The Penn's Grove record., 1904-03-11

- 1N-aN8
at the head of this sermon. 1t is a plea
foF religious liberation and sets before US
a standard OF religious liberty it would be
well to live up to. We are so inclined to
become narrowed in our views of truth:
we are so prone to live under the shelter
OF some creed that the vistas of truth
stretching ahead of US everywhere become
narrowed and hidden, and before we are
aware of it the peculiar dogma we cherish
or the certain fact we advocate is magni-
ned into identification with the truth it
self. There Is at least danger here. Thus.
how needful to be often carried out into
the broad field the Gospel opens up. Look
at the scene revealed here. Jesus is hav-
ing another of His of~t-reeurring talks with
the Pharisees; but, as of old, they do not
understand Him. He is a fanatic, or at
best, a stubborn partisan, who, while pro-
Tossing to lead them into larger freedom,
seems only to break up their honored in
situations. So this peculiar saying falls
from His lips. As He speaks how precious
the outlook. There He leads His follow
ers through the old loved fields, out under
the blue sky, their life and His identified,
bound together by a common fidelity Of
truth. But ever this freedom seems mar
row in view of what is yet to come. These
are Ny sheep, He says, and for them l lay
down My life; but also other sheep | have
which are not of this fold, and as we con-
template the words, the range of our vis-
ion Is extended, the fields through which
they pass widen, the visible horizon that
hemmed US in lifts. the blue dome of the
heavens expands until we see all truth
loving souls everywhere, known by many
a different name, coming in as the sheep
fold opens to receive them. And we turn
our steps homeward, resolving in future to
be more tolerant for the Masters sake.
A few weeks ago an attendant upon our
church, a lover Of truth, a believer in
Christ, but who had never made an open
profession of religion, asked me what I
thought constituted a Christian, and If I
did not think it meant to be a-church
member, and a Baptist Church member. It
was that earnest question that called forth
these sermons What constitutes a Chris
tan! No progress can be made in our dis
cusSlon until we settle that question. Is it
to be a commitment of any church? Is it
to subscribe to any creed? A hundred
times no! All trustworthy sources make it
to be a believer in Christ. What do
you mean by belief in Christ? Well, what
do you mean when you tell a person you
believe in him, that you believe he IS q
good citizen, a faithful husband, a loving
father? You may believe in him as all
that, yet not be willin to trust him with
a dollar out of your sight. or open your
home to him as a friend. You honor him
not most unless willing to trust him with
money uncounted, your good name, the
very secrets of your heart. A belief that
does not express itself in confidence does
not count for much. All else is cold, inn
personal opinion. You must not offer
Christ less than you would your friend. A
belief in the historic Christ only never
saved a soul, any more than a belief in
G1ocan or T,.+hor - TITo-L-,k 1.-rn
though you believe Him as more than a
teacher sent from God, more than a pro-
phet, even the very Saviour of the world.
just as friendship is more than an intellec-
tual opinion, even a possession of the life.
just as love, the divine essential in all
true living, without much society, is q
self-centred, Northumberland eonglom-
Grafton, and the home a den, denying its
own existeVce, is virtue of the heart in
stead of a secretion of the brain; so -
ion has its abiding place in the hem
nowhere in the life at all.
different than to be a believ9
Tell him whom you profess to call your
friend you believe in him. When you viii
not confde in him, when in perpleUty you
seek another's counsel, and In sorrow an
others sympathy, and you have insulted
faith, and friendship has become IN your
hand an empty name. If you believe in a
man trust him as all men demand you
should. You say you love? Show it by
loving and manifesting the self-denial love
demands, else your profession is a sound
ing brass, an empty name, a dastardly at
fair.
Do you believe in Christ? Show it by
a loving trust. Otherwise, ycu believe only
intellectually, and that means you do
not want to have much to do with Him:
1t means self first and always. And il
perchance you start to follow Him from so
superficial a motive be not surprised If the
first time His demands conflict with your
plans you turn traitor and swear you
never knew the man. The test Is. NY
sheep hear Ny voice and | know them and
they follow Me. That is the teSt-to hear
His voice and follow Him.
Now, what is the purpose of a church,
and in how far does church membership
constitute a Christian? Church member
ship constitutes a Christian just so far as
a Christian constitutes a church member.
No church, whatever its name and in1u-
enee, has of itself power to make a man
a Christian, unless the Roman Church, and
that is only in its own estimation. We
fall into one or the other of two errors:
Either of thinking of Christianity as an abb
straction, OF as a fact identical with an or
ganization of earth, when it is grander
than both. There is no Christianity apart
from the life of its founder. 1t Is not to
be born in a Christian community. 1t is
not to be swayed by religious excitement.
Then there is the other mistake of maxi
ing the visible church identical with the
reality. Indeed, symbols are important.
We can never tell how much satisfaction
the religious devotee receives from the pic
ture of the Virgin or the image OF the
Chr;s+ The line hofueap the svunho1 and
the spirit may be less attenuated than We
think. More symbols may lead TO more
realities than we dream of. An object of
sense may, however, oftener hinder 90
cess to the spirit than be a viaduct there
to. Many q person joins a church for the
sake of being a church member rather than
to be a better Christian. Many a person
worships their church and minister rather
than the Christ the church represents and
the minister breaches. Being a good de-
nominationalist Is not necessarily being a
good Christian, although if we are good
Christians we ought to be denomination
alists, and better denominationalists than
we are. Denominations give form and con-
tent to Christianity which some souls
would never otherwise perceive. But OF
the other hand, denominationalism should
have no content to boast of except what
the Gospel imparts. Don't think that to
De a MelUOulSl, 4IceDlLcAAdu VI Ddpti1t
is equal to being a Christian. 1t may be
so. 1t may not be so. 1t depends whether
your denomination intensifies or material
ICES Christianity. You may have the form
of goodness, but your very devotion to the
form is a denial of the power thereof. /
have in mind a member of a former
church who would sooner give up
Christ than his immersion and COM
munion. His unspiritual life shows he
has done that very thing. He has per-
mitted these two sacred rites to steal away
his Lord, and he knows not where they
have laid him. Scriptural warrant for ee-
clesiastical forms is good. But no eccles-
~iastical form should take the place Of the
pure heart, the Christ spirit. Christianity
is a Christ impaired divine state of life.
All within the charmed circle, whether Of
my church or yours. or of neither mine nor
yours, are my brothers because also OF
Christ. "Other sheep / have not of this
fold" Don't forget that. Christ said 1T.
Therefore, it must be true. There shall
be one flock and one shepherd. Not n
fold, as it is translated. There may be
many hocks in one fold.
By and by boundary lines viii fade
away. We think then they viii all be
Baptists. The Congregationalist thinks
they viii all be Congregationalists. And
the Methodist is sure they viii al be
Methodists. All, brother, better still, they