The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-07-21
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A STRONG DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
GOODS LOVE FOR MAN."
The Rev. DR.. Robert Rogers Delivers a
thoughtful and Convincing Address
Urging Us 10 Allure Selfishness and
AnimaIism-Christ the Ideal.

Thoughtful and Convincing Address
Ursin: Us 10 Allure Selfishness and
Animalisn-Christ the Ideal.
BROOKLYN, n. Y.-Sunday morning the
Rev. DR.. Robert Rogers, rector OF the
Church of the Good Shepherd, preached
thoughtful and convincing sermon on
from John iii:l6: God 50 loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whose believeth on Him. might not perish,
but have everlasting life and Mark ix:2
Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbe-
lief" DR.. Rogers said among other things:
I begin our thought this morning with
the great declaration of the beloved Apos-
tie John who, better than any other OF
Christ's disciples, understood the vital
meaning underlying the Master'sl life. Jesus
was to John distinct personality with
men, but He was more than this. He was
also at the same time the love OF God in
carnate in this Mans nature, so that He
represented the nature of God, and His
feeling and desires and purposes toward
mankind. God loved the world. Now, at
ter beginning with this thought, l have
taken another verse from Scripture. to IN
0icate mans attitude OF mind toward
Johns declaration, Lord, / believe, help
Thou mine unbelief."
Johns statement is condensed but
very complete outline OF what the Chris
tian religion aims to teach men. 1t is the
message OF the Christian Church that Jesus
Christ is the personal demonstration Of
OF Jesus are the illustrations Of how God
loves and how He acts toward man, and
also what God desires that man shall
think and DO toward God and toward his
fellow man.
Now this kind of thinking leads US into
the acknowledgment of the supernatural.
It brings us to the admission that cur Di-
vine Father loves man, and teaches MIN,
and guides him by laws and standards
which He reveals to man according to his
needs. In other words, the Christian re-
ligion stands for the presence OF God in
this life We are now living, and that He
has help to give to man, and demands to
make OF man.
There are countless men and women
who believe implicitly in this statement Of
live in their belief, offering up themselves
to divine guidance, regretting their sins
and impioring pardon in perfect faith that
it will be granted There are, on the other
hand, some perhaps, who say they have
no belief in the divine and spiritual, and
who would place themselves outside of the
declarations of the Christian religion, but
/ believe this number to be few and grow
ing smaller every day, as the fuller vision
of the world and its rich spiritual meaning
dawns upon their intelligence. But there
. is another large class with whom / am
specially concerned, who believe and yet
do not believe, They would not deny the
Christian faith, neither are they ready to
give their full allegiance to it. There is
multitude of such people among our men
and women and may we not ask seriously
why is rhiS$he case? Is it because Christ's
derstood that spiritual things can make no
derstood. Are some kinds so constituted
naturally that spiritual things can make
no effective appeal to them:
If we were for moment to admit this
it would destroy the greatest power which
we believe inherent in Christ's religion,
namely, that to every man, bond or free,
black or yellow. barbarian or Scythian,
Jew or Gentle, learned or unlearned, rich
or poor, it mas the power OF entering into
his heart and transforming his life. There
is no respect of persons with God. I grant
you that Christ found that there were GER
tain places where even He could not pre-
sent His message with conviction, but the
cause of His failure was the hardness of
mems hearts and not the difficulty Of
comprehending His gospel. and this same
reason viii be found to hold good IN these
days.
Atheism IS no longer supposed to be
necessary adjunct of the scientist; but On
the contrary, the men who are opening the
widest visions of new truth TO the world in
these days and teaching the profoundest
laer IS -
cere believers ~ the message of Gods
presence as revealed by Jesus Christ, or at
least are able TO say with earnestness.
"Lord, believe, help Thou mine unbelief."
When We come to consider our own lives
and those of the ordinary men and women
around about whom We can understand.
what is it that prevents the message of
Jesus Christ from having the effect upon
rs all that it ought to have?
There has been for the past few years
warning sounded that men are not attend
ing our Christian churches, and the .rea-
Sons are being given IN various ways. Ger
gymen are uninteresting; churches arc cold,
uninspiring places; doctrines are anti
quated and iliiberal and meaningless to
man in the struggle for life. Perhaps
there is truth in all these statements; it
is not difficult for even stupid man to
find plausible excuse for anything he
cares to Go, or to leave undone. Parents
who are bringing up children. teachers
who are educating them, understand the
readiness of.plausibie excuses.
But these excuses, whenever given, are
not the real reasons why some men do not
attend church. Let me- say, first, that l
believe it is open to demonstration that a
larger number of men are interested in
the work OF the church and attending its
services and obeying its inspirations than
at any other TIME in history. And what
is more important, they arc attending
churches willingly without the compulson
of ancient times when heaven and hell
were regarded as in the sole power of the
church. and men were afraid to absent
themselves. Our Y. N. c.. AS were never
so prosperous. The religious nature Of our
college students was never more genuine
than in our own days.
But to speak cf those who are not al
tending our churches, is it not because
they have never had true vision OF the
vital reality and practica biiity OF Christ S
messages: The great majority Of men in
this country, at least. are nominal Chris.
tisns. They send their children to Sunday
school, they like to have their wives and
sisters in union with the church, and ii
asked whether they themselves believe in
the teachings of Christ and His Church,