Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-12-08
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY.
An ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
:fREEOoM IN CHRIST"


Tho Rev. Edward H1nttinx Rudd Shows |
How Fsita Unfolds gItselx in Many |
Forms OF Christian Expesienee-Re-
pentance. Growth and Service.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-The Rev. Edward
Hunting Rudd, pastor Of the. First Con-
gregational Church, Dedham,ss : Mass,
preached Sunday morning in the Tomp-
kins Avenue Congressional Church to
dom in Christ and the text was from
John H.: l3 and ~: But as many az
received Him to them gave He the right
to become children of God, even to them
that believe on His name, who were born
not Of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor. Of the will of man, but of God" Mr..
Rudd said:
Can I do a. please! Or must l will to
do as another pleases: Am I free agent
or are limitations. placed upon me? Is lib
erty unrestrained freedom, OF am I the
more truly free. when my actions and
words are controlled by divine laws, inn
posed willingly upon man by hisso en-
hghtened self?
3. To answer these questions intelligently,
clearly and helpfully takes US at once into
that field Of Christian sociology and of the
interrelation Of man with man and Of man.
with his God which so engages the atten-
tion of men everywhere to-day. The place
and duty of the church is very clear. It
is to SHOW men in the spirit of candnr, ,of,
sympathy, of open mindedness, Of toIer-
ance, that the word of God gives us great
elemental teachings by a master thinker
and reasoner, who was divine and who
claims the right to influence men. The So
called great problems of labor and capital
will find a permanent solution only by
the arbitrament of the Man of Galilee.
But it Is your duty and mine to remind
ourselves and others that according as we
square ourselves with the requirements Of
God in Christ shall the problems of life
be met and be grappled and worth while
results be achieved.
We are here to-day to ask entrance into
the light. We are here to know more
truth, SO that truth may make us free.
We long to know how to be happily and
contentedly free. To have our freedom
nize it as the article they wish, and, pos
sessing it with us, we shall together make
men strong. Bearing one another's bur-
dens we shall surely fulfill in part the law
of Christ. The gospel of St. John, SIM
pie yet profound, shows us how to gain
freedom in Christ. It reminds us what is
80 necessary to recall in this easy going,
non-thinking age, VIZ, that in no real and
permanent sense are men children of God
until Christ has made them such by vital
union with Him. That we have no right
to call ourselves children until God Him.
self transfers that right to us by an act OF
will and obedience on our part, so recog-
nized by Christ, who has in the very pro-
| cess of our obedience done His part. To
claim the friendship of another is not to
possess it. To say of Christ and our reia-
tlons to Him, as we say of some we'll
known people, "Oh, yes, | know Him well
de is warm personal friend when in
reality little more than formal introduc-
ton has been gwen, is in essence to know
sense. instead Of being divineiy commits
stoned by the living holy spirit of God
to be "child of God" and an heir with
Christ to eternal life. Manifestly, then,
this is an important matter to US all
even to the careless, thoughtless ones who
make s up e part Of d.,e every audience Have
of God?" And if we have, what has God,
by His regenerating spirit, done in us?
It was our New England poet, Lowell,
who said:
The thing we long for-that we are
For one transcendent moment.
| But even the poet fails to be true to
fact unless we have such definite, genu-
inc faith in Gods power and willingness
to give us Himself and to make us sons
and daughters of the living God. that we
receive Him and by that act avail Of Him
as our Saviour not only for one transcend
ent moment. but for all the moments for
the rest Of time. and in that act we are
born Of God, and by that act we are
given the right to become-aye, to be be-
| gotten as children of God
| Almost Immediately in this sublime
| scholarly and heart searching gospel OF
John, that great disciple, speaking the
words of Christ Himself, begins by divid
ing mankind into the same two divisions
41. Al L.
and in every audience, viz, those who
have received Him and those who, though
they were His own by creation, received
| HIM not. by regenerating faith. And
| want just now. il possible, to avoid alb
struse, moss covered theological terms and
phraseology, and to clothe these burning
issues in simple, clear Bible language, but
many of us are longing to get out into the
open sky, in some of the old fashioned
| necessary doctrines of the word of God
We have gotten some Of the choicest ano
most essential statements Of divine truth
beclouded. and we are not quite surs
en- and allay doubt and uncertainty or
these truths this day, : I'd align us al
| In the comforting strength of His owr
sonship. And frankly believe, my broth
er man, we cannot be satisfied in this sub
lime hour by turning to the poets, much al
| tney VIII upHIC anu rest us. Even CnOugF
you turn to Emerson, who has been 80 ex
alted and almost deifed by some in New
England Unitarianism and ask him abou
man, and in one place he viii tell you
ga man is the whole encyclopedia of facts
The creation of q thousand forests is il
one acorn, and Egypt, Greece, Rome
Gaul, britain, America, lie folded alread,
in the first man." Yes, potentiality lie.
epfolded, but naught else can bring it K
surface and to living power save the toucl
Of Christ the Redeemer of Manhood. No
does the statement of Carlyle satisfy me
for you recall in his essay on character
istics," he says: MAN stands in the cen
tire OF nature; his fraction Of time encir
cled by eternity, his handbreadth of space
encircled by infnitude.'' I say this can
not satisfy you, for you long to know how
you can best live and expand, while yo,
are in this "centre Of nature" and wher.
and how you are to spend eternity. AND
you turn to that beautifully human ant
real poet, Robert Burns, and remember
with him 'SThat mans man for a. that,
and here you feel that yon may be argu
ing in a circle. and if Burns had onl,
known more of the Man of Calvary. b.
would have been saved many. of the sin,
which bighted his whole life Or yo,
may stand with that dear Engliah poet
Gray, as from afar he beholds Eton Col
lege and exclaims, "Ah, ;, tell them they. a..