The Penn's Grove record., 1903-06-05
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN INTERESTING DISCOURSE BY
Or. LYMAN ABBOTT.

Subject: The Secret of ChristIanity-Not
Fine Windows and Music. But Making
the World Wiser and Better-A Chris.
tian's Duty Summed Up in One Law.
New YORK CITy.-At the Church of the
Pilgrims, Brooklyn, DR.. Lyman ABBOTT
preached Sunday morning on "The Secret
of Christianity" He took for his text
Luke ii: IL: "Unto you is born, this lay,
in the city Of David. a Saviour, which IS
Christ the Lord" and said:
In the Analo-Saxon version of the New
Testament the word Saviour" is rem.
You know also that the word Christ" is
not a proper name, but a title equivalent
to "The Messiah"-the Lord.
Every great movement has at the heart
of it some secret, which il we can discover
it, will disclose to us the secret of that
great movement. What is the secret at
the heart of Christianity, which has made
it the great. power that it is? In asking
you to consider this question yon will I'M
derstand, of course, that I am not under
taking in half an hour to answer the entire
question; I am only going to try in that
half hour to indicate the essence of Chris
tianity-the secret of its vitality. The
Jewish people were in more than one sense
"a peculiar people" Among other things
in this: That their faces were turned to-
ward the future. All other nations look
backward for their golden age. but these
peculiar people" looked forward for theirs
They believed that a time was coming
when there would be peace instead of war
and for themselves prosperity instead of
universal poverty. They believed that this
great time would come through their own
nation and that Jerusalem would become
the holy city and the mistress of the world.
And their prophets ever pointed forward
to this divine consolation. and they indi-
Gated that it would come through some de-
liverer. Sometimes they regarded the ma.
ton itself as that deliverer; sometimes a
succession of prophets: sometimes single
prophet; sometimes a single man, as a king
or prince, as a teacher. as a priest, as a
MAN of Sorrows. and acquainted with
grief" However different or homogeneous
or inconsistent those prophesies might be.
they pointed the minds of the people for
ward to a great delivery and delivered. So
the shepherds perfectly well understood
the angels when they said: "The deliverer
has come: the helper is here. You will End
Him Graded in the manger." When Jesus
began His ministry His first sermon. of
which we nave a record. was preached iu
the synagogue at Nazareth. He vent into
the synagogue, a roll was open before Him
and He read one of the prophecies Of The
great deiverer who was coming and then
said: This day is this Scripture fulfilled in
your ears. ! have come. / am that deliv-
erer." Having begun His ministry in this
way He went out to be a helper and fed
the hungry, taught the ignorant and healed
the sick and dispensed the gospel of hope.
Once John the Baptist, perplexed to know
if this was the Messiah, for things went on
much the same and no great thing seemed
to be accomplished, sent Him a message
saying: cart Thou the Messiah" and
Christ said to the MESSENGERS. "Wait here.
see what you will see, and then go and tell
your master" The waited and saw. and
then Christ told them: $50 your way and
tell John what things We have seen and
heard; how that the blind see, the lame
walk. the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear.
the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel
is preached"
No man can undertake to help his fellow
men really sincerely. on a large scale. with
out coming in contact with men who do
not want the help. those who are making
something out of the misfortunes of their
such. and they leagued themselves together
to DESTROY Him. He was arrested and
brought before the Jewish tribunal and
asked, care You the Messiah And I'M
der a solemn oath He said. "I am" Plate
said, care You a king?" He said. ri am"
To both the Jewish tribunal and the Ro-
man He said. II am" and for that He was
condemned to die and for it He died.
When He died the hopes of His disciples
was to be the great delivcrer, but evidently
He was not" Rumors of His ascension be-
gan to circulate, and, little by little they
became convinced. and then they said,
"Ah, He is the deliverer. after all" If you
will turn to the Book of Acts and read one
of the sermons there you will see that was
the burden of all the apostolic ministry.
No new theology, ethic or law. Their mes
sages were all the same: "The dellverer Is
come. He is here; the deliverance has be-
gun"
In the first century rule was by absolute
iespotism. Gradually government has been
transformed, until now it is completely es-
tablished, and there is no government in
Europe west of Russia that does not at
least recognize the fact that government is
not for the government, but for the gov
erned. All industry was ~servile. Half the
Roman population were slaves. and the
other half were on the edge Of famine and
only kept alive by the largess of others.
Wherever Christianity has gone the chain
has dropped from the slave and labor has
been emancipated. There were no schools
in Rome and none among the Jews, except
those connected with the synagogue, but
wherever Christianity has gone it has es-
tablished schools and wealth has been diff
fused among the people. This is called an
age of concentrated wealth. That is not 81.
There never was an age, and that Is espe-
cially true OF America, when wealth was
more distributed. There are charities
everywhere. The church has also changed
the conception of punishment, so that pun.
lshment has become reformatory. The OBJ
iect Of the old pagan religion was not te
help man; it was to appease the wrath Of
God or to purchase the favor of a corrupti
bic God. Christianity has altered all that
with various degrees of success. The church
of Christ is engaged in the work of lifting
the burdens of men, in inspiring them witt
courage and nobler purposes Christianity
is not a mere sum of doctrines. a new
method Of worship. or a new law OF morals
1t is a great historical movement.
Flowing down through the centuries witt
ever widening and deepening current, bless
ing every land it has touched and CARRYING
with it some measure of helpfulness, Chris
tianity has done, through the centuries
what Christ did in those four short years
it has helped the helpless, fed the hungry
taught the ignorant, given courage to thu
despairing and brought glad tidings to thu
poor. The secret of Christianity. then. i
helpfulness. This it is that distinguish
the theology of the Christian religion from
the theology of all other religions. 1t is
new doctrine respecting God-not absolute
ly so, but still new contrasted with th'
teachings of other religions. Everywhere
on the globe men believe in the aid o
God and in the power of God. The dis
t~inction between the Jewish religion and
Paganism was not that one called Goo
Jehovah and the other Baal. 1t was thai
one worshiped justice and the Other
power. The message of the Pagan religion
was of an o~mnipotent power back of the
affairs of nature and life. The message O
Judaism was that God is a righteous Goo
and demands Righteousness of His children