The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-11-25
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
"lMlTAToR0 OF coD."

Christianity is Narrow in Its Spirit and
Contracting in IT'S Effect.
BROOKLYN. N. Y.-Dr. John Reid, pas
tor Of the Memorial Presbyterian Church,
preached an eloquent sermon Sunday
morning. His text was taken from Ephe.
slams wi: "Be We therefore followers of
Cod as dear children" DIR. Reid said
The Revised Version gives a better and
stronger translation: "Be we therefore imi-
tators OF God. az beloved children" Imi-
tators, as children. Being children of God,
be We imitators Of God.
Truth is practically always achievement,
superstructure, the keystone, last stroke.
There are what the metaphyslcians call
immediate truth" that is, truth in con-
necton with which our knowledge is intui-
tive, and where it comes in as the direct
and undeniable testimony of the senses,
but as a general thing, acquired truth is
the result Of work done, the issue of a bat
tie which has been won. In other words,
truth has to conquer before it can COM
mand. But in conflict or warfare of what
soever kind, disguise is ever a worse foe to
meet than denial And I suppose that
what is frequently affirmed is probably
true; namely, that the Christian religion
has always suffered more from. those who,
sometimes Intentionally and sometimes I'M
Intentionally, have perverted and misrep.
IGuSGHieu IL, IUdI IL mas ever BuuHTGu IFOn
those who have even formally opposed it.
There, for instance, is the somewhat trite
CRITICISM that Christianity as a scheme is
narrow in it's spirit and contracting in its
effect; under 1t as a system men do not at
tain the highest possible development, and,
therefore, they cannot display the fairest
and finest fiber of human character; it de-
velopes the passive and uninhuential more
than the puissant and productive. elements
nf ,ke ko-I EFo'o
brake to check and hold in. rather than
on life's throttlc valve to open and let go;
it is in face lion, but in heart deer; the
thou shalt nots outnumber the thou shalts
there is an unmistakable flavor of pusil-
lanimity, of cowardliness, of spiritlessness,
which nothing every wholly removes from
many of its principles and professions; re-
pentance, humbeness, meekness, forgive-
ness of injuries, REIMBURSEMENT of rights,
submission to what cannot be seen. accept
ance of what cannot be known-these are
not among the heroic virtues. All this has
been felt and expressed, not only by the
superficial and SOOTHING, but by the respect.
full and thoughtful. And certainly it is all
forceful If it were true, it might be even
fatal.
Yet from the beginning to end this whole
criticism that Christianity is narrow in its \
spirit and contracting in its effects moves
be bound by lifeless process. It is of me-
cessity linked to a living Person. And in
Christianity, it is the Almighty God who
is the standard. Men are everywhere ex.
horted and expected to ascertain His will,
to keep His word, to lay hold of His
strength, to walk in His light, and SO to
adorn His doctrine in all things. It is the
example of God that is published as the
pattern. 1t is the purity of God that is
put forth as the test. 1t is the will of
God that is prescribed as the law. 1t is
the love of God that is presented as the
motive power. 1t is the glory of God that
is pointed to as the end. It is the appro-
baton of God that is urged as the inspira-
ton and the sweet reward. Likeness to
Godhood---that is Christianity's ideal of
manhood; likeness; not simply represen-
tation, but reproduction; an image;
likeness which has it's place, not in one
ness or identity of attributes, but in one
ness or community of life. In Him we hive
and move and have our being, said Paul.
with all clearness and confidence. "For
me to live is Christ" said the same great
apostle TO the Gentiles. Literally, for to
me, that is, in my case: in 50 50 far as l am
view and understanding of the term, life is
but another name for Christ. Whatever
of life. or of time, or of talent, Or of
strength / have, it is all His. ~ live. yet
not I. but Christ liveth in me-" That
mans great endeavor was, as near as pos II
sible. to reproduce in his life the life OF
his Master
So here his exhortation to all Others:
"Be We therefore imitators of God, as be-
loved children" We have all known chill
dren who were so impressed with the char
acteristics of their fathers that we could
never hear their form of expression or see
their modes of action without thinking OF
those from whom their opinions and con-
duct had received direction and form. We
say, chips of the old block; the father
lives again in the son. just SO the true life
of the Christian is, potentially at least,
simply a reproduction OF the life of the
Christ.
"Imtators, as children of God" What
ever the sentiments we may entertain re-
garding the claims Of aristocracy or the
rights of democracy, we all make much of
ancestry. The son of lord may become a
lord. The daughter of a queen Is of the
blood royal. Everywhere men believe in
association. Family glory is good intro.
duction and a great help to any man who
can lawfully point to it as his The valid I
ity of that introduction is never ques-
toned, the integrity Of that help is never
rejected, except where the man himself
becomes personally deficient or person
ally degenerate. For doubtless everywhere,
when it comes to the purely practical side
of things, "what is he?" is Of far greater
Importance than whence did he Gomez"
A big frdit from a little tree is worth |
more than little fruit from big tree,
when it is fruit that the market is de- |
handing. And what this intensely practi- |
cal age demands is not so much ancestral
trees as palatable fruit.
confess that sometimes have found it |
hard to preserve the proprieties when I |
have heard people Boosting of ancestry. I