Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-01-02
WHAT THINK YEOFCHRIST?
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon By Rev.
Charles n. Parkhurst.
Why So Nay People Get Tired Of Being
Christians.

ye that | ann" Dr. Parkhurst said anon
other things:
Chris means TO you something: what i
IL.
Chris: Himself asks this Of Ills diseinles
IL Is the first Christian catechism. Brief
but nevertheless 1t Is catechism, and i
Gods warran: 10. our asking doctrina
questions, and His warrant. too FOR on
being prepared To frame some sort OF al
answer 10 them.
Chrisl's inquiry here means that lie ex
poets HIS disciples to have convictions
convict lOns IN regard To Himself ut anS
rate-a1d definite enough for them 10 h,
abe 10 state them Such convictions INA,
be NOR correct. may I've less SO, but an ina
perfect opinion Is better than none and ne
opiniOn ends ~ beng periec. that did moi
begin tN betng imperfect. ard sound con
vlo;ion Is h,under convicted and converted
everything human begins IN a mistake
Error - thc .O1mN soil out OF which trut
Vegetables aud blossoms. The history OF
phi!oso ply. science and 'heo.ogy illustrates
tins pr neip.e with distinct cogcncy that
- unanswerab.e. So that we need not h
too much AFRAID OF being in error provided
only VIZ cling to our error with a tenecity
that Is not simply tenacious, but that l.
also honest and intelligent
What think We OF Christ? His appea,
here u 10 man considered as an animal who
thinks, who has ideas, ideas of his own
esAhSS bIFANscttnS iEOIl WHAT Is SHOWN MN
told to him, acted out before him, and i'm
pressioiIs that so groove themselves into
has substance az to take defined shape and
shape that Is fairly permanent Just as
objects make an image of themselves in the
eye, SO facts, events. truths, make an i'm
age ot themselves in tine mind-that is
they dc If the mind is an a.ert mind, sensi
tive, responsive. 4 man can, OF course
look without seeing anything: So he ear
Rear without learning anything: live in the
presence of great realities and come away
from them without carrying upon his sou
any OF their imprint. An OK can look to
ward the west at o clock in the afternoon
withous observing any sunset; there Is
good deal OF the bovine still in most of us
that call ourselves human. and that is VIII,
we behold so little of what is really visible
and why we garner so little OF the fruit
that falls into our laps. A duck can &c
through the water and still come ont dry
A boy can go through college without an,
oil the college going through him. Juda.
walked three years with Jesus and finished
by being devil.
Whae think We of Christi He wants e
lind ont from His disciples. then, what i'm
preston of Himself He has left with them
what sramp lie has put upon them. What
they think OF Him viii be only another
name Tor the record of Himself that Hi.
teachings and demeanor have lett printed
upon their inteligeBces. l am irving &c
have ygu realize that their opinion OF Him
that Re was irving to get hold OF wa.
tomethins definitely traceabe TO the
working Influence upon them OF His own
presence and activity. lie is not interest.
ed to know what they imagine Him to be
nor what they logically in.er He NAV be
nor what some one has told them that lie
IS. lie has been for some time demonstrat
ing Himself to them by word. act ana
spirit. and ii they are not altogether like
the duck IN the wntcr or the OK before the
sunset, as presumably they are not. thi.
mon,tration OF Himself 10 them has in
some way told upon them. it has lodged
something within them. and He wants
them 10 give a name TO it. Their opinion
9f Hint was something that He had Him.
self been the means OF making to grow ur
IN them without their consciously having |
any part IN the matter themselves II was |
not something they had borrowed from
somewhere nor something that they had |
personally striven To acquire.
Opinion. then. il 1t is anything more /
than mere quotation, copy of what some /
one elie has thought. is one OF the things !
that COWS. The influence that starts the |
conviction will, il it continues to operate.
60 on adding to that convictions strength l
and intensity. As illustrative o. this com.
pare the feeb.eness and timorousness of
the co lvictions OF the disciples when they
began TO believe in Jesus with what those
convic ions were when at the end Of their
course they laid down their hives in mar
tyrdoni. That is the natural course OF
things 1t is natural Tor a flower TO con.
tlnue TO grow IL il stands in the same sun
shine and rain "a that which first made it /
begin to grow. Ii flower comes III out |
OF the ground, grows for dav and then
suddenly stops growing and remains as i .
~, vol know something Is the matter
either there is a worm at III. root or the
air too cod or the soil too dry. 1t il rot
nature Tor 1t not To go on improving upon
itself. adding to itself.
IL IL a sorry condition. then that a man !
u in. that a Christian believer is in. when j
he says that he has the same opinion of \
Christ that he had wear ago. II tells
sad s.ory OF the way tine year has been 4
passing with him. Ii the vine that 3 twin.
ing itself around your treilis clothes itself
IN no more leaves and puts forth no more
blossoms this summer than 1t did last sum 4
mer, che season must have been an infelici /
tons one for plant life or there is some l
thing serious the matter with the vine.
l have in this been speaking broadly oil
in general. but of course the
refert nee specifically intended is to relip III
ious conviction, and more specifically stiM
TO the conviction contemplated when The
quest on was asked. What think ra III
Christ" We doubtless all of Us havI
some conviction respecting Him; that n
we all OF MS possess among our Other COM
ouAeAtS -tlLHef out Nh /
table or tucked away in some drswe- q
rlo9ei. or stored in the garnet among otheb
disussd furniture or obsolete bric.ahracN
some hing which we called land nrorerik
ralD belief in Christ. an opinion aho,E
Him. a conviction concerning Him Ne
are willing to assume. too, that IL NAV liz
r very valid conviction, sound. YEA mob
ough in the terms of Scripture. Yes M
granting all that, il there any OF to-d,Js
saD in il or is II an antiquity?
1t MEANS a great deal to say az = r,,I'-
Christian conviction that il is liy,n,. In
Tictipn. tllt it is going en- TO-DAY n
tanning q continuous ,ife, freshly min
10 and daily sunoli-.1 by communi ~
from the same divine s.Ilrce that frst hi
hated it. 4 dead 90 ~c'ion We b1--t r.
luz sround-a COM elton ;hat is alive tll.es
Us around. IL means \ continuous se,rse
Of the reality of that to which our rYs ic
lion fastens. 1t brings everythiuc IN
10 date and sets It out in front
Memory does not have 10 be anpt
to recall it, nor books. manuscl :. b. 4, 'e.
rhisms rummaged through in ordci fu
thenticate it. 1t is an Embedded im
y g. keeps pushing and that gees o. 'i.-H. I
ing with an ever accelerated pace atnd 4 |
energy while we stanG{ near |
enough TO Him whom we believe in til have
His presence made ever more imm hdlafe
To ne, His reality more real to us- a. -
Tor that reason that some believers dan be-
iieSe very nicely and vet behave very had
". There IL not the slightest incomi atlhil-
ltv bet NEppr la;pg ,vfLolo~ spd he mo vii