; the heart
and the centre and circumference OF it.
All Christian theology is summed up m;
"God SO loved the world that He gave HIS
only begotten Son. and all Christian ritual
in the Psalm: Blessing and honor and
glory and power to Him that sittetn pon
All Christian power is summed up in: Il
can do all things through Him that
strengthened me" and all Christian duty IS
summed up in the one law: Love one an
other as I have loved you"