Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1904-02-11
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE EMITTED
VITAL UNION WITH CHRIST"


The Rev c. D. Case, PHI. D., Tells How
the Son of God Within Us Becomes
the Source of Divine COMPREHENSIVE.
- and of Power For Achievement.
BROOKLYN, n. Y-The Rev. C. D. Case
IN. -, pastor Of the First Baptist Church,
Montcla1r, n: D., recently preached the
following brilliant sermon, which he en-
titled Vital Union With Christ The
text was chosen from Galatians ii:2O: ..I
am cruciied with Christ and [ no longer
i've, but Christ liveth in me-, and the lie
e Which ! now live l live by faith in the
Son OF GOD who loved me and gave Him
sell i, to die for me- DR.. Case said:
>. The highest. conception OF the Christian
lie which this genera ton seems to have
accepted is to be found in the words, Fol
low Me-, as uttered by Christ. It is
thoroughly. Biblical: Jesus says to Philip,
at tne beginning OF His ministry, Follow
Gahlee, Come We after. Me- He COM
mands the taxgatherer in his Office. s.Fol-
low Nle;. He presents the same standard
TO the rich young man who loved his
money better than life, Follow Me- Now
the resurrection has passed and what shall
OF the new life? 1t is still the same, and
Christ proclaims to the same disciples at
the same place on Galilee,. Follow thou
Me-" WIN"
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
ats appointed means Of grace: But now
covered this idea and made it the verv cen
tre and core Of the Christian life. Mr..
Henry Richards, on the Congo, reads to
the natives the words of Christ, Give to
h1m that asketh Of thee; and of him that
taketh away thy goods ask them not
again., and then proceeds to practice
tlrst beg and then return and then ask
tor the way Of life. Mr.. W.. T. Stead
while i'll his London jail, wonders what he
shall write to the girl whom he has sue
ceeded III placing in 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 if 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
will accept good when he saw it. This is
q tine philosophy, but a poor religion: It
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 tlnd a better one to express this idea
OF following Christ: Religion cannot
be said to- have made a 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-.
hever 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 1t was no less a person than j.. S. 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 go 1 s51b!eetlEs !! presence and power.
the world. even so have sent them into
the world says with the Co. the 10.
l am with you all the days"
The Bible represents this union in diff
ferent ways Now it is that of the foun-
datlon and the superstructure signifying
direction: now of the husband and wife.
representing union; now of the vine and
branch, ,signlfying the communication OF
lite; and finally, most tenderly and mys-,
teriously, Of the relation between the
Father and Son, In whatever way it is
spoken OF it IS evidently an essential phase
OF the Christian life
DR.. A. j. Gordon once saw what he
called a parable Of nature up in part
OF New England where be spent his sum
mer holidays. II was an example OF nat
ural grating. Two little saplings grew
up side by side Through the action OF
the wind the. bark of each became wound
nG ho 4o Il. l.
on still day they were firmly compacted.
Then the stronger began to, absorb the life
OF the weaker. It grew larger and larger
while the other grew smaller and smaller;
then began to wither and decline till 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: life has triumDhed in the
other. The illustration thus given by Dr.
Gordon only fails in not giving sufficient
smportance~t to the words Il live of the
text. The religious life is not self-in,moia-
ton, but self-realiZation. It is not absorp-
ton. but ampiifcation.
Without thinking for the present of the
unvarying condition OF this life, tscruci-
ixion with Christ" or the motive of such
living, "Christ loved us and died for u.s.
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 companionship.
The appearance of Christ after the res
direction had two definite purposes The
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 so into Ga]ilce there
to meet them. As soon as faith had &C
cepted these words Of both Christ and the
angels the disciples would leave Jerusa
lem: but this did not take place until after
week.
The second definite object Of Christ's
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, 'sFollow Me-"
spoken to the seven in Galilee: the prom
ise to all, ':Lo, an with you all the days,
IL. ~ IL, "a