The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-06-04
this THE SECRET.
our REGULAR SUNDAY SERMON.
Not Elegant Windows, Fine lus:c
and Eloquent Preaching, But Gen.
ulne Religion.

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 il: IL: Unto you is born, this Gay.
in the city of David. ] Saviour, which .
Christ the Lord" and said:
In the Anglo-Saxon version OF the New
Testament the word Saviour IS rem,
dered for the Anglo-Saxon word helper
You know also that the word Christ i
not q proDer name. but a title equivalent
to "The Messiah"-the Lord.
Every great movement has at the hear:
Of it som secret, which il we can discover
it, will disclose to MS the secret OF that
great movement. What is the secret at
Che heart of Christianity, which has made
it the great power that 1t is: In asking
you to consider this question you Will I'M
derstand, of course. that | am not under
taking in half an hour to answer the entire
question; [ am only going to try IN that
half hour to indicate the essence of Chris
tianity-thc secret of its vitality. The
Jewish people were in more than one sense
"a peculiar peoDfe.' Among other things
in this: That their faces were turned to-
ward the future. All other nations look
backward for their golden age. hnt these
peculiar Deop'e" looked forward for theirs.
They believed that 4 time WAS coming
when there would be peace instead c! war
and for themselves prosperity instead OF
universal poverty. They believed that this
great time would rome through their w
nation and that Jerusalem would become
the holy city and the mistress of the world:
And their prophets even pointed forward
to this divine consolation. and they Ind
Gated that it would come through some de-
~livercr. Sometimes they regarded the ma.
ton itself as that deliyerer; sometimes a
succession of prophets: sometimes single
prophet; sometimes a single man. as a king
Mar OF Sorrows. and acquainted with
grief" However different or incongruous
or Inconsistent those prophesies might be.
they pointed the minds OF the people for
ward 10 a great delivery and delivered. So
the shepherds perfectly well understood
the angels when they said: THE dellrcrer
has come: the helper is here, You will find
Him Graded in the manger." When Jesus
began His ministry His first sermon: OF
which we have a record. was preached IN
the synagogue at Nazareth. He went into
the synagogue, a roll was open before linn
and He read one of the prophecies OF the
great deiiverer who was coming and then
said: This day is this Scripture fulfilled in
your ears. | have come. | am that dellv-
erer." Having begun His ministry in this
way He went out to be a helper and led
the hungry. taught the ignorant and healed
the sick and DISPENSED the gospel of hope.
Once John the Baptist, perplexed to know
IL this was the Messiah. for things went on
much the same and no great thing seemed
to be accomplished. sent Him a message
saving: "Art Thou the Messiah and
Christ said to the messengers, Wait here.
nee what you will see, and then 20 and tell
.vour master The waited and saw. and
then Christ tod them: Go Your way and
tell John what things We have seen and
heard: how that the blind see, the lame
walk. the lepcrs are cleansed. the deaf hear.
the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel
is ~nreached."
No nan 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
fellow men. Christ came in contact with
such. and they leagued themselves together
to destroy Him. He was arrested and
brought before the Jewish tTbural aud
asked, Are You the Messiah" And I'M
der a solemn oath He said; Il am" Plate
said. Are You a king" He said, II 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
dissipated. They said. 1--WE thought He
was to be the great deliverer. 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" II you
will turn to the Book of Acts and read one
the burden of all the apostolic ministry.
No new theology, ethic or law. Their mes
sages were all the same: The deliverer Is
come. He is here; the deliverance has be-
gun"
In the first century rule was by absolute
despotism. 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 ut
least recognize the fact that government is
not for the government, but for the gov
erned. All industry was s~ervile. Half the
Roman population were slaves. and the
other half were o6athe edge of fimine and
only kept alive by the largess of others.
has dropped from the slave and labor has
been em~anciDated. There were no schools
in Rome d none among the Jews, except
those connected with the synagogue. but
wherever C''";stianitv has gone it has es-
tablished schools and wealth has been diff.
fused amor" the people. This is called an
age of concentrated wealth. That is not so.
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
ishment has become reformatory. The OBJ
iect of the old pagan religion was not to
helm man: it was to appease the wrath of
God or to purchase the favor of 4 corrupt
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 with
courage and nobler purposes. Christianity
is not a mere sum OF doctrines. q new
method of worship or 4 new law OF morals.
II is a great historical movement.
Flowing down through the centuries with
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 the
despairing and brought glad tidings to the
poor. The secret of Christianity. then. is
helpfulneSs. This it is that distinguishes
the theology of the Christian religion from
the theology of all other religions. 1t is a
new doctrine respecting God-not absolute