The Penn's Grove record., 1904-10-21
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
THE VALUE OF OBEDIENCE"
Preached by the Rev. Joseph Dunn Burs
fe1l, of Brooklyn, N. Y.-The Way to
Power Shown by Convincing ArgtiA
inents-Christ Our Great Pattern.

m~ents-Chrlst Our Great Pattern:
BROOKLYN, N. Yin the Classdn Ave:
nue. Presbyterian Church the pastor; the
Rev: Joseph Dunn Burrell, preached Sun
day morning on aThe Value Of Obedience"
The text was from Philippians; lis, 9:
HE humbled Himself and became ODE;
dent unto death, even the death of the
cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted Him and given Him a name which
is above every name" Mr.. BntTell said:
From this passage we learn that, through
obedience, our Lord Jesus Christ attained
His surprising glory He won His exalta-
ton not by exploiting His own will, but by
submitting to the will Of God.
On this point He is representative of hui
manity. For all men everywhere to obey
is the way to rule. "Whosoever will be
chief among you, let him be your servant"
Obedience thus becomes a most essential
part Of education, whether in the home or
the school. There is something disreputa-
BILE about the household where the children
do not mind, or the lecture hall, where the
instructor has no control. It is a healthy
discipline for us to have to submit our will
to another's. Such is the Biblical concep-
ton of home training. Such was the
method Of Christ's bringing up.
Professor Huxley had great influence
upon current ideas of education and. per-
haps, the most eloquent words he ever
wrote were those in which he set forth
this idea, that the gist of education is to
learn how to obey. "That man." he says,
'has had a liberal education, who has been
so trained in youth that his body is the
ready servant of his will, and does with
ease and pleasure all the work that, as a
mechanism, it is capable of, whose intellect
is a clear, cold, logic engine, with all its
parts of equal strength, and in smooth
working order; ready, like a steam engine,
to be turned to any kind of work, and spin
the gossamers, as well as forge the anchors
of the mind; whose mind is stored with a
knowledge of the great and fundamental
truths of nature and of the laws of her op.
erations; one who, no stunted a~scetic, is
full of life and fire, but whose passions are
trained to come to heel by a vigorous will,
the servant of a tender conscience: VIII
has learned to love all beauty; whether ot
nature or of art. to hate all v~ileness, and
to respect others as himself. Such an one
and no other, | conceive, has had a liberal
education, for he is, as completely as q
man can be. in harmony with nature. He
will make the best of her, and she of him
They will get on together rarely; she as
his ever-benefcent mother; he as her
mouthpiece, her conscious self, her minis
ter and interpreter"
But it is not enough to learn obedience
theoretically in one period of educationl
W. u DCI pCIuuIG IL a Il nAOlL Oil VI
our years, for it is the only way to success
in life. Obedience is not for its own sake
but in order that through it we may come
to be our best selves. We accept law az
the predetermined condition of life, sur.
render ourselves to it, and by yielding win
true liberty.
Agesilaus of Sparta knew how to govern
because he had first learned bow to obey.
according to the old saying. The present
Emperor Of Germany and King of Italy,
brilliant examples of successful monarchs,
were trained with a severity that some of
our boys would think cruel. There was
once a hard worked employee of the New
York street car system; he is now its head.
There was once a private soldier who had
to submit to all the narrow restrictions of
the most subordinate rank in the army; he
Is now our commander in the Philippines.
We take away harmful things from our
children that later on they may know
enough to deprive themselves Of them. They
are made to take care of their bodies that
they may keep the laws of health when
they need it for life's work. They ara
given good books to read that they may
prefer such when they are free to read
what they will. They are shielded from
bad associations and thrown into the com
pany of clean, true, honorable boys and
girls so that when they are out in the
WOTIu ItButlHB lIelI OWn DdIGlcS lISy may
choose the friendship of the good and shun
that of the base.
Some parents are afraid to have their
children arrive at the age of self control.
Yet what is the good of education. 'The
aim of your discipline" said Herbert
Spencer, Should be to produce a s~elf-gov-
erning being; not to produce a being to be
governed by Others" 1t is a JOY to have
obedient children, but it ought to be a
nroatar io- 1vbap thou p haoopna frTIa-
hearted men and women, and are out in
the world carrying on the business of life.
Then the object of education is secured
and the condition of success is satisfied.
When a girl says to herself, "When l
have a home of my WI you will see how
differently l shall do things" When a boy
thinks, Gust wait until I am twenty-one
and | will see life for myself" you may
know that the seed Of the Dead Sea fruit
is already sown.
A woman whose family were in want was
given $25 by a friend. Instead of purchas.
ing necessities with this providential pres.
ent she used it in having the photographs
of the entire household taken. There was
an example of one who did not deserve to
be grown up. She did not know how to
control her own life. She had never
learned that the only way to live worthily
is to obey the great principles of duty. She
merely followed her whims.
| heard this summer of a young man who
a year ago was flying around Long Island
in his automobile, dazzling the natives with
his reckless expenditure of a newly ac.
quired fortune. To-day he is said to be
clerking in a store. He did not know how
to be rich; he had not learned self-controi.
Quite rightly he has been set back again in
his proper place.
Oscar Wilde was a young scholar of ex.
~traordinary brilliance. His essay on "The
Decay of Lying" for example, was marvel
lousy suggestive. But he never learned
to obey, to control himself, to love the
right; on the contrary, by following his
own will and seeking pleasure without re.
gard to duty he made of himself a social
Outcast and died a beggar's death in Paris.
1t makes no difference what ability, posi-.
ton or opportunity one has, if he does not
know how toobey he is on the road to ruin.
Moreover, this condition of obedience is
the permanent law of life. Neither in this
nor any other world is it abolished. The
mother warns her baby not to touch the
stove. The little one disobeys and is
energies from his mothers control. No
one advises him now to keep away from
the stove. He can put his finger on it if he
will. But if he does he will be burned
hgain.
So it is in the moral life. As children
we were restricted by others from wrong
doing, and if we persisted in seeking to ac-
complish it we suffered. Now we are grown
and no one binders us. We can sin if we
choose. But if we do we shall have to bear
the consequences now as then.
The choice given us is not whether we
shall be under Gods law or not, but only
whether we shall obey them or not, in
either case receiving the results of our de.
cision. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap"
The man who abandons himself to tn. in
diligence of appetite, violating the laws Of
nature, shortens his life. His indulgence
defeats itself. While he obeys Gods laws
finds them his servants, ministers of health,
prosperity and usefulness.
Nor is this state of things different in
heaven. There it Is said Ellis servants
shall serve Him." There the law Of God
is perfectly fulfilled. There the heavenly
host sing forever, according to Dante's
dream,
"In His will is our delight"
So forever and forever obedience remains
the law of life.
William Tyndale, who translated the Bi
BILE into English, wrote a book entitled
"The Obedience of a Christian Man" The