The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-10-28
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
a LEARNED DISCOURSE ENTITLED
THY KINGDOM COME"

ship-Cause OF the Dear.h of Candidates
For 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. Y. preached on the subject. Thy
Kingdom Come; a Plea for Fellowship.
The text was from Matthew vi:l0: Thy
kingdom come" DR.. Barbour said:
Matthew's gospel is distinctively the
gospel of the Kingdom. but in a 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 q blood-red cord through the
Scripture. it is no less true that the con,
ception of the all.embracing kingdom ana nS
the all-conquering King runs through all
the Scripture as q cord of royal purple.
NV fundamental proposition is that the
! Kingdom of supreme and transcendent
Importance. The kingdom Of God, that
divine polity over which Jesus Christ Is
King Of Kings and Lord of Lords-that
claims pre-eminent fealty.
The kingdom is of greater importance
than the local church, of greater import
ance than any communion IN any COM
munty. of greater imnortance than an!
single denomination With any ditfEent
conviction the denominations easily be-
come "sects." something cut OH IN sym
pathy, as we'll as in organizatlon ana oe-
There is real danger that the local
church or the denomination ne 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:
'In the Protestant missionary work OF
Japan" they say, "the Japanese, seeing
the headquarters of fifteen different and
non-co-operating sects in the square, Of
any more kinds of religion We of the
Catholic Chuch are everywhere the same
in America, in Africa, in Asia, in Europe.
in almost every city and village of every
land; the same form of worship. the same
articulate and compact organization. we
are the church. one and united we
might answer that this is not necessarily
a ground for self-congratn nation; that
wherever there is freedom of inquiry, free
dom of opinion. freedom Of will, there is
bound to be diversity. But we. are not
the good or evil. in Roman Catholicism;
we saw that this argument the Roman
Catholic uses with powerful effect. -
True it is that narrow denomtnational-
ism is helittling and deadening. That was
q significant remark made by one Of our
college presidents. '"The men who least
comprehend what am tryin~ to do in this
college are some professors of the college.
They are noble, self-sacri6cing men. but
zach one considers his own department. the
only really important one, and the idea
of building IN 4 university is something
which none Of them can grasp" So there
are self-saeTifcinc Observation-Disclosures who
have no adequate conception of the dig
nifty and importance of the church pniver-
sal-the vast embracing kingdom # God.
1.-THE field is the world" says our Mas
ter, nothing less: any smaller conception
is a caricatire of Christianity. a helitt!inc
of our faith: any ideal short of united
effort for the conquest of the world-held
name. "The good seed these are the sons
of the kingdom;" the words Immediately
follow the reference to the world-f field.
"lhe good seed. these are the sons of the
kingdom" not the membership of any. To-
cal church, nor of any single denomina.
tional body.
I believe that we are coming to recoR-
rize the essential unity Of the kingdom OF
God. Many mountains, one globe; many
ravines, one mighty earth mass, vastly
greater than the wrinkles on her face:
many regiments. one army; many denomi-
, nations, one church; manv creeds: one
the top, where sits the King on His
throne. Denominationalism. wisely man.
aged. may be used for mutual provoca.
ton to love and good works. Perhaps it
is better to be broken up externally, that
each determination may do its own work.
But there must be recognition. and that
recognition more than 4 normal one, of
the practical fellowship, the cooperative
fellowship Of believers.
am a Bantist nv birth, by training by
conviction. ] Weld to no one in nv 10y
atty tn essential BAPTIST principles. There
are Conprerationa;ists and Presbvterj ANS
the Christian should bo no bigot. and no
species Of hicotry IS. more offensive than
that Of the denomina tional higot:
Let no one misunderstand. We are not
of those sentimentalists who decrv eccle-
siastical and denominatioral organization
We are not of those who idealige the man
who perches on the denor,inational fence.
The fence-sitter is nauscating as luEewarm
water.
We counsel no sacrifice OF conviction.
hut mirroring forth Of the sDirit Of our
divine Lord. who prayed for His discinlcs
and for those who should believe on Him
through their word. chat thev all may be
one, even as Thou. Father, art in Ne. and
/ in them, that they also may be in US,
that the world may believe that Thou
may recognize us as His. in that these
Christians dove one another"
Such spirit IS long way beyond the
spirit Of "toleration." Yet even liberation
is in advance of what we have known.
even in this Gland of the free" In the
Harvard bacca,aureate Of this year DR..
Van DYKE elouuentlv said of the Puritan:
"Something too little. of sunlight may
have come in through the narrow windows
of his house. Bnt that house had fonnda-
tons. and the virtues lived in it." With
all Difference que to our national forefath-
e-s--and to them difference is due-tbere
were tenants in tie house other than
those readily recognizable as virtues. In
tolerance. intense and bitter. was chnrac-
teristic of P,,ritanism. The Puritan failed
to annrehend the first PRINCIPLES of relig-
ious liberty. That it was his independence
of conviction md his demand for freedom
Of worship which banisbed him from his
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 himse.f he would
his view of truth the whole community
must We'd assent; to his standards of
worship all must conform. And this pnr.
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 out. at whatever
cost. The arm of the State is invoked to
secure uniformity. Upon the shores of
the New World are re-enacted scenes of
which these exiles should long since have
grown weary. The Puritan rivals in cru
eltv the prosecutors from whom he has
fed. We see Holmes, and Clark, and
Crandall dragged before the Governor and
sentenced to heavv punishment. We hear