The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-10-06
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A STRONG DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
"CoMeoaTINC cERTAlNTlES.",
The Rev. DIR. Robert Bruce Huli's Talk
on the Words Addressed to Nicodemus
The Person That the Veri.ies OF Our
Precious Faith Cluster About.


BROOKLYN. y. Y.-Sunday morning the
Rev. Dr. Robert Bruce Hull, pastor OF
Greenwood Baptist Church, preached on
Comforting Certainties.' The text was
from John ii:ll 1--WE speak that we do
know" DR.. Hull said in the course OF his
sermon:
These words were addressed to Nicode-
mus. He was an earnest. honest, yet timld
inquirer after truth. He had come to
Jesus under cover of the darkness. As an
official OF the Jewish Sanhedrim, he d d
not dare to be- seen taking with the Naze-
rene Teacher Yet he is convinced in g
own mind that Jesus is prophet and
that. too. a prophet sent of God. This
much he confesses to the Christ. Then be.
gins the wonderfully instructive interview
from which the text is taken. This inter.
view is evidently only an outline, but the
outline is marvellous y suggestive. Nico-
demus was good man. He was religious
man. He conformed to all the re.ig 9!s
forms and ceremonies of his nation. His
outward department was b'ame.ess and
his standing in the community vas honor
abe. But he was not spiritual man. He
was not what we would call to-day con-
yerted man. To him Jesus thrice used tie
80 emn double "Amen, amen, l say unto
thee"
Nicodemus could not understand what
Jesus meant by being born again. He was
unable to see what that new spiritual life
was of which he himself was lacking: Then
it is that the third double amen OF Je sus
introduces the words of the text: Verify,
very, I say unto thee, we speak that we
do know and testify that we have seen. ,
In this utterance Jesus uses the word
"we," not Simply as the plural OF majesty,
oil
pes, so tina. it is perfectly proper and
right for us to-day to use His words and
say: eve speak that we do know" Chris
tians are competent witnesses to the GER
tainties of religion. While in a sense it
NAV be said that "the Bible and the Bib'e
a,one is the religion of Protestants,' yet in
the fuller sense our religion Is life:
Christ is Christianity. His life in Himsee f
and in His discip.es is the spirit and the
power Of true religion. We have something
more than opinion; something better than
creeds; we have as one of the eternal veri.
ties Jesus Christ as the manifestation OF
God. 1t has been wei said that Christ
either deceived mankind by. conscious
fraud or He was Himself deuded and de-
ceiyed, or He was divine. There IS no get
ting out of this tri.emma. 1t is Ine..or-
able" He stood before the men who knew
Him best and said: "He that hath seen Me
hath seen the Father" and again dec:ared
to them: 'I and Ny Father are one" This
was tremendous assumption and awfu'
b,asphemy il it was not the truth. That
il is the truth the course OF time and the
course of Christianity both abundant.y de-
clare.
The verities of orr precious faith cluster
about a person. This person was God,
manifest in the flesh, and for al the cen,
tures since Bethlehem the nob'est, wisest
and holiest have bowed before Him, rever.
emily exclai,ning. My Lord and my God.'
It matters not from what point we view
Him, Jesus stands before the word as
more than man. 1t is said OF safe and
perfect arch that it must meet two require
ments. It's feet must not sip and ITS mla-
de must not bend. Jesus Christ ls the arch
connecting humanity and divinity. The
weight of the centuries of Christianity rest
on that arch and they rest there safe.y, Tor
"Jesus is God; there never was time
when He was not;
Bound,ess. eternal, merciful, the word,
the Sire begot;
Backward our thoughts through ages
stretch, onward through realms OF
bliss,
For there are two eternities and both
alike are His"
Another of the certainties is that the
Christian life is divine life. This was
rev thought to Nicodemus. 1t is new
thought to many to-day. It was not a
figure of speech, but pain statement o!
fact, when Jesus insisted that it was neces-
sary to be born again in order to enter
heaven. Those of Nicodemus' time would
have said it was necessary to reform, to
deal honestly, to behave kindly, TO live no.
rightly. So many say to-day. and if by all
this they mean uprightness in its perfect
form they are right. But no man has ever
lived who as been thus upright All
have sipned and come short of the glory OF
God" The history of mankind shows that
we must not seek holiness in order to God,
but God in order to holiness. Christ must
come into the soul of man with His divine
life. and then, and not till then, are We in
harmony with the divine holiness.
When that life comes in then there IS
affection" better still, the expu,sive power
of a new life. Nothing ,ess than life can
account for the change in men. Nothing
but life can exert the power which the cen
turies OF Christianity have manifested. In
physics we affirm confidently that every ef.
feet must have an adequate cause. Ihls
also is true in the realm of spirituality. II
prosecutors are changed into preachers. II
those once thoroughly depraved have been
nodded into recognized saints, II the dreSs
of society have been transformed into un.
paralle,ed martyrs for the truth, If common
people nave been fashioned into those OF
whom the world was not worthy-we ask
what cause or what power Is adequate Tor
such marvellous alterations. We know
these changes. 1t is folly to say we do not
know the power. =,
Twice each day our city is washed by a
| mighty ebb and flow of tides that sweep in
and out, despite al the winds that bow
Your child recognizes the fact, but he Il
puzz,ed to think that the pale, silent moon
| serene amid the clouds, is the cause Of
those resist,ess floods. The child is .puz
| zled, but when your philosopher explains
| to you that the moon does this by attrac
| tion of gravitation, and You ask him to ex
| pain to you this attraction OF gravitation
then he, too, is puzzled. Yet he knows the
power, knows it SO well he can measure il
and use it. So, too, with Christianity, and
! its power. We can recognize its force anc
use it, but its secret is the secret of life
Like all force, in its origin it is mystery
| Tennyson says:
1--WE have but faith we cannot know.
For knowledge is of things we see"
This is not quite true. knowledge is o
| things we feel, as well as of things we see
| Many things we know that we cannot see
/ l,,A L. al