Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1903-10-15
"THY KINGDOM COME"
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon By Rev.
DR.. Barbour.
Makes An Eloquent Plea for Fellowship
Cause Of the Dearth Of Candidates For
the Ministry.


the Ministry.
BROOKLYN, N. YIN the Emmanuel
Baptist Church, St. James place and La
fayette avenue, Sunday morning, the Kew.
DR.. Clarence Augustus Barbour pastor Of
the Lake Avenue Baptist Church, Roches-
ter, n. " preached on the subject, "Ihy
The text was from Matthew vi:lO: "Thy
kingdom come" DR.. Barbour said:
Matthew's gospel is, distinctively the
gospel of the kingdom, but in very true
sense the Bible throughout is the book of
the kingdom. If. as one has suggested,
the conception of a suffering Redeemer
runs as blood-rcd cord through the
ception of the all-cmbracing kingdom and
the all-conquerng King runs through all
the Scripture as cord of royal purple.
Ny fundamental proposition is that the
kingdom of supreme and transcendent
Importance. The kingdom of God, thot
divine polity over which Jesus Christ is
King of Kings and Lord OF Lords-that
claims prc-eminont fealty.
The kingdom is OF greater Importance
than the local church, OF greater import
ance than any communion in any COM
munity. of greater Importance than any
single denomination With any different
conviction the denominations easily be-
come "sects,' something cut off in SYM
pathy, rs weil as in organization and be-
lief. from the rcst of the Christian world.
There is real danger that the !3;al
church or the denomination be exalted
above the kingdom of God You know
that our Roman Catholic friends say that
Professionalism is split up into innumerable
little sects. quarreling among themselves.
I'm the Protestant missionary work OF
Japan they say, "thc japanese, seeing
I h, ,f nd
Incorporating sects in the square of
Toxic. wrote to America, DO not send MS
any more kinds of religion We of the
Catholic Chuch are everywhere the same
in America, i'll Africa, in Asia, in Europe,
in almost every city and village Of every
land; the same form of worship, the same
artlcn,ate and compact organization. We
might answer that this is not necessarily
ground for self-congratulation; that
wherever there is freedom of inquiry, free
dom of opinion, freedom of will, there is
bound to be diversity. But we are not
now discussing the truth or falsehood,
the good or evil, in Roman Catholicism;
We say that this argument the Roman
Catholic uses with powerful effect.
True it is that narrow denominational'
| ism is hc,ittling and deadenng. That was
significant remark made by one of our
college presidents. "Thc men who least
! comprehend what I am trying to do in this
college are some professors of the college.
| They are noble, s"'f-sacrifCing men. but
each one considers his own department the
| only really important one, and the idea
! of building IN n university is something
| which none of them can grasp So there
are sclf-sacrifcng dcnominatonalists, who
| have no adequate cOncention Of the dig
nifty and Importance of the church unvcr-
sal--thc vast embracing kingdom of God.
'Thc field is the world says our Mas
! ter, nothing less; any smaller conccptjon
is caricature Of Christianity. hemtt)ing
of our faith; any ideal short OF united
| effort for the conquest OF tho word-ic!d
! is an ideal unworthy Of the Christian
! name. "Tho good seed, these are tn" sons
Of the kingdom;' the words Immediately
follow the reference to the world-iie!d.
''1hc good seed, these are the sons of the
kingdom not the membership of any To-
cal church, nor of any single dcnomina-
tionnl body.
I believe that we ere coming to rccog.
nizc the essential unity of the kingdom OF
God. Many mountains, one globe; many
ravincs, one mighty earth mass, vastly
greater than the wrinkles on her face;
many regiments. one army; many dcnomi-
nations, one church; many creCds. one
faith; many ways M the hill. one city, at
the top, where sits the King on His
throne. Dcnominationalsm wisely man
aged, may be used for mutual provoca-
tion to love and good works. Perhaps it
is better to be broken up externally, that
each denomination may do its own work.
But there must be recognition, and that
recognition more than normal ono. of
the practical fellowship, the co operative
fellowship of believers.
am a Bapti t by birth, lN training, by
conviction. ! Weld to no one in my 10y
atty to essential Baptist PRINCIPLES. There
are ConrreratiOnalists and Prcshvtcrians
and Methodists with equal loyalty. But
the Christian should ho no bigot, and no
speccs OF hjgotry is more offensive than
that Of the denominational bigot.
Let no one misunderstood. We are not
Of those sentimcntalists who dccrv ccclc
sinstical and dono7linational organization.
We are not of those who idca)2e the man
who pcrches on the UNCONVENTIONAL feacc.
The fencc-sittcr is nauseating as luliewarm
water.
We counsel no sacrifice Of conviction
but n mirroring forth OF the snirit of our
divine Lord. who prayed for His discin,es
and for those who should believe on lin
Through their word. that they all may be
] in them, that they also may be in u.s.
that the world may believe that Thou
didst send Me-" that as Of o,d the world
may recognize us as His, in that these
Christians Glove one another
Such q spirit is a long way beyond the
spirit of "tolcration,' Yet even liberation
is in advance of what we have known,
even in this Gland of the free In the
Harvard baccalaurcate of this year DR..
Van DYKE eloquently said of the Puritan:
'Something too little of sunlight may
have come in through the narrow windows
Of his house. But that house had founda-
tons, and the virtues lived in it," With
all Difference que to our national forefath-
ers--and to them Difference is due-thcre
were tenants in TIE house other than
those readily recognizable as virtues. In
tolerance, intense and bitter. was charac-
teristic of Pnritanism. The Puritan failed
to apnrehend the first princip!es of relig-
ions liberty. That it was his independence
of conviction and his demand for freedom
native land but renders his failure in this
respect the more conspicuous. He had no
charity for those who read the truth
through other eyes than his The freedom
which he demanded for himself he would
not accord to those of different faith. TO
his view of truth the whole community
must, yield assent; to his standards of
pose to secure uniformity Of worship did
not content itself with seeking to correct
error by the gentler arts of persuasion;
error must be rooted ont. at whatever
cost. The arm of the State is invoked to
secure uniformity. Upon the. shores of
the New World are rc.enacted scenes of
which these exiles should long since have
grown weary. The Puritan rivals in cru
city the prosecutors from whom he has
fed. We see Holmes, and Clark, and
Crandall dragged before the Governor and
sentenced to heavy punishment. We hear
the shrii crv of their clerical accuser as
he smites Holmes before the Judgment
seat, "The curse of God go with thee"
We see the three frail Quaker women
scourged through the settlement, until re-
prieved at last at the point of death We
see Ann Hutchinson, her reason well nigh
gone. driven through the deep SHOWS to
perish at the hands of sa,-nges. No elc-
.r ,, tn Tho