The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1904-02-05
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! SERMON FOR SUNDAY
! GAA- ~
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
VIA UNION WITH CHRIST"
The Rev. c u Case, Ph. IL. Ten, How
the Son OF God within ts Become.
the source OF Divine Cempanionship,
and OF Power For Achievement.

Montclair. y. J.. recently preached ;he
| following brilliant sermon, which be en-
titled Vital Union With Christ The
text was chosen from Galatians ~. Il
am crucihed with Christ and i no longer
/ live, but Christ hve;h IN me, and the HE
/ which / now live j live by faith IN the
/ Son OF God who loved me and gave Him
\ self 10 die Tor NE Dr. Cast said:
The highest conception OF the Christian
| lie which tins generation seems 70 have
accepted Is 10 be found m the words, Fol-
| low Me, as uttered by Christ. IL j.
I thoroughly Biblical. Jesus says 70 Philip
AZ the beginning OF HIS ministry, Follow
/ Me he tells the tour on the sands OF
| Galilcc, Come ye after Me He COM
mancs the taXgatherer N h.s Office. Fol-
low Me He presents The same standard
/ 70 the rlch young man who loved hi,
money better than lie. Follow Ne" Now
the resurrection has passed and what shall
be the new conception for the disciples
OF the new hieg II - still the same. and
| Christ proclalms 10 the same disciples az
the same place Oh Gaa!ee, Follow thou
Me
The grand and infinitely simple way OF
iSlooking az the Christian life had been lost
He Was the true Christian who believed
what the church told him and accepted
| ats appointed means of grace. But now
after these centuries Christendom has re-
covered this idea and made u the very CEN
! Henry Richards, on the Congo, reads TO
the natives the words Of CHRIST. Give 20
! hlm that asketh OF tRee, and OF HIM that
tsketh away thy goods ask them not
again. and then proceeds 10 practice
them, with the result that the natives
first beg and then return and then ask
Tor the way OF life. Mr.. w. / Stead,
while IN h,s London jail. wonders what he
/ shall write % the girl whom he has sue
ceeded IN placing IN a Christian home. aud
at last, by a flash OF insight, writes her,
BE a Christ Charles VI. Sheldon pre-
sents a. the ideal oI every hie, 10 act as
Christ woa.d act il lie were here IN our
place.
What is the trouble with this concep-
tlon! THIS, that 1t represents The states
I but not the dynamlcs al the Christian life.
/ II tellr us what 10 be like, but does not
! tell MS how we shall become like our ideal
/ Kant thought that the same man who OF
deliberate choice accepted evil could with
/ the same deliberate choice and by simple
/ will accept good when lac saw It. This j.
! a tine philosophy, but a poor religion. IL
does not explain Cough, McAuley, Hadley.
! 1t gives us the ideal, but not the power 10
embody the ideal.
! Listen 10 this statement and see If you
can lind better one 10 express tins Idca
OF following Christ: Religion cannot
be said TO have made a bad choice IN
pitching upon this man as the ideal repre-
sentative and guide of humanity; nor even
now would II be easy even for an unbe-
lever to tind a better translation OF the
rule of virtue from the abstract into the
concrete than TO endeavor so to live that
Christ could approve of our life And
yet 10 was no less a person than }, :, Mil,
dn unbeliever, who wrote this.
The text of the morning presents the
needed Complementary conception. lie
who Is presented as an objective ideal be.
alAa.f Il
He who said, "As Thou hast sent Me INTO
the world, even so have | sent them into
the world says with the Co the "Lo,
/ am with you all the days"
The Bible represents this union in dlf-
ierent ways. Now II iS that OF the foun-
datlon and the superstructure sgnliylng
support; now the body and head, meaning
direction; now Of the husband and wife.
representing union; now OF the vine and
branch, signIiylng the communication of
| HE; and finally, most tendcriy and mys-
teriousiy, of the relation between the
Father and Son. In whatever way II Is
spoken of 1t is evidently an essential phase
OF the Christian life.
DR.. A. j. Gordon once saw what he
called parable OF nature up IN part
of New England where he spent his sum
mer holidays. il was an example of nat
u.al grating. Two little sap.Ings grew
up side by side Through the action of
ed, the sap began 10 mIngle and at last
on stIll day they were firmly cOmpacted.
Then the stronger began TO absorb the HE
Of the weaker II grew larger and larger
whiie the other grew smaller and smaller;
then began TO Wthcr and decline TIL finally
1T dropped away and disappeared. Now,
there are two trunks at the bottom and
only one at the top. Death has taken
away the one. life has triumUhed IN the
other. The illustration thus given by DR.
Gordon only fails IN not giving sufficient
Importance to the words Il live OF the
text. The religious life Is not self lmmo.a-
ton, bat sct-rcahzatiOn. il ls not aDsOrp-
ton. but ampnhCatIon,
Without thinking for the present OF the
unvaryng condition OF tins lie, "crC-
hXIOu with Christ" or the motive Of such
living, Christ loved Us and died for ""
or the means Of such living faith IN the
Son OF God let rs think more at length
OF the siug.e sublime thought, our union
with Christ aud ITS bearings upon the dit-
fcrcnt phases of the Christian HE. This
We must for the present emphasize If we
are 20 have a pure evangelical Christianity
which shall move the world.
First, note that Christ within us Is the
source Of true divine companuu-hip.
The appearance OF Christ after the res
direction had two definite purposes. The
FIRST was 20 convince the disciples shat
Christ was truly alive or, IN other words
60 connect the past Christ with the pres
ent Christ. The angels had assured them
that Jesus would 80 into Gall.ee there
20 meet them. As soon as faith had aC-
cepted these words OF both Christ and the
angels the disciples would leave Jerusa-
lem but this did not take place until after
a week
The second definite object Of Chris;'s
appearances wag 90 teach the disciples the
spiritual nature OF the kingdom, or, IN
other words, 20 connect the present Christ
with the future Christ. Among such
teachings are the words, Follow NJ"
spoken 90 the seven IN Gahlee: the prom
isc 20 all 10, 4 am with you all the days.
and the command that they should not
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the
promise Of the Father which, He said ye
have heard Of Me 4 glance back into
the fourteenth chapter Of John shows
what this promise was. The sixteenth
verse says. Il Will pray the Fa:her and
He shall give you another comforter, that
He may abide with you forever But oi
whose presence u the Spirit the embodI-
mentt The eighteenth verse says. Il will
not ieave YOU COmiOrt.ess, / will come 20
you Then the, twentieth assures the
disCtp,cs At that day We shall know
that am in Ny Father. and ye IN Ne and
i IN you Thus ChfIst's CbJectIse com
pauioHship becomes subjective fellow
ship.
How closely can two people, heart to
heart be together There ~ always the
yei. Of the hesh between All We can DO -
90 interpret looks, words, and sometimes
our judgment % wrong even on those near.
est 20 ~. We all walk a solitary way. Few
reach that beautiful companionship repre-
sentcd By Browning IA BY the Preside
when, II / b.. think deep enough,
You are won't 70 answer, prompt as