The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-09-09
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A STRONG DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
IAN ADVANCE ORDERED"
The Rev. DR.. John Il. Adams Tells of the
Law of Progress as ExeInplIhed in the
Waxing Strong of the Infant we
Should Seize Our Inheritance.

Should Seize Our Inheritance.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-Having been ap
pointed Presiding Elder of the New Yorl,
District of the New York East Conference,
the Rev. DR.. John Z. Adams, pastor of
Grace NJ E. Church, preached his closing
sermons Sunday. During his pastorate OF
little more than two years he has had
marked success. The debt of the church,
$4,000, was cancelled in January, 1903, the
mortgage burned and the church is now
free from incumbrance. Sunday morning
DR. Ad -aA preached on Gan Advance Or
dered.D TIE text was from Exodus xiv:
10: "Speah unto the children of Israel.
that they &C forward" DR.. Adams said
When this advance was ordered, the Is
raelites vert 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-mo
or tortresses, or something that could not
be passed-for the Israelites saw no way
OF escape and cried out for fear. In this
perllous and apparently hopeless situation
the people reproached Moses for the dread
Jul extremity to which they had been re-
duced; whereupon 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
1t incidentally, let US attend to the moral
meanings and uses of the text. The case
before us is exceptional in nothing but the
physical facts; the moral truths and I'M
DERIVING principles Of this case are always
and everywhere present among the people
of God. Indeed, the principles here in
vowed are so general and the ana.ogies of
universal history are so wide and complete
that L think we ere justified in regarding
THIS text as the law of the universe APP
pied to the church. The physical occasion
OF this text, in all of its. essential features,
hnds It's duplicate in the moral occasion
OF this service. We are the children of
Israel ourselves. | can prove it by st.
Paul eff We be Christs, then are We
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to
the promise The Red Sea is before US.
Not that Red Sea that washes the sands of
Arabia and floats the commerce of the
East, but the Red Sea of moral hindrance
"a sea that is deeper than the Atlantic
Ocean and wider than the Pacific. Phar-
aoh's army Is pursuing us. Not the an
tlquated Egyptian division, now extinct,
but the internal brigade itself, still in the
field and strictly up to date in every par
tlcular-and these enemies from the Meth
ermost pit, inspired with inconceivable ha-
tired and, in the words of Milton, armed
with hell flames and fury" and following
us IN overwhelming numbers and with I'M
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 us from
heaven, Go forward" and in obedience
to this order lies our duty, our safety and
our happiness.
Let US approach our subject step by
step. God is the author of the universe
The universe existed in the Divine Mind
as an ideal before it existed in itself as
substance. The ideal was complete and
perfect as well as beautiful and good but
the first states of the actual .-iverse did
not realize that perfect ideal of the Di-
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, nor because He could not do other
wise and had to abandon His ideal but be-
cause lie 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
voition Gol made the universe crude
mass of unorganized matter and force;
and then, lntr. sting His sublime work to
the law of progress operated by respon.
sible intSligences, He directed that in due
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
end individuals; of angels, women and
men. This is the story Of matter in all its
combinations, of life in all it's 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 |
height, with mighty roots taking deep
hold of the rocks and mighty branches
wrestie with the storms and play with the |
lghtnings. But in its beginning, as it
sprouts from the acorn, the oak is tiny
shoot which the foot of 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.
ity.
Take 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
ions foR majestic flight, the mountain crag
Such is the Divine ideal for this noble
bird. But the young eaglet energies from
the shell a feeble little creatnre- and a