The Penn's Grove record., 1904-02-05
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
VITAL UNION WITH CHRIST"

The Rev. c. d. Case, PHI. d., Tells How
the Son of God Within Us Becomes
the Source of Divine CompaniOnship.
and Of Power For Achievement.
BROOKLYN, N. YAThe Rev. c. D. Case.
tn. D. pastor Of the First Baptist Church,
Montcialr,, N. j., recently preached the
following brilliant sermon, which he en-
TITLED Vital Union With Christ" The
text was chosen from Galatians ii:2G: II
am crucifed with Christ and | no longer
i've, but Christ liyeth in me, and the life
winch now live / live by faith in the
Son OF God who loved me and gave Him
self to die for me-" DR.. Case said:
Ine highest conception OF the Christian
life which this generation seems to have
accepted is to be found in the words, Pol
low Me-. as uttered by Christ. 1t is
thoroughly Biblical. Jesus says to Philip,
at the beginning of His ministry, Follow
Me-" He tells the four on the sands of
Galilee, 4Come We after Me-" He com
mands the taxgatherer in his Office, Fol
low Me; lie presents the same standard
to the rich young man who loved his
money better than life, Follow Me-" Now
the resurrection has passed and what shall
be the new conception for the disciples
OF the new life? 1t is still the same. and
Christ proclaims to the same disciples at
Me-"
The grand and infinitely simple way OF
looking at the Christian life had been lost.
he was the true Christian who believed
what the church tod him and accepted
Its appointed means of grace. But now
after these centuries Christendom has re-
covered this idea and made it the very CEN
ire and core of the Christian life. Mr..
Henry Richards, on the Congo. reads to
the natives fbo tuorda If Chrsc4 ffC.-o -
him that asketh of thee; and of him that
taketh away thy goods ask them not
again., and then proceeds to practice
them, with the result that the natives
first beg and then return and then ask
for the way of life. Mr.. w. T. Stead,
while in his London jail, wonders what he
shall write to the girl whom he has sue
ceeded IN placing in a Christian home, and
at last, by a flash of insight, writes her,
BE a Christ" Charles n. Sheldon pre-
sents as the ideal OF every life, to act as
Christ would act if He were here in our
place.
What is the trouble with this eoncep-
ton! This, that it represents the states
but not the dynamics of the Christian life.
1t tells US what to be like, but does not
tell us 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 he saw it. This is
a tine philosophy, but a poor religion. 1t
does not explain Cough, McAuley, HadIey.
1t gives us the ideal, but not the power to
embody the ideal.
Listen to this statement and see if you
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 you it be easy even for an unbe-
lever to find 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 it was no less a person than j. s. Mill,
an unbeliever, who wrote this.
The text of the morning presents the
needed complementary conception. He
who Is presented as an objective ideal be-
comes a subjective presence and power.
He who said, "As Thou hast sent Me into
the world, even so have / sent them into
the world" says with the &C.," the 10,
l am with you all the days"
ferent ways. Now it is that of the foun-
dation and the superstructure signifying
support; now the body and head, meaning
direction; now of the husband and wife,
representing union; now of the win and
branch, signifying the communication of
life; and finally, most tenderiy and mys-
teriously, of the relation between the
Father and Son. In whatever way it is
spoken of it is evidently an essential phase
Of the Christian life.
DR.. A. j. Gordon once saw what he
called a parable of nature up in a part
of New England where he spent his sum-
mer holidays. 1t was an example of nat
uraf grating. Two little sxplings grew
up side by side. Through the action Of
the winl the bark of each became wound
ed, the sap began to mingle and at last
on a still day they were firmly ~compacted.
Then the stronger began to absorb the life
of the weaker. 1t grew larger and larger
while the other grew smaller and smaller;
then began to wither and decline till finally
it dropped way and disappeared. Now.
there are two trunks at the bottom and
only one at the top. Death has taken
away the one: life has %triumphed 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-immola-
ton, but self-reallzation. 1t Is not absorb
ton, but application.
Without thinking for the present of the
unvarying condition of this life, "cruci-
fixion with Christ" or the motive of such
living, "Christ loved us and died for Us"
or the means of such living, faith in the
OOH OE OOQ, leu us luluh mOIG db lcISlu
of the single sublime thought, our union
with Christ and its bearings upon the diff
ferent phases of the Christian life. This
we must for the present emphasize If we
are to have a pure evangelical Christianity
which shall move the world.
First, note that Christ within us is the
source of true divine companionship.
The appearance of Christ after the res
direction had two definite purposes. The
first was to convince the disciples that
Christ was truly alive. or, in other words,
to connect the past Christ with the pres
ent Christ. The angels had assured them
that Jesus would go into Galilee there
to meet them. AS soon as faith had &C.
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 Christ's
appearances was to teach the disciples the
spiritual nature of the kingdom, or, in
other words, to connect the present Christ
with the future Christ. Among such
teachings are the words, Follow Me"
spoken to the seven in Gallee: the prom.
Use to all, "Lo, L 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, We
have heard of Me-" A glance back into
the fourteenth chapter of John shows
what this promise was. The sixteenth
verse says: II will pray the Father and
He shall give you another comforter. that
He may abide with you forever" But of
whose presence is the Spirit the embodi-
ment? The eighteenth verse says: Il will
not leave you comfortiess; | viii come to
you" Then the twentieth assures the
disciples: "At that day We shall know
that ! am in My Father, and We IN Me and
I in YOU" Thus Christ's objective COM
partnership becomes a subjective fellow
ship.
How closely can two people, heart to
heart, be together? There is always the
veil of the flesh between. All we can do is
to interpret looks, words, and sometimes
our judgment is wrong even on those near
est to us. We all walk a solitary way. Few
reach that beautiful ~companionship repre-
scented by Browning in by the Fireside:"
"When, if / bu. think deep enough,
You are wont to answer, prompt as
rhyme;
And you, too, find without rebuff
Response your soul seeks many a time,
Piercing its fine flesh stuff.
Then it is that Christ Himself comes clos
er than breathing, nearer than hands or