The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-01-27

Sermon sunday Evening at Trinity
NJ. e.
At Trinity NJ. E. church Sunday eve
ming Rev. DR. Rail spoke on THE Fact
of He'll"
His text was: I Cor. $40, For We
must all be made manifest before the
Judgment seat of Christ" and he said
in part:
A sermon on hell is not so common a
matter to-day as it was in the preach
ing of the fathers. Men have revolted
from the crudeness and cruelty of the
hell that was once preached, the hell OF
physical torture, the hell of unbaptlzed
infants and unevangelized heather; the
hell in whose exhibition of suffering the
saints serene were supposed to delight.
1t seems too crude and too cruel to-day.
And so men have ceased to hear of it.
But with the passing of this picture of
hell, of which men knew so much and
the Scripture says so little, it seems as
though men had come to think there
were no hell at all. They have taken
comfort in the thought of an indulgent
God, Or perhaps they have turned to
circumstances as the real maker OF
their lives, or perhaps it has been the
easy-going optimism whose false pres
ence is everywhere to-day. Ana
preachers have been to blame. The
motive of fear is not the highest motive
to which to appeal. but he who wishes
to move men and save men must APP
peal to every motive of life. And the
Great Teacher knew how to warn from
awful consequence as we'll as to let the
good make it's appeal.
MY first appeal tonight shall not be
to Scripture with it's solemn warning
but to the facts of life that we all
know and the convictions of heart that
we all share. The first is the fact OF
conduct to which Paul appeals, "ac-
cord to what he hath done" Deep IN
the heart of man is the conscience that
fastens upon him his words, his deeds,
his thoughts, his life, as his own, all ms
own, and his own by choice. Some
things are not in our hands, native tai
emit, opportunity. Men rate these things
greatest in the problem Of success.
They are least. The greatest thing IS
ours, the factor that decided. That is
the final choice of conduct, the will for
evil or for good. Conscience may be
dormant, we may drift untrouhled by
its word. But it speaks its word at
last. And it says, not only right OF
this and wrong of that; it says that
right is my right, that wrong is my
wrong. 1t rests the responsibility OF
life on the soul itself Here is the thing
that separates man from nature, that
Joins him to God, that has in 1t the pos
sibility of heaven, the chance OF hell IT.
self. And from the burden or the priv
'ilege, whatever it may seem, from the
freedom. the choice, the responsibility,
NJ power can abselve us.
Aftersconduct is character, I'VE must !
be made manifest" Conduct IS the
plastic material, character the liked
product. Life is full of this transfer
nation. We all wnow it. The rocky
:sentinels that look down on our city
were once a plastic, molten mass. They
lift their hardened fronts to-day DEFY
ing threatened changes from wind or
weather At one end of the line is the
simple life cell, that could become, 1t
seemed, almost anything or nothing at
all: at the other end of the life of
growth is the hardened oak, the final
shape. From this rule man is not ex-
empt, least of all that which is the
heart of man, the man himself, MS
character There is no more chance in
the world of the spirit than in the
world of matter. What man doth
that shall be be- what is man is that is
his fate, his destiny. And that destiny
is not a thing that always remains upon
balancing scales. Every day we cast a
vote, every day we sink the balance
lower on this side or that; every day
the issue is made more sure.
And then we come to Paurs central
word. manifestation. 1t is part of the
ground for mems dizziness of moral
Judgment and for their careless ease,
that good and bad mingle inseparably,
almost indistinguishably here in this
world They mingle in the same circles,
follow the same pursuits, walk the
same streets dress thes anne, act &C
cording to the same convntions. And
the Bible seems wrong and the Chris
iaan Judgment narrow, that draws its
line of separation. And yet below the |
surface, there it is, the currents of the |
inner life setting toward right or wrong, |
the inner motive and purpose Of good
or evil, Sometimes the veil is lifted a |
little in this life. Here is scene of |
shipwreck with its chance of life and
death. A moment ago these men and |
women were all of one class, or separa- |
ted only as servants and served. This |
man appeared the gentleman, who |
could not transgress a rule of good |
manners. Now the selfish brute in him
comes to light, as he crowds aside wo- !
men and children in his struggle for |
life. This rough sailor becomes hero |
of unselfish devotion. That complacent, |
well-satisfied man becomes covering, |
conscience-stricken wretch crying to |
God for mercy. That timid woman be- |
comes a hero in the fortitude and calm !
of her Christian faith. How they be- |
come manifest!
Some time we shall all become mani !
fest The coverings shall all be !
stripped aside. From the hand of /
death there shall sdip away all that we |
have and in the light of God there |
shall stand forth all that we are. No
rank or class or Clothes no pretext, no
excuse shall shield The soul shall |
stand forth and approve or condemn it.