The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-09-21
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
4 STRONG DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
IAN ADVANCE ORDERED"
The Rev. DR.. John E. Adams Tells of the
Law of Progress as Exemplified in the
Waxing Strong of the Infant - We
Should Seize Our inheritance.

BROOKLYN, N. Y.-Having been ap-
pointed Presiding Elder Of the New York
District of the New York East Conference,
the Rev. DR.. John E. Adams. pastor of
Grace M. E. Church, preached his closing
sermons Sunday. During his pastorate of
4 little more than two years he has. had
marked success. The debt OF the church,
$50, 900, was Cancelled in January, 1903, the
mortgage burned and the church is now
free from ineumbranee. Sunday morning
DR.. Adams preached on can Advance Or
Is: Speak unto the children of Israel,
that they 60 forward" DIR. Adams said:
When this advance was ordered, the Is.
~raelites were encamped on the coast of
the Red Sea. Before them was the sea
spread out for miles and leagues, and they
had neither bridge nor boat. nor pontoon
by which to cross it. Behind them was
the army of Pharaoh, with horses and
chariots. with trained warriors and skilled
commanders, intent on their capture or
destruction. On either side, it would seem,
were formidable obstructions-mountains,
or fortresses, or something that could not
be passed-for the 1sraelites saw no way
of escape and cried out for fear. In this
perilous and apparently hopeless situation
the people reprnached Moses for the dreadf
full extremity to which they had been ref
duced; wlfereupon that holy man appealed
to God for help, and then came, probably
in tones of thunder that sounded in the
ears OF all the people full and clear above
the roar of the sea, this strange order:
Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak
unto the children of Israel that they 60
forward"
Leaving now the literal narrative, ex-
cept as we may have occasion to recur to
~ ,nntlnpfo11ry LOT nc nffnnl RI Tho n,nrni
meanings and uses of the text. The case
before US is exceptional in nothing but the
physical facts; the moral truths and IN
DERIVING principles of this case are always
and everywhere present among the people
of God. Indeed, the principles here in
volved are so general and the analogies of
universal history are so wide and complete
that I think we are justified in regarding
this text as the law of the universe,i ap-
piled to the church. The physical occasion
of this text, in all of its essential features,
finds its duplicate in the moral OCCASION
of this service. We are the children of
Israel ourselves: I can prove it BY st.
Paul: IF We be Christ's, then ATE ye
the promise" The Red Sea is before us.
Not that Red Sea that washes the sstds of
Arabia and floats the commerce Of the
East, but the Red Sea of moral hin4rance
"a sea that is deeper than the Atlantic
Ocean and wider than the Pacific. Phar.
aoh's army is pursuing us. Not The an
tiquated Egyptian division, now Hxtinct,
but the internal brigade itself, still in the
field and strictly up to date in evary par
ticular-and these enemies from the Meth
ermost pit, inspired with inconceivdbl BILE ha-
tired and, in the words of Milton. t.tarmed
with hell flames and fury" and following
no in 0Jypruyhplpninn nnnohoro and rk1fh nm
appeasable ferceness. Such is OUR situa-
ton this very hour, and as we stand to-day
amid these threatening environments, the
captain of our salvation calls to Ius from
heaven, go forward" and in obedience
to this order lies our duty, our s4fety and
our happiness.
Let us approach our subject step by
stem God is the author of the universe.
TIE universe existed in the Divine Mind
as an ideal before it existed in itself as
q substance. The ideal was complete and
perfect as well as beautiful and good; but
the first states of the actual L-Ive:se did
vine Mind. What then? Did God fail?
Did His active energy prove unequal to
His benefcent intentions? By no means.
God gave the universe this imperfect form
at first, not because He could net do other
wise and had to abandon His ideal but be-
cause He saw it better to realize His ideal
gradually through the law of progress than
to realize it suddenly by an act of crea-
tive power. Deliberately ard of His own
v~olition God made tine universe a crude
mass of unorganized matter and force;
and then, intr-sting His sublime work to
the law Of progress operated by respson-
time all should be reduced to order. har-
mony and beauty. This is he story of the
universe in its entirety and in its parts.
This is the story of the worlds and of their
productions. This is the story OF minerals,
vegetables and animals; of general species
and individuals; of angels, women and
men. This is the story Of matter in all its
combinations, of life in all its forms, and
of mind in all its phenomena. This, in
brief, SO far as We have yet learned, is the
story of all creation, and Of all propaga-
ton.
Let me illustrate what I mean by the
oak. Gods ideal for the oak is a majestic
tree, six feet in diameter and ten feet in
hold of the rocks and mighty branches
sweeping the clouds-a very giant that can
wrestle with the storms and play with the
~ightnings. But in its beginning, as it
sprouts from the acorn. the oak is a tiny
shoot which the foot of a little child could
effectually crush. God makes it thus and
says to it, go forward" and then the lit
tie plant, obedient to the Divine com.
mand, through cloud and sunshine and
changing season, soon goes on and out and
up, until at last, by means of the law of
progress IN the form OF growth, it has
fulfilled the word Of God, and stands be-
fore the eyes of men in all the imposing
grandeur Of its towering and solid matur-
j tty.
lake the eagle as another illustration.
Gods ideal for the eagle is an imperial
bird OF great size and strength, with
amazing keenness of vision and with pin
iors for majestic flight, the mountain erag
its castle, and its pleasure ground the sky.
Such Is the Divine ideal for this noble
bird. But the young eaglet energies from
che shell a feeble little creature, and if
you could see it during the first week or
two OF its existence, and could stroke with
your hand its soft .yellowish down and
look into its pale blush eyes, its feeble
ness would probably excite your pity. But
as the little thing feeds and exercises, it
grows and strengthens, until at last, un-
der the operation Of this law of progress,
1t can soar from the nest, launch into the
air, gaze directly into the MONDAY sun,
beat down the storm clouds under its
seven foot spread OF wings, and sail from
continent to continent, through the oceans
Of azure above, orG the oceans that roll
below.
But in this discussion We must rise out
of life into mind, and then still ascend
from the intellectual to the spiritual. We
will, therefore, consider man as an illus
tration of the truth we are pursuing.
Gods ideal for man is a most exalted and
sublime being, with mental and moral en-
dowments OF tremendous scope, so im-
measucably superior in parts and powers
creation must eliminate in him. God de.