The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1904-02-03
VITAL UNION WITH CHRIST
A Brilliant Sunday Sermon By Rev. o.
D. Case, Ph.D.
Tells How The Son Of God Within Us Becomes
the Source Of Divine Comp snioushlp.

BROOKLYN, N. Y.-The Rev. &. ID. Case, :
Ph. d., pastor Of the First Baptist Church,
MSntclair, M j., recently preached the
following brilliant sermon, which he en-.
titled Vital Union With Christ" The
text was chosen from Galatians ii.20: III
am crucified with Christ and | no longer
live, but Christ liveth in me, and the fife
which now live ! live by faith in the.
Son OF God who loved me and gave Him.
self to die for me-" DIR. Case said:
The highest conception OF the Christian,
life which this generation seems to have
accepted is to be found in the words, 'Fo..
low Me-" as uttered by Christ. 1t is
thoroughly Biblical. Jesus says to Philip,
ct the beginning of His ministry, Follow
Me- He tells the four on the sands of
mands the taxgatherer in his office, Fol
low Me-" He presents the same standard
to the rich young man who loved his
money better than Iife, Follow Me-" Now
the resurrection has passed and what shall
he the new conception for the disciples
OF the new life? 1t is still the same, and
Christ proclams to the same disciples at
the same place on Gaiiiee, Follow thou
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 told 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.
TIE and core of the Christian life. Mr..
Henry Richards, on the Congo reads to
the natives the words of Christ. Give to
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
phun xrtta m ha airl trhop, ha hos
ceeded in placing in a Christian home, and
at last, by a flash OF insight, writes her,
BE Christ" Charles NJ. Sheldon pre-.
sents as the ideal of every life, to act as
Christ would act ii He were here in our
place.
What is the trouble with this concep.
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
fine philosophy, but poor religion. 1t
does not explain Cough, McAuley, Hadley.
1t gives us the ideal, but not the power to
embody the ideal
Listen to- this statement and see if you
can ind a better one to express this idea
be said to have made bad choice in
pitching upon this man as the ideal repre-.
sentative and guide of humanity; nor even
now would it be easy even for an unbe'
lever to find q 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 person than j. 5. 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 l sent them into
the world" says with the Go" the 10,
! am with you all the days"
The Bible represents this union in dif-
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 vine and
branch, ,signifying the communication of
life; and finally, most tenderly and mys-
Father and Son. In whatever way it is
spoken of it is evidently an essential phase
of the Christian life.
DIR. A. j. Gordon once saw what he
called a parable of nature up in a part
of New England where he spent. his sum-
ural grating. Two little saplings grew
up side by side. Through, the action OF
the wind the bark of each became wound
ed, the sap began to mingle and at last
on 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 ti)' finally
it dropped away and disappeared. Now,
there are two trunks at the bottom and
only one at the top. Death has taken
away the one; lifc has triumphed il in tn the
Gordon only fails in not giving sufficient
Importance to the words Il live" of the
text. The religious life is not self-immola-
tion, but self-realization. 1t is not absorp'
ton. but ampli6cation.
Without thinking for. the present of the
unvarying condition of this life, "cruci'
txion with Christ" or the motive of such
living, Christ loved MS and died for US,
or the means of such living, faith in the
Son of God" let US think more at length
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 pure evangelical Christianity
which shall move the world.
First, note that Christ within us is the
source Of true divine eSmpanioashiP, % ..
direction had two definite purposes. The
y 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 60 into Galilee there
to 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 Christ
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 Galilee: the prom,
Use 10 all, 10, 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-" 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 eomfortless; l will come tc
disciples: "At that day We shall know
that am in My Father, and ye IN Me and
II in YOU Thus Christ's objective com
panionship becomes subjective fellow
ship.
How closely can two peop.e, heart "a
heart, be together? There is always the
/. veil Of the flesh between. All We can do il
to interpret looks, words, and sometimes
our Judgment is wrong even on those near
est to us. We all walk solitary way. Few
reach that beautiful eompanionshp repre-
sented by Browning in by the Fireside;' y
"When. IL bu. think deep enough,