The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-11-18
1 SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED
'GL ORIFYlNC THE FATHER"
Preached by the Rev. DIR. Thomas u. Nc
Leod, of Brooklyn, N. Y.-We Can
Make God Real, We Can Make the
GOSPEL Sublime.

Gospel Sublime.
BROOKLYN, N. Upon his return to
his pulpit from his vacation, the Rev. DR..
Thomas b. Mcleod pastor of the Clinton
Avenue Congregational Church, preached
an eloquent sermon Sunday morning on
"Glorifying the Father" The text was
chosen from John xv:8: Herein ia My
Father glorifed that we bear much fruit,
go shall we be My disciples" DR.. Mcleod
said;
How vital, dear friends, are all New
Testament representations of religion.
| Compare the New Testament with the g \
cal teaching, or religious teaching OF all
other books in this respect, and you are
simply astonished. There is nothing me-
chanical in them, nothing formal, nothing
institutional-every process is a process OF
life, 1t is no use for man, or for men, to
claim that they have Abraham for their
father. Religion is not matter of who a
mans ancestors were: it IS matter or
what man himself is. Jesus has given us
in one pithy sentence His estimate OF the
worth of the claim that is based on de-
scent, on heredity, ON social prestige, when
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 q, man is a living
plhnb vi q QCetu btlGhs l. lac HCuRCt IhOuSA
it be hedge of flowers or roses, in which
the stake occurs. does not make the stake
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 a member, is moth
ing. The man may after all be nothing
better than dead stake in hedge.
There was certain fine man, fine man
socially, religiously, politically Of the
best of men as men .went--came to Jesus
to make inquiry on the subject of religion.
He was reverent and devout and respect
full and courteous and cultured and learned,
leader and teacher of the PEOPLE, lec-
turer on ethics. bat when it came to reli-
gion, Jesus said to that man, eye must be
born again" The vitality Of the represent
tation we find in the New Testament reli-
gion is its life; 81 have come that We might
have life, and that ye might have it more
abundantly."
And so of tests. Not simply of the rep
fesentations 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 that 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, not leaves, not
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 brambe
in the woods is bearable, but bramb)a in
the orchard, that is intolerable. "Bv cir
fruits we shall know them. Men . not
gather figs of thistles or grapes of horns"
"The man of God is perfect, fru \ unto
all good works N1
How little st Jesus lays upon hose
tests that ares, Universally adopted and
applied, and ADM, led to be sufficiently adj
equate; attendance upon religious ordin-
ances, subscription to creed and statement,
He makes nothing of all that, and He
comes to us, 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 horescence, not for es-
thetic delight in sacred music, not for fond
ness of the literary side of religion, not for
q keen appetite for well digested and pred
sented truth, but for fruit-fruit, and He
comes up closer to us. friends, than any.
body else can comedian our dearest and
nearest can come-for, after all, these can
see only outside appearances He sees real
tiles. They 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 i'll
you and me! Fruit or leaves, or just bare
branches?
The test is fruitfuness. 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
fruitfulness? / am ready now to lay bare
my soul before God; / am ready now to go
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 variously that a wayfaring
man though a fool need not mistake as to
what fruitfulness 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
the merciful (the good hearted; blessed
are the pure in heart; blessed are the
peacemakers; blessed are they who have
not simply a 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.
Van apostle says, the fruits, Q Ae fruit
of the spirit, is love, joy, lon offering,
patience, meekness, faith, temp ,>ince. 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
loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how shall he love God--how can he love
God whom he hath not SEEM" Fruit; love
Joy. Joy in fellowship with God; joy in
fellowship with believers; joy in service
and ministry. Love-joy-peace. Content
ment of mind under all circumstances; the
harmony of conviction, of thought and af-
fiction. Long suffering patient endur-
ance not only in affection, but patient en-