Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1903-10-29
A SERMON FUK SUNDAY
An,sccuRsF ENTITLED "LlFE'S YIELD
TO THE MORAL CONQUERCR."

The Rev. T. X. Williams Urges Cs :" spen'
Our Few Drief Ncars Fighting 81" a"t
Serving Man Until We Pass to the Grea
Beyond-An Uplifting Discourse.
BRooK1yN. n. Y.~-Tine Pew. 7. Rhond
da Williams, pastor of the Green 4eid Ion
grepational Church, Bradford, England
p reached il There r'yw wss a G large au sG e
The Rev. DR.. Newell Dwight Hills intro
duced Mr.. Williams. Earnest attention
was given to his thoughtful sermon. ne
subject was "Life's Yield to the Mora
Conoueror.'' and the text was from pas
sages in the Apocalypse. Mr.. Williams
said: .
Each one of the messages to the churcnes
Of Asia closes with a promise. They con
tain threats and warnings and command
ments. but at the close stands the promise
like a distant hill in sunshine. seen
through the storm, to lure on ever the
worst-beatcn to the better things OF GOD
and man. The messages lay down the
moral task without compromise, out thes
close with the assurance that
"The topping crags Of duty sealed
Are close upon the shining. tablelands, !,
To which our Gcd Himself is moon and
sun"
lOeIG is mere Il Nv OlOlu dSp[CC VI 'A>
which every morally earnest man is ac-
quainted with. He knows that it's condl-
tons are stern. that there is vigor in it,
but he knows also that the vigor is blended
with tenderness, that all it's struggle IS
permeated by promise. We might indeed
say that moral earnestness and hope1ul-
ness go togther. Stand Loyalty under the
bower of duty, and YOU will hear the bird
of hope sing. Unfaithfulness to the moral
ideal breeds pessimism Of the worst kind;
fidelity. while it does not encourage cheap
and lightsome optimism. does inscribe IN
the heart of the blacklist duty the shining
word of the coming time. God has so made
us that EMBODIED in the bosom of loyalty
lies the assurance of triumph for the good.
i! Now. it is this loyalty to the good, this
fidelity to the moral ideal. this ~persevering
attitude, which I take to be indicated in
the word overcoming" or "conquering."
Every promise is made to him who cover
cometh" or who ~"conquers." Not, mark
you. to him who has overcome. or who has
conquered in any full OF final sense. These
promises are not Of gifts to be bestowed
at the end Of the course, but Of experiences
to be realized in going on, so long as o
so On in the right way. Now. is it a fact
for it is no use preaching theories away
from the facts Of life-that the promises
made to those Asian churches in the name
of Christ. sent to them by John as direct
from n Christ h St: are are t. TBS be regarded gar r IS promises
no. regard them so, except so far as
they contain truths attested by the exper-
fence of men. Indeed, the messages given
to the churo'les of Asia are not entirely
from Christ as He was, not from Christ as
We understand Him to-day. but from
Christ as John understood Him. When
we read the promises of the moral life we
read not only the facts of our moral expe-
py,c 90 h,,i oISn a oo,t~.~
given by more than one bias. such as the
personal bias or the national bias. The fu-
ture we depict may be in essence graran-
teed by the universal laws OF the moral
life, but the depletion may bear personal
OF national colors. which must fade; per-
sonal and national clements which must
be eliminated. John was a Christian, but
he was also a Jew. Like every man. he
had a temperament, both the nationality
and the personality would affect his vision
OF the future. Our Christ never takes alb
solute and full possession Of us, cur very
best understanding of Him has some mix
ture of ourselves in it, which is, not in Him.
10 him tina. 'o~vercoEeth and keepeth
My word will l give power over the ma
tons, and ne shall rule them with a rod of
IRON, as the vessels of a potter snail be
My Father" Here are words attributed
to Jesus which none of us would like to
think of Him as speaking. We could not
md IN Jesus any promise Of authority
over nations to rule them with a rod of
iron; as the vessels Of a potter are broken
to .%shlvers; nor do we think of Him as
claiming to have received such from His
Father. That is not our way of thinking
OF Christ TO-DAY. Then how did John
come to hear Christ saw that? Because
John bad been reared in tue atmosphere
md ted upon the sentiments of Psalm ii.
Ills Jewish teachers hau taught him to re-
yard Psa:m II as Messlan;c. And what was
ASK Of Me and I viii give thee the ma
lions for thine Inheritance and the utter
most parts of the earth for thy posses
SION. Thou shalt break them with a rod
Of iron: thou shalt dash them to pieces
ike q potter's vessel" Some Jews some
tlmes believed that that was one OF the
things the Messiah would do. When a
Jew came to believe that Jesus was the
Messiah YOU would thirk that he would
At least throw off that Old notion. Jesus
had said. "Come unto Me all We that labor
and are heavy laden etc. Il am meek o.
heart, iowiy.' blessed are the meek"
etc. "Other cheek" etc. The general
character and teaching Of Jesus was the
very opposite Of the Psalm ii conception Of
Messiah. Yet the Jew who believed that
Jesus was the Messiah carried over with
him a good deal Of the old national con-
iception and attributed it to Jesus. That
is what John does here. 1t was not Jesus
speaking, bit his own ~nationalism that
vas representing Jesus. This is not very
surprising when gu remember that Chris
tians ven yet take the Psalm ii to refer
to Jesus. Nothing could be more unlike
Jesus of Nazareth than the description OF
the Messiah in Psalm ii. It is high time to
protest. as Cheyne does, against the habit
Of finding Christ in passages "unrelated
to Christ and His religion" IT fear
says Canon Cheyre, that our unnit;
gated adoption Of the Psalter as it stand:
may connteract that spirit of love which i
o%ne,half Of Christianity" The fear is toe
we'll founded: What did the great st
Bernard say long ago regarding the war:
Of the Crusades upon the Mohammedans'
These are his words: "They are minister!
OF God to inHict His vengeance. For then
to give or receive death is not a sin. but ;
most glorious deed; the Son of God de
lights to receive the blood of His enemies
He is giorified in the death of the pagans.'
It IS most astounding that Jesus coult
aSye been conceived as the incarnation O
Gods redeeming purpose and love and We
; - One who could delight in the blood O
His enemies. The Messianic interpretatio
| of many psalms undoubtedly tends to IN
, dermlne the value of the revelation of Co
in Christ. In a Christian magazine O
some time ago one article is entitled eth
Tenderness of Jesus and the next is 9Th
7 lmprecatory Psalms Vindicated." ! al
IWaVS maintain that there is q Sevaritv !,