The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-08-18
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
A STRONG DISCOURSE ENTITLED,
IAN ADVANCE ORDERED"

The Rev. DR.. John Z. Adams Tells of the
Law of Progress as Exe,npltfed in the
Waxing Strong OF the Infant - We
Should Seize Our Inheritance.
BROOKLYN, y. Y.-Having been az
pointed Presiding Elder of the New York
District of the New York East Conference.
the Rev DR.. John z. Adams, pastor of
Grace N. E. Church. preached his closing
sermons Sunday. During his pastoTatee Of
little more thar two, years. ne mas n3d
marked success The debt of the church,
$4,000, was csnceied in January, 1863, the
mortgage burned and the church IS now
free from iEcuubraHce. Sunday morning
DR.. Adams preached On can Advance Or
dered." The text was from Exodus xiv:
Is: Speak unto the children Of Israel,
that they 90 forward" Dr.. Adams said:
When this advance was ordered the Is
raei;tes were encamped on the coast of
the Red Sea. Before them was the sea
spread out for miles and leagues. and they
had neither bridge nor boat, nor pontoon
by which to cross it. Behind them was
the army OF Pharaoh, with horses and
chariots, with trained warriors and skilled
commanders, intent on their capture CT
destruction. On either side, it would seem,
were formidable o6structions-nountairs
OF fortresses, or something that could not
be pasSed-ior the Is-aeltes saw no way
of escape and cried out for fear. In this
Eeriioaa and apparently hopeless situation
TIC people reproached Moses Tor the dread
full extremity to which they haI been re-
ducad; whereupon that holy MAJ, appealed
to God for help, and then came, probably
in tones OF thunder that sounded in the
ears of al the people full and Gear above
the roar Of the sea, this strange order:
Wherefore criest thou unto Me? Speak
unto the children of Israel that they go
forward
Leaving now the literal narrative, eS-
cept as we may have occasion to recur to
it incidentally let us attend to the moral
meanings and uses of the text. The case
before us is exceptional in nothing but the
physical facts: the moral truths and un-
derlying principles OF this case are always
and everywhere present among the peop.e
of God. Indeed, the principles here in
volved are so general and the anaiogies of
universal history are SO wide and complete
that / think we are justified in regarding
this text as the law of the universe ap-
piled to the church. The physical occasion
of this text, in all of its essential features.
finds its duplicate in the moral occasion
of this service. We are the children of
Israel ourselves. can prove it by St.
Paul: 'If We be Christ's, then are We
Abraham's seed. and heirs according to
the promise" The Red Sea is before US.
Not that Red Sea that washes the sands Of
Arabia and floats the commerce of the
East, but the Red Sea of moral hindrance
"a sea that is deeper than the Atlantic
Ocean and wider than the Pacific. Phar-
aoh's army is pursuing US. Not the an
tiquated Egyptian division, now extinct,
but the internal brigade itself, still in the
field and strictly up to date in every par
ticular-and these enemies from the neth-
ermost pit. inspired with inconceivable ha-
tired and, in the words OF Milton, armed
with hell flames and fury" and following
US in overwhelming numbers and with un-
appeasable ferceness. Such is our situa-
ton this very hour, and as we stand to-day
amid these threatening environments, the
captain of our salvation calls to - from
heaven, Go forward and in obedience
to this order lies our duty, our safety and
our happiness.
Let US approach our subject step by
step. God is the author of the universe.
The universe existed in the Divine Mind
as an ideal before it existed in itself as
q substance. The ideal was complete and
perfect as we'll as beautiful and good; but
the first states of the actual :: -iverse did
not realize that perfect ideal of the d.
vine Mind. What then? Did God fail?
Did His active energy prove unequal to
His bensicent intentions? By no means.
God gave the universe this imperfect form
at first, not because He could not do other
wise and had to abandon His ideal out be-
cause He saw it better to realize His ideal
gradually through the law of progress than
to realize it suddenly by an act of crea-
tive power. Deliberately Al d of His own
(No IN Va
mass Of unorganized matter and force;
and then, intr.sting His sublime work to
the law Of progress operated by respon-
sible intelligences, He directed that in due
time all should be reduced to order. har-
mony and beauty. This is 1e story of the
universe in its entirety and in its parts.
This is the story OF the worlds and of their
productions. This is the story Of minerals,
vegetables and animals; of general species
and individuals; of angels, women and
men. This is the story of matter in all its
combinations, of life in all its forms, and
of mind il all its. phenomena. This, in
story of all creation, and of ali propaga-
tion.
Let me illustrate what I mean by the
oak. Gods ideal for the oak is majestic
tree, six feet in diameter and ten feet in
height, with mighty roots taking deep
hold of the rocks and mighty branches
sweeping the clolGs-a very giant that can
'wrestie with the storms and play with the
lightnings. But in its beginning, as it
sprouts from the acorn, the oak is.a tiny
shoot which the fooe of little child could
efectually crush. God makes it thus and
says to it, Go forward;*: and then the lit
tie plant, obedient to the Divine COM
mand, through cloud and sunshine and
changing season, soon goes on and out and
up, until at last, by means of the. law Of
progress in the form OF growth, it has
fulfilled the word of God, and stands be-
fore the eyes OF men in.a.l the imposing
grandeur Of its towering and solid matur
ity.
Take the cage as another illustration.
God's ideal for the eagle is an imperial
bird OF great size and strength, with
amazing kecnness OF vision and with pin
ions for majestic fight, the mountain crag
its castle, and its pleasure ground the sky.
Such is the Divine ideal for this noble
bird. Evt the young eaglet .emerges from
the shell a feeble little creature, and if
you could see it during the first week or
two o. its existence, and could stroke with
your hand its soft yehowish down and
look into its pale blush eyes, its feeble
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