The Penn's Grove record., 1904-12-02

Hunting Rudd, pastor of the First Con-
gregational Church, Dedham, Mass,
preached Sunday morning in the Tomp-
kins Avenue Congregational Church to a
large audience. His subject was free
dom IN Christ" and the text was from
John IL: Is and IA: "But as many as
received Him to them gave He the right
to become children of God, even to them
that believe on His name, who were born
not OF blood nor Of the will of the flesh
nor Of the will of man, but Of God" Mr..
Rudd said:
do as another pleases? Am / a free agent
or are limitations placed upon me? Is lib
erty unrestrained freedom, or am l the
more truly free when my actions and
words are controlled by divine laws, i'm
posed willingly upon man by his own en-
lightened self?
To answer these questions ~intelligently,
clearly and helpfully takes us at once into
that field Of Christian sociology and of the
interrelation of man with man and of man
with his God which so engages the atten-
ton OF men everywhere to-day. The place
and duty Of the church is very clear. 1t
is to show men in the spirit of candor, of
sympathy, of open mindedness, of toler-
ance, that the word of God gives US great
elemental teachings by a master thinker
and reasoner, who was divine and who
AtAAA II AAkAt ~ lLkuCu HELL III "
called great problems of labor and capital
will find a permanent solution only by
the arbitrament Of the Man of Galilee.
But 1t is your duty and mine to remind
ourselves and others that according as we
square ourselves with the requirements of
God in Christ shall the problems of life
be met and be grappled and worth while
results be achieved.
We are here to-day to ask entrance into
the light. We are here to know more
truth, so that truth may make us free.
we long to know how to be happily and
contentedly free. To have our freedom
so used that everywhere men shall recog-
nize it as the article they wish, and, pos
sessing it with us, we shall together make
men strong. Bearing one another's bur-
dens we shall surely fulfill in part the law
of Christ. The gospel of st. John, sim
pie yet profound, shows us how to gain
freedom in Christ. 1t reminds us what is
so necessary to recall in this easy going,
n~on-thlnking age, VIZ, that in no real and
permanent sense are men children Of God
until Christ has made them such by vital
union with Him. That we have no right
to cali ourselves children until God Him
self transfers that right to us by an act Of
will and obedience on our part, so recog-
nized by Christ, who has in the very pro-
cess OF our obedience done His part. To
claim the friendship of another is not to
possess it. To say Of Christ and our rela-
tons to Him, as we say of some we'll
known people, "Oh, yes, / know Him well;
He is a warm personal friend" when in
reality little more than a formal introduce
ton has been given, is in essence to know
only about Him, and that in a formal
sense, instead of being d~ivinely commits
stoned by the living holy spirit of God
to be a "ehild Of God" and an heir with
Christ to eternal life. Manifestly, then,
this is an important matter to us all
even to the careless, thoughtless ones who
make up a part Of every audience. Have
we any right to call ourselves children
of God?" And if we have, what has God,
by His regeneratlng spirit, done In us!
It was our New England poet, Lowell,
who said:
The thing we long for-that we are
For one transcendent moment.
But even the poet fails to be true to
fact unless we. have such a definite, genu-
inc faith in Gods power and willingness
to give us Himself and to make us sons
and daughters of the living God, that we
receive Him and by that act avail of Him
as our Saviour not only for one transcend
ent moment, but for all the moments for
the rest of time, and in that act we are
born Of God, and by that act we are
given the right to become-aye, to be be-
gotten as children of God.
Almost immediately in this sublime,
scholarly and heart searching gospel of
John, that great disciple, speaking the
words of Christ Himself, begins by divid-
ing mankind into the same two divisions
which are represented in this audience,
and in every audience, viz, those who
have received Him and those who, though
they were His own by creation, received
Him not, by a regenerating faith. And l
want just now, if possible, to avoid alb
s~truse, moss covered theological terms and
phraseology, and to elothe these burning
issues in simple, clear Bible language, but
none the less to remind ourselves that
many of us are longing to get out into the
open sky, in some of the old fashioned,
necessary doctrines of the word of God.
We have gotten some Of the choicest and
most essential statements of divine truth
b~eclouded, and we are not quite sure
where we are. May Gods spirit enlight-
en- and allay doubt and uncertainty on
these truths this day, ID align us all
in the comforting strength Of His WI
sonship. And | frankly believe. my broth
er man, we cannot be satisfied IN this sub
lime hour by turning to the poets, much as
they will uplift and rest us: Even though
you turn to Emerson, who has been so ex-
allied and almost deifed by some in New
England Unitarianism and ask him about
man, and in one place he will tell you:
"a man is the whole encyclopedia of facts.
The creation of a thousand forests is in
one acorn and Egypt, Greece, Rome,
Gaul, Britain, America, lie folded already
in the first man." Yes, potentiality lies
embodied, but naught else can bring it to
surface and to living power save the touch
of Christ the Redeemer of Manhood. Nor
does the statement of Carlyle satisfy me,
for you recall in his essay on character
~istics," he says: Man stands in the CEN
tire of nature; his fraction of time encir-
cfed by eternity, his handbreadth of space
encircled by infinitude." l say this can
not satisfy you, for you long to know how
you can best live and expand, while You
are in this centre of nature" and where
and how you are to spend eternity. And
you turn to that beautifully human and
real poet, Robert Burns, and remember
with him "That mans a man for a. that, !"
and here you feel that you may be argu-
ing in a circle. and if Burns had only
known more of the Man of Calvary, he
would have been saved many of the sins
which blighted his Whole life. Or you
may stand with that dear English poet,
Gray, as from afar he beholds Elton Col
lege and exelaims, "Ah, tell them they are
men," and those words and this poets
longing, more nearly voice your own souls
wish, and you add, "Ah, tell them of the
Man, who became flesh and dwelt among
US, tndG ne mlgnb IeQ6em men lOr GfM-
self" 1t Is to this lncarnate word that
we must turn if we are to be enlightened
and satisfied. And few passages in Gods
word speak out more hope and immediate
blessing than the text: "As many as re-
ceived Him, to them gave He the right
to become children of God"
But some one asks, what is the process
by which this is done? And / reply in
the continuing words of this same verse:
Even to them that believe on His name"
But what is it to believe on His name?
What is faith? And we reply with Bux-
ton: Faith is the flial, trustful relation.
which the whole man, intellect, heart and
will, s~ustains toward the Lord Jesus
Christ" Christ said to His disciples,
Come We after Me. and / will make you
fishers Of men" They obeyed. Heart.
intellect and win accepted and believed
Christ to have the right and the power
God. Disciples of Him who walked among
them as their Redeemer. And when they
had given Him that simple confidence and
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