The Newtown bee. (Newtown, Conn.) 1877-current, 1903-10-30
TOWN TOPICS

! TOWN TOPICS
AN ELOQUENT AND INSPIRING
SERr1ON
BY REV J. F. JOHNSTON, AT THE CON-
GREeAT1ONAL CHURCH, SUNDAY
MORNING.
Rev J. F. Johnston of New Haven,
formerly settled in pastorate at On
tario, Can, was the preacher at the
Congregational church, Sunday. He
is now taking a postgraduate course
at Yale university. He was enter
tained at the Grand Central hotel
over Sunday. He gave a sermon of
great power, holding the audience
spellbound by his eloquence. He spoke
from 1st Cor. 3: 11-16, ''For other foun-
dation can no man lay than that Is
laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now If
any man build upon this foundation,
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
stubble; Every mans work shall be
made manifest; for the day shall de-
clare it, because it shall be revealed by
fire; and the fire shall try every man S
work of what sort it is. If any mans
work abide which he hath built there
upon, he shall receive reward. II
any mans work shall be burned, he
shall suffer loss: but he himself shall
be saved; yet SO as by fire." He said
in part: In the church at Corinth
the evil of division had crept in, and
the cause of this lay in the fact that
one party inclined to think of Paul as
the church's foundation, whilst an
other would exalt Apollos paul S
successor at Corinth) as above Paul.
Against,the idea that any man could
be the church's foundation, Paul in
the words of our text vindicates him
self and his colleague. Said Paul:
Strife only creates and propagates
strife, and division only results in
greater disharmony. The foundation
is Christ and Christ alone whom
have preached unto you, says Paul and
as wise master-bullder have sought
to establish you, my Corinthian
brethren, on this foundation, eternally
placed by the everlasting decree OF
| God. Let us now consider: l. The
nature of Christ'S claim to be the
the church IS one-foundation fact. 2.
| The superstructure which we are en-
joined to raise upon this foundation.
3. The nature of the test to be ap-
piled to this superstructure. First,
then, the claim is a two-fOld one.
| 1) He is the Son of God. (2) Heis the
Son of Man. AS Son of God, Christ
evinces that divineness which cannot
be accounted for on purely historical
grounds. His birth, His sinlessness,
His miracles, His passion and resur.
rection are all themes that demand an
explanation above the human. AS Son
of God He revealed the mind of God
in regard to salvation of the benighted
souls of men in regard to the state
after death, and the immortality OF
the soul. Away from Christ's teach
ing, His life and death as set forth in
Holy Scripture, we have satisfactory
explanation of these things. AS Son
of Man, Christ is universal man anC
Saviour, not the son of any man but
the plain son of man in genuine
and representative sense; the sense iI
which is ideally Set forth the glory Of
the Son in holy heroism, in a match
less enthusiasm for truth. But not
only did Christ manifest heroism ano
ideal manliness but He manifested
the glory of the Virgin in those win
some ideal qualities of womanhood Sc
beautifully portrayed in the Virgin
Mary. Did not Christ feed the hun
cry, clothe the ragged, lift up the
fallen, and unrecognized by, the soci
ETY. people of that day? Where car
His matchless sympathy be paralleled
Such was the Universal man ant
Saviour, who claimed the whites ane
the blacks, the Jew and Gentle as Hi
by inheritance and Scriptural adop
tion. 2. The superstructure: 1t i
of six classes of material but two dis
tinct kinds. The first kind incon
sumable and the second consumable
Here we get true idea of unity
which consists in comprehensiv
manifoldness that is in things no
! wholly unlike and yet which do no
contradict each other. For instance
the God-head has the attributes Q
love, power, justice and holiness, an
though these are not identical terms
they never contradict each othel
There is unity in our bodies, say
Paul, because we have many members
each one having it's own function ye
all depending on the heart. So b
analogy are Christian people thoug
different in disposition and ideals, ye
all are linked to Christ, who is th
very heart of their religion and n
|, ligious superstructure. Differer
churches are only different forms u,
der which the Church Catholic mai
ifests itself. Says Paul: The churc
Of God is a great house, and so with
the household Of faith, whose canoE
is heaven and whose floor is the eartl
and whose walls are salvation, dive
the people of God, though Of differe1
= denominational names; i. e., we sti
have rooms in this great house. But tt
same Holy Spirit illumines, the san
Sun of Righteousness sheds luster ar
benign radiance, the same Bible
the compass and the chart as we a
afloat for eternity, and the san
heaven is our goal, and the same pro