The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-10-27
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
!"CLORlFYlNc THE FATHER"


Preached by the Rev. DIR. Thomas 3. Nc
Leod, OF Brooklyn, n. 1--WE Can
Make God Real, We Can Make the
Gospel Sublime.
BROOKLYN. N. Upon his return to
Thomas E. Mcleod, pastor of the Clinton
Avenue Congregational Church, preached
an eloquent sermon Sunday morning on
.'!..lorifying the Father" The text was
chosen from John xv:8: Herein i5 My
Father glori6ed that ye bear much fruit.
so shall ye be My disciples" Dr.. Mcleod
said:
How vital, dear friends, are all New
Testament representations of religion.
Compare the New Testament with the eth.
ical teaching, or religious teaching OF all
simply assonished. There is nothing me
chanical in them, nothing formal. nothing
institutional-every process Is process OF
life. II is no use for q man, or for men. to
claim that they have Abraham for their
father Religion is not q matter OF who
mans ancestors were: 1T Is a matter OF
what a man himself Is. Jesus has given US
in one pi.hy sentence His estimate OF the
worth Of the claim that is based on de-
scent, on uSTeOlIy, Ou eUSldt "hSh
He says that God could raise up, or make
children, unto Abraham out of the very
stones Of the roadside. The concern that
interests God, when it comes to the matter
of religion, Is whether a man is living
plant or 81 dead stick. The hedge, though
it be q hedge of flowers or roses, in which
the stake occurs, does not make the stake
a living thing The line of descent IN
which man stands, nor the social posi-
ton he occupies, nor the church OF which
he is an attendant. or member, IS moth
ing. The man may after all be nothing
better than dead stake ina hedge.
There was certain fine man, fine man
socially, 1eligiously, pohticaliy-one OF the
best OF rlen as men went-came. to Jesus
TO make inquiry on the subject of religion.
He was reverent and devout and respect
fui and courteous and cultured and learned,
a leader and teacher of the people. lee
turer on ethics, but when it came to reli-
sion, Jesus said to that man, eye must be
born again., The vitality OF the represen-
tation we find in the New Testament rell-
rion is its life; I have come that We might
have life and that ye might have it more
abundantly."
And so of tests. Not simply of the rep
resentations or descriptions of religion, but
also of the tests, the New Testament tests
of religion. How are we to know that we
are living Christians: How are we to
know II at others are living Christians?
Why, the New Testament pushes us up to
the point of urgent belief, and insists on
it, that the test is fruit, cot leaves, nSt
flowers, but fruit, and that fruitfulness is
the only essential thing that shall triumph
under the~test. Jesus may endure barren.
ness outside Of the church, but He cannot
endure it inside of the church. A bramble
in the woods Is bearable. but bramble in
the orchard, that is into!erable. by their
fruits We shall know them. Men do not
gather figs of thistles or grapes of thorns.
The man of God is perfect, fruitful unto
all good works"
How little stress Jesus lays upon .hose
tests that are so universally adopted and
applied, and admitted to be sufficiently ad'
equate; attendance upon religious, ordi1-
ances, subscription to creed and statement
routine observance of rites and ceremonlet;
He makes nothing Of all that. and He
comes t, ,s. friends, Just as He came to
the fruitless, leafy fig tree by the wayside,
searching for fruit, not for leaves. not for
blossoms. not for Aorescence. not for es-
.thetic delight in sacred music. not for fond
ness of the literary side of religion, not for
a keen appetite for well digested and pre-
eented truth. but for fruit-fruit, and He
comes up closer to US. friends. than any.
body else can come-than our dearest and
nearest can come-for, after all. these can
see only outside appearances. He sees real
ities. 7'hey see things that pass for good
' works in US, born. it may be. of wicked
ambition or of self-conceit. He sees right
down into the centre of the soul. and He Is
looking for fruit. What shall He find in
You and me? Fruit or leaves, or just bare
branches?
The test is fruitfuiness. Now that ought
TO be an easy test to apply. and it surely;
friends, is safe test to apply-for you and
me to apply to our own selves. But then,
some one may say, "Well. what constitutes
fruitfulnesse / am ready now to lay bare
nv soul before God: am ready now to 60
down on my face before God and apply the
test: am ready now for heart-searching,
and to measure myself by this standard,
but / want to know what constitutes
fruitfulness." "What are the fruits that
Jesus expects and that am to look for
and by which / am to measure myself!
Why, the Bible is simply full Of that, 1t
has set the. whole thing so plain, and so
fully, and so yariously, that waytar'ne
man though fool need not mistake as to
what fruitfuiness IN the Christian life is.
Jesus says, Blessed are the poor in spirit"
Come now. We are. examining ourselves
about the fruits. BLESSED are the poor in
spirit; blessed are the meek; blessed are
tho m. .rciful (the good heartedl; blessed
are the pure in heart; blessed are the
peaeemakers; blessed are they who have
not simply relish now and then, but
hunger and thirst after Righteousness
rightness. These are the fruits that the
Christian man is expected to grow IN his
character.
An apostle says, the fruits, or the fruit
OF the spirit, is love, Joy. long suffering,
patience, meekness. faith, temperance. The
fruit that the Christian is to develop, that
will be developed, that Jesus will expect if
there be life-love-the heart of all good
ness-love to God and love to man. "Who
}oveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how shall he love God-how can he love
God whom he hath not SEEM" Fruit; love
10y. Joy in fellowship with God; JOY IL
fellowship with believers; Joy in service
and ministry. Love-ioy-peace. Content
nent of mind under all circumstances. the
harmony of conviction, of thought and af.
fection. Long suffering patient endur-
ance not only in affection, but patient en-.
durance of wrong and provocation; and