The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1904-10-19
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY THE
REV. W. S. RAINSFoRD; D. D.
Subject: The Love of God-The Christian
Church is Placed in Trust by God
With the GospeI-Let Us Try to Give
A. JC1r11

SkuAShk
with the Gospel-Let Us Try to Give
It to the World.
BROOKLYN, N. Y. - The Rev. W. s.
Rainsford, d. D., rector of st. George S T.
+, Church, Manhattan, preached at st.
Peters Church, State and Bond streets,
in this borough, at the evening service sun,
day. His subject was 'The Love OF God"
and he said: ~
People are saying to-day that the church
does not occupy as important q place III
the thoughts of men-that it has not as in
fuential a place in our nation or IN society,
as it used to have. l speak, of course. Oh
the whole Christian church, and one thing
is sure and that is that the church cannot
hold her WI by simply asserting, however
loudly or persistently, the greatness OF her
deeds in the past. Whatever success or
shortcomings there NAV have been in an.
cient times, one thing Is certain, and that
is that we live in an age when men almost
violently are seeking the truth: when the
keenest sort of light is turned in all dlrec-
tons in search Of the truth. When those
who have got anything to do can do 1t;
when those who have got anything to say
worth saying can say 1T, and when those
who have got anything to be can be 1t, but
there is no mercy for the sham. When, IN
the future, they come to c~rltlclse our time
il will evidently be criticised as an age of
truth, and its spirit will be spoken or as
the spirit of truth; it will be criticised
from all other ages as a time when men
made great sacrifices for the truth and
when great glory was gained IN discover
ing and obeying the truth. There IS no
argument among thinkers whatsoever ABOUT
this.
From this it follows that if we Chris
tians nave not got something real to give
to the world, to society, to the United
States, at this time we are really going TO
lose our hold and position; and the ques-
ton that we want to ask ourselves, midi
vidually and collectively, is this. What
have I got to give to the world?, What IL
it the church has got to give to the world!
I am inclined to think, if 1 were allowed
to see you, one by one, and ask you to put
down what it is on paper: What you as an
individual and as a Christian have got to
give to the world, and the church as a
community? there might be a great deal OF
uncertainty. That this question is one that
deserves a very clear answer there IS no
doubt. and everybody ought to know what
that answer should be. There is no man
ner of doubt what the church has got to
five to the world; what the individual
Christian has got to give to the world. 1
want to talk about that tonight.
We, the Christian Church, are placed in
trust by God with the gospel. That IS
what we have got to give to the world. II
we are Christians we believe the world
cannot get on without that gospel: we
use the word gospel IN a very sllpshod way:
If we are Christians we believe that not
only can not the world do without the Cos
pei, but that business and politics and the
United States democracy in this Western
Hemisphere cannot do without the gospel.
A great many people believe that, but
when We ask them to put it into practice,
not only by going to church, not by putting
a trihe in the. plate, not by repeating a
creed or two, but to go back to their work
and see if they cannot take the gospel
with them there. They say, Business IS
one thing, and religion is another Men
that talk that way have got to step aside;
they are no help either to the church or the
world. They are misleading; they are the
people that tend to make the whole thing
a sham, because the world won't tolerate,
and rightly so, a religion that can contlne
itself to certain times. and seasons and that
can satisfy itself by obedience to certain
consciences on Sunday, and perhaps once
a week thrown in. We have got a definite
charge for the world, and that is the Cos
pei of Jesus Christ.
question, and as 1 put it l shall seek to
answer it, What is the gospel OF Jesus
Christ? Again I think you will agree with
me, and perhaps more than before. II l
were to be allowed to ask the question in
d~ividually, What is the gospel? and ask
for q definite reply, what a great variety
of answers would be given; and many
would hesitate. AS Christians We certain.
ly ought to be able to say what the tmpg
Is we stand for, or we stand for nothing;
to say what we mean by the gospel, or the
-.--ll --tx la1.n,,a ~ oil In n nh11rnb IF
we have one great thing in common which
we all hold, not because we are various
sects, but because we are Christians we
have got to find out what that Christian
thing IS.
One of the great difficuities-one chief
dificulty-is this: That men, from the
Lords own day to the present, in the ma
ture of things add their program to the
gospel-tack on their programs. We are
all so made that we must have a program
I mean our own %thinkings about the Cos
pei. 1t is right that every believing man
should have his own thoughts and theory
as to the why, and the how, and the when
of the gospel. But my idea of why the COS.
pei was given, my idea as to how the Cos
pei is given and my idea as to when the
gospel will be fulfilled is all right. / should
have that right to think my OWL thoughts
about these three things, but if l am trying
to find light they will be Improbable, and
it would be impossible to stand m the day
light and not answer the questions how,
why and when. But my how, why and
when, even if | were the most learned and
holy Of men in the city of New York,
would not necessarily be the gospel of
Jesus. The point for us to agree upon IS
not the how and why and when, but, What
is the gospel? What is it we have distinct
ly in charge for men and have got to give
men, and about which it is legitimate that
we should say, how, why and when. AS /
say, the tendency is rather to tack on our
pragram, and that is where the difficulties
come in, for in the age in which we live
people are rather given to finding out what
is gospel and what is program. Episcopa.
lians do not believe in the gospel without a
bishop; the Presbyterians do not believe
in the gospel without the Presbytery; the
Baptists do not believe in the gospel with
out baptism, even in the middle of winter
in frozen streets; the Methoiists do not
believe without Methodism, and so on.
There is so much program that you can
scarcely see the gospel. Men say: II do
not know which is gospel and which is
program" 1t is absolutely essential that
we are to give something to the world or
we won't amount to anything and the
world will push us aside. We must be
men and women ,proclalmlng and trying to
live by the gospel.
What is the gospel? I am going to repeat
a verse that seems to embody the spirit Of
Jesus: "God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whose
ever believeth in Him should not perish
but have everlasting life" The man who
wrote the gospel of st. John 1--WE do not
know who he was) knew the very essence
of the gospel, and 1 think everybody agrees
with him-the Presbyterian, the Baptist,
the Methodist, the Episopalian-everybody
believes that it is the very heart of the
gospel of Jesus. That is the very essence