Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-07-28
A SUNDAY SERMON
FAyoRs LIVING THE HIGHER LIFE
The Beauty of Holiness In Christian
Living E~loquently Set Forth By a
Consecrated Pastor.

The Beauty of Holiness In Christian
Living Eloquently Set Forth By a
Consecrated Pastor.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-Sunday morning the
Rev. DR.. Robert Rogers, rector Of the
Church of the Good Shepherd, pteached>a
t aGog;a hdve and Fdr i %an.n The sf feHss we ae !
from John iii:l Is God so loved the werld
that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whose .believeth on Him, might not perish, |
but have everlasting life" and Mark ix:24:
lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbe-
lief" DR.. Rogers said among other things:
I begin our thought this morning with
tie John who, better than any other OF
Christ's disciples, understood the vital
meaning underlying the Master life. Jesus
was to John a distinct personality with
whom he was acquainted, a man among
men, but He was more than this: He was
also at the same time the love OF God IN
| carnate in this Mans nature, so that He
| represented the nature of God, and His
| feeling and desires and purposes toward
| mankind. God loved the world. Now, at
/ ter beginning with this thought, / have
taken another verse from Scripture, to in
dicate mans attitude Of mind toward
Johns declaration, Lord, l beileve' help
| 1uOu IuluC uuOC11C1s
Johns statement is a condensed but
very complete outline of what the Chris
tian religion aims to teach men. 1t is the
message of the Christian Church that Jesus
Christ is the personal demonstration OF
Gods love for man. The life and words
of Jesus are the illustrations Of how God
loves and how He acts toward man, and
also what God desires that man shall
think and do toward God and toward his
fellow man.
Now this kind Of thinking leads us into
the acknowledgment. of the supernatural.
It brings us to the admission that our Di-
vine Father loves man, and teaches him.,
and guides him by laws and standards
which He reveals to man according to his
iigion stands for the presence of God in
this life we are now living, and that he
has help to give to man, and demands to
make Of man.
There are countless men and women
who believe implicitly in this statement of
live in their belief, offering up themselves
to divine guidance, regretting their sins
and imploring pardon in perfect faith that
it will be granted. There are, on the other
hand, some perhaps, who say they have
no belief in the divine and spiritual, and
who would place themselves outside of the
declarations of the Christian religion, but
I believe this number to be few and grow
ing smaller every day, as the fuller vision
of the world and its rich spiritual meaning
dawns upon their intelligence. But there
is another large class with whom ! am
specially concerned, who believe and yet
do not believe. They would not deny the
Christian faith, neither are they ready to
give their full allegiance to it. There is a
multitude of such people among our men
and women, and nay we not ask seriously
why. is this the case? Is it because Christ's
teaching and His life are so hard to be un-
d~erstood that spiritual things can make no
derstood. Are some kinds so constituted
naturally that spiritual things can make
no effective appeal to them?
If we were for a moment to admit this
it would destroy the greatest power which
we believe inherent in Christ's religion,
namely, that to every man, bond or free,
black or yellow, barbarian or Scythian,
jew or Gentle, learned or unlearned, rich
or poor, it has the power of entering into
his heart and transforming his life. There
is no respect of persons with God. I grant
you that Christ found that there were Ger.
tam places where even He could not pre-
sent His message with conviction, but the
cause of His failure was the hardness of
mems hearts and not the difficulty OF
compromising His gospel, and this sam
reason will be found to hold good in these
days:
Atheism IS no longer supposed to be a
necessary adjunct of the scientist: but on
the contrary, the men who are opening the
widest visions OF new truth to the world in
these days and teaching the p%rofoundest
cere believers in the message of God's
; presence as revealed by Jesus Christ, or a,
: least are able TO- say with earnestness
9 Lord, l believe, help Thou mine unbelief.'
. When we come to consider our own live!
l and those of the ordinary men and womei
Q around about whom we can understand
what Is it that prevents the message O
Jesus Christ from having the effect upo,
, US all that it ought to have?
Ihere has been for the past few years
! warning sounded that men are not attend
ing our Christian churches, and,.the rea
sons are being given in various ways. Cler
gymen are embarrassing; churches are cold
= quated and ii1liberal and meaningless t
man in the struggle for life.' Perhap
. there is a truth in all these statements: i
ls not difficult for even a stupid man t
{ find a plausible excuse for anything h
( cares to do, or to leave undone. Parent
( who are educating them, understand til
) readiness of plausible excuses.
} But these excuses, whenever given, ar
not the real reasons why som men do nc
( attend church. Let me say, first, that
I Deileve 1t Is open to demonstration that
} larger NUMBER OF men are interested !
the work of the church and attending &
services and obeying its inspirations tina
at any other time in history. And whs
Is more important, they are attendin
churches willingly without the compulsio
OF ancient times when heaven and he
were regarded as in the sole power of Il
church. and men were afraid to abse1
I themselves. Our Y. M. G.. A.,s were nev,
SO prosperous The religious nature of O,
coLege students was never more genui1
= than IN our own days.
2 But to speak of those who are not a
e tending our churches, is it not becan
3 they have never had a true vision Of II
8 vital reality and practicability of Christ
messages? Tho great majority of men
8 this country, at least, are nomina Chr
E t1ans. They send their children to SIND;
school, they like to have their wives a,
sisters in union with the church. and
asked whether they themselves believe
the teachings of Christ and His Churc
would either evade the question or else $
they could follow Christian precepts wit
" out attending church. Is not the fanlt
lack OF attendance on Christian worsh
} due rather to the manner of life we >
l. hvlng than to a definite unbelief in t
virtue Of the Christian religion? They .
by so much absorbed in the STRUGGLE
res money that they have neither tine n