Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-08-13
4 SERMON FOR SUNDAY
81 ool,ENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
.1HE JOY OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE"

-rHE JOY OF CHRISTIAN SERVICE"
The Rev. DE-. George ID. Adams Tells o.
the Spiritual Uplifting Which ADlos[
With Those Who Walk Constantly W.
God-Pleasure in Christian suner'ns'
Nrw York; rTY.-When Rev.Dr. Ge0.D.
Adams, the new pastor OF the flrst Dap
tist Church, Lee avenue and Aeap st!e -
preached his first sermon as pastor OF Tue
church.. he selected for his text: Hebrews
Xii: / and 2: Therefore, let us also, seeing
we are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, lay aside every welgn55
and the sin which is admired by many ana
let us run with patience the race Una Jnat ou rs
thor and perfecter Of our faith; VINO Ioa l
Ethe iov that was before Him, endured the
cross, despised the shame. and hatn sas
down at the right hand of the throne OF
God" On. W, and said: 81,
A very casual observer could easily tel
that many Christians have lost the JOY OF
the Christian service which they once hao::
It takes no scholar, nor, indeed, a critic, OF
Christian life or human living to see that
many, who one day rejoiced with .un-
speakable Joy in the service OF Jesus
Christ, are to-day Indifferent. Indeed, we
ourselves find SOM times, when to come TO
the house of God is a burden, and we drag
a weary body or reluctant soul into the
presence Of the Almighty and try to w9r-
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. put those
are new experiences comparatively. once
we could give up any pleasure for ar hour
with God, and when to have !een 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-
cause we think we ought; doing this or
that service because it is customary; enter
| ing into this form or that because it is a
habit to do so, and in the saner i4oments
of our conscience we come sometimes TO
Has the power of the old gospel to ale
viate human life of it's brudens and suffer
ings gone? Is there less of power and eth
cacy in the saving grace OF Jesus Chrlst
now than once? After all, is Gods service
really and truly at bottom nothing but a
with us? Have we left behind something |
we once had and have we passed beyond
that moment of ~exultant 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
God has not changed; We are perfectly
and forever" We have not a doubt that |
the old gospel will save men to-day, and
when we come to think of it after all is
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?
lone. and if that is true, then the trouble
is with us. Somewhere we have lost some
thing, and [ ain 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 I was a
bow / wept when first I saw the wrinkles
her to remain always young, and there are
of Christian hearts, some repre-
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! I 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
of life that makes that experience
perennial.
I am going, therefore, to discuss the
sources Of Joy: The thing that most lies
that conironts the Christian in Dt the mat
ter is duty. We do not like that word
duty. We associate with +he word duty. |
sacrifice, and are surprised when we find
that it is in itself a term of freedom.
When say to you, II want YOU to do
about sbou duty duty; I y don't 1s ike that tSat wo o "a 70 Th mt
is largely because the word has com, to you
to mean a matter Of bondage, when in re-
atty 1t ought to mean a 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
by many Cor SO delight in-somc special sin
OF the age. | suppose) 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-
right hand Of the throne of Coo" That
is duty, In the light with which Jesus de-
spised the cross we ought not to stop and
reason about duty. / want you to notice
that duty is an ethical term, not a legal.
There is a kind of doctrine abroad to-day
which is called the ethical religious idea. I
do not mean that at all. Duty is ethical.
not legal. Duty resides in the recesses of
a mans character, not in the external leg
lslatlon concerning him. I am a moral
being, therefore | ought. A dog or a
horse can never be called upon because of
oushtness-they are not moral beings. They
are within the restrictions of a master and
that is legal. There is something in man
that is an oughtness. 81 ought, therefore
[ must" Because 1 am a moral being I
ought, therefore duty is ethical. Many a
man fulflls the law and breaks every pos
sible moral duty. The s%aloonkeeper is
keeping the letter Of the law, but he is
doing an immoral thing. It is not a matter
OF legality OF politics, but of moral ought
ness. Until that moral oughtness is obeyed
am in bondage, but when I obey the
moral oughtness I am free. I passed
through a great sewing machine works in
Belvldere, ILL.,, and saw the machine called
the automatic screw. The ordinary ma
chlne knows more than a lot of men. Men
can't do a thing as you tell them to-. You
set a man on a lob Of work and he will
change the way Of doing it just as sure as
he ilves-that is, if he is an American. If
a3 Is a Chinaman or a Russian he won't.
That IS why corporations hire that kind of
man, because he will do no more nor less
than he is told. But you tell an American
to do a thing precisely in a certain way;
ne won't do it; you can hire him to do it.
But a machine will. You say that is re-
stricted. No, it is not. It will take the
pig iron and turn it out perfect screws as