The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-03-30
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AplScoURSE:ENTITlEp "cHRlsTIANs
OUTSIDE THE CHURCH"


The Rev. Robert Macdonald Expresses
Christ is Not Different From Being a
Believer in Man.
BROOKLYN, N. Y.-"Christians outside
the Church" was the subject of the ser
mon Sunday morning by the Rev. Robert
Macdonald, pastor Of the Washington Ave
nue. Baptist Church. It was the first of a
series Of five sermons. The text was from
John X: ]6: Other sheep I have which
are not of this fold" Mr.. Macdonald
said:
So important and many sided subject
as this must be looked at from more than
tions to be considered. Nun1berless the
opinions favorable and unfavorable, true
and false, to be confirmed in these SER
mons or repudiated. Numberless the peo-
pie interested in so practical and personal
a question, some of whom love the church
better than life; others of whom hate the
churcn more than any other institution
in existence; some who trace their loftiest
aspirations, their deepest motives, their
hottest desires back to her as fond moth
er who lives to nourish her children with
her own rich life; others who have never
received the least benefit therefrom, OF
which they are conscious and boldly as
.sert that little benefit to humanity ever
emerged from her portals. Some go so far
as to make the church synonymous with
Christ's kingdom, and maintain that to
be a member of the one is to be member
of the other, and consequently yield to her
fanatical reverence. Others swing clear
to the other extreme and consider the
church nothing better than the product
of jealous rivalry for pre-eminence over
other institutions of earth, else the ex-
preston in wood and stone of overwrought
sensibilities. Therefore, the monument Of
most irrational superstition. While. an
innumerable many identify themselves
with the church because they believe it to
be q benefcent institution ordained of
God, without which the world would be
morally and spiritually impoverished, and
through which the spirit is working Tor
vine strength can be had for the ills OF
life.
7 desire that our starting point in these
discussions should be in favor of religious
liberation. As love is the centre of the
Christian system, so must it be the motive
in every church claiming to be Christian
chruch. As Christ our, Master was toler-
ant of and charitable toward those who
were not numbered among the twelve
disciples and forty apostles, SO must we
as His followers be tolerant in thought,
word, act, to those not of our number, and
outside our communion. There is greater
need of liberation to-day than at any pre-
vious period of the worlds history: The
church of to-day is more advanced than
the church of yesterday. Its intelligence
is greater; its light clearer; its affinity
with the Holy Spirit more personal; its
hold upon the cross of Christ, that power
of rcdemptive love, sacrlhcing itself even
unto death, stronger. The church OF the
twentieth century ought to be, and shame
upon us if it is not, more spiritual than
the church of the thirteenth century, or
century.
But not only in view of our superior
spiritual enlightenment, also in view OF
our peculiarly complex state. OF living
should we be tolerant, It is the age OF
significant fact of life has been forced to
submit to division and subdivision to an
amazing extent. Look, for instance, at
education. Trace 1t through the modern
university curriculum. Contrast it with
the most comprehensive collegiate institu-
ton of a century ago. You are over
whelmed with the multitudinous depart
ments, and subdepartments and branches
of instruction, and professional chairs. All
these necessary, you say, to educate the
youth. To adequately impart knowledge,
to meet the ever increasing intellectual de-.
mand? Yes. The renaissance that called
Europe from its dark ages of intellectual
slumber has not yet spent its force. Meas
ure the term medicine, or surgery with the
imposing stature of the general practi-
tioner Of twenty years ago. The. stature
is no longer imposing. The specialist OF
q single bodily function is more imposing
now. And for the human body the work
of the one has been divided into the skill
of the hundreds and each unit In the vast
aggregate is more authoritative. than the
one. The term philosophy. no longer rec;
and intellectual. Each division has been
differentiated, and each differentiation sug-
cests to the mind content and comprehen-
siveness, richer and more compact than
the ,original classification from which it
sprang. Metaphysics, theism, ideallsm,
empricism, economics, sociology, psychol-
ogy, biology, and many more are the terms
now familiar to our thought. And how
vast the field of consciousness covered by
any one of these significant terms. Eco
nomics, very modern term for instance
postulates for US; the land question; the
tenement house problem, the theory of
wealth, industrial organization, all social
istic and communistic relation.
The same in jurisprudence, in commerce
and trade, in everything of worth. The
difference between the big department
store and the little trader illustrates the
idea. Yet how surprised we are that we
should have wandered religiously far
afeld from the primitive apostolic church,
with our highly differentiated credal and
ritual expressions, our numerous eccleslas-
tical orders, our multiplicity of organl-
zation. Bless you, it only shows We are
alive and growing and anxious to apply
the gospel of Jesus to all sorts and condi-
tions of men. The worldly. minded claim
sigh for a Christian unity that will swal-
low up all religious divisions. But, believe
me, denominationalism makes more for
the glory of Christianity than for its
shame. The only shame about it all Is
that denominationalism at times nurtures
q spirit of Phariseeism that sees no God
in any other division of the Christian fold
than its own. 1t has been only a few
years since the medical students of Har-
ward fellowshipped the aspirant fol. veterr,.
mary honors. The term horse doctor"
was the term of salutation. The. veterin-
ary student, as the student of dentistry,
was occupied with such inferior subject
matter. Yes, but necessary subject mat
ter. So of the Anglican churches and the
non-conformists of England. The one is
poor stuff to the other, tolerated only at
the point of taxation to support their
schools. Similar intolerance was felt to-
word the great Booth movement in Amer
lea by all the churches, because that move
ment ignored their cut and dried eecles-
sition the public square and the secular
hall if by any means they might save some
the churches could not reach. The same
xta alaEasaaa 10 oh ara ter;z;ncr To-