The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-10-14
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY THE
REV W. S. RAlNsFoR0; o. D.

Subject: The Love OF Got--The Christian
Church is Placed in Trust by God
with the GOspel--Let Us Try TO Give
1T TO the World.
| BROOKLYN, n Y - The Rev. w. S.
RaiDsford ID. d., rector OF st. Georges z.
e. Church, Manhattan, preached at st.
I Peters Church, State and Bond streets,
| IN this borough, at the evening service Sum
day. His subject was "The Love Of God,
| and he said:
! People are saying to-day that the church
| does not occupy as important place in
the thoughts of men-that it has not as in
| 1uential place IN our nation or in society
| as it used to have. / speak, of course, OF
| the whole Christian church, and one thing
| IS sure and that is that the church cannot
| hold her own by simply asserting, however
loudly or persistently, the greatness of her
| deeds in the past. Whatever success or
shortcomings there NAV have been in an
cient times, one thing is certain, and that
| is that we live in an age when men almost
violently are seeking the truth; when the
! keenest sort of light is turned in all direc-
| tions In search of the truth. When those
who have got anything to do can do it;
when those who have got anything to say
| worth saying can say 1T, and when those
who have got anything to be can be it, but
there is no mercy for the sham. When, in
| the future, they come to criticise our time
| it will evidently be criticised as an age of
| truth, and its spirit will be spoken of as
| the spirit of truth; it viii be criticised
| from all other ages as time when men
| made great sacrifices for the truth and
! when great glory was gained in discover
ing and obeying the truth. There is no
argument among thinkers whatsoever about
! this.
From this it follows that if we Chris
| tians have not got something real to give
! to the world, to society, to the United
| States, at this time we are really going to
lose our hold and position; and the cues
| ton that we want to ask ourselves. lndi-
vidually and collectively, is this. What
| have / got to give to the world? What is
it the church has got to give to the world?
l am inclined to think, if | were allowed
to see you, one by one, and ask you to put
down what it is on paper: What you as an
individual and as Christian have got to
give to the world, and the church as a
community? there might be great deal of
uncertainty. That this question is one that
deserves a very clear answer there is no
doubt, and everybody ought to know what
that answer should be. There is no man
ner of doubt what the church has got to
give to the world; what the individual
Christian has got to give to the world. 1
want to talk about that tonight.
We, the Christian Church. are placed in
trust by God with the gospel That is
what we have got to give to the world. If
ne are Christians we believe the world
cannot get on without that gospel. We
use the word gospel IN very slipshod way.
II we are Christians we believe that not
only can not the world do without the gos-
pei, but that business and politics and the
United States democracy in this Western
Hemisphere cannot do without the gospel.
A great many people believe that, but
when we ask them to put it into practice,
not only by going to church, not by putting
a trlde i'll the plate, not by repeating a
creed or two, but to go back to their work
and see if they cannot take the gospel
with them there. They say, Business is
one thing, and religion is another" Men
that talk that way have got to step aside;
they are no help either to the church or the
world. They are misleading; they are the
people that tend to make the whole thing
a sham, because the world won't tolerate,
and rightly so, a religion that can confne
itself to certain times and seasons and that
can satisfy itself by obedience to certain
consciences on Sunday, and perhaps once
a week thrown in. We have got definite
charge for the world and that is the gos-
pei OF Jesus Christ
That being So let me lead you to another
question, and as l put it / shall seek to
answer it: What is the gospel of Jesus
CHTiSC. again Iulllh you Will dBISS Will
me, and perhaps more than before. If
were to be allowed to ask the question in
dividually, What is the gospel? and ask
for Il definite reply, what a great variety
of answers would be given; and many
would hesitate. AS Christians we certain
ly ought to be- able to say what the thing
is we stand for, or we stand for nothing;
to say what we mean by the gospel, or the
world won't believe at all. In church, 1t
we have one great thing in common which
we all hold, not because we are various
sects, but because we are Christians, we
have got to find out what that Christian
thing is.
One of the great diffcuties-one chief
ditticuty--is this That men, from the
Lords own day to the present, in the ma.
pre of things add their program to the
Sospel-tack on their programs. We are
all so made that we must have program
| mean our own thinkings about the Cos
pei. 1t is right that every believing mar
should have his own thoughts and theory
as to the why, and the how, and the when
of the gospel. But my idea of why the Cos.
pei was given, my idea as to how the Cos
pei is given and nay idea as to when the
gospel will be fulfilled is all right should
have that right to think my own thoughts
about these three things, but if am trying
to find light they viii be Improbable, anu
it would be impossible to stand m the day
light and not answer the questions how
why and when. But my how, why an
when, even if were the most learned ana
holy of men il the city OF New York |
would not necessarily be the gospel o.; |
Jesus. The point for us to agree upon is |
not the how and why and when, but, What |
is The gospel? What is it we have distinct
ly il charge for men and have got to give
men. and about which it is legitimate that |
we should say, how, why and when AS !
say, the tendency is rather to tack on our
pragrarl, and that is where the difficulties |
come in, for in the age in which we live |
people are rather given to finding out what !
is gospel and what is program. Episcopa.