The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1904-09-29
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE BY THE
REV. w. S. RAINsFOR0. D. D.
8sAject The Love of God-The Christian
Church 10 Placed in Trust by God
With the Gospel-Let Us Try to Give
1t to the World.

With the Gospel-Let Us Try to Give
1t to the World.
BROOKLYN, n. Y. - The Rev. w. S.
Hainsford, d. D.. rector of st. Georges L.
II. Church, Manhattan. preached at st.
Peters Church. State and Bond streets,
M this borough. at the evening service Sun.
Lay. His subject was The Love of God,
1nd he said:
People are saying to-day that the church
does not occupy as important place III
TIE thoughts OF men-that it has not as in
Haential place in our nation or IN society
O it used to have. | speak, of course, of
the whole Christian church, and one thing
d cure and that is that the church cannot
hold her own 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
eient times. one thing Is certain, and that
rs that we live in an age when men almost
violently are seeking the truth: when the
keenest sort OF light is turned IN all direc-
Cons in search OF the truth. When those
uho have got anything to do can do 1t;
when those who have got anything to say
worth saving can say it, 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 eritlcise our time
Il will evidently be criticised as an age OF
truth, and its spirit will be spoken OF 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
aryument among thinkers whatsoever about
From this it follows that If we Chris
tlans have not got something real to give
tn the world. to society, to the United
States, at this time We are real ly going to
lose our hold and position; and the ques-
tion that we want to ask ourselves. lndi-
viiually and collectively, Is this. What
have | got to give to the world! What ls
It the church has got to give to the world:
1 am inclined to think, if l 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
Eive to the world. and the church as
community? there might be great deal OF
uncertainty. That this question Is one that
deserves q very clear answer there Is no
doubt, and everybody ought to know what
eat answer should be. There is no man
ner OF doubt what the church has got to
Eive TO the world; what the individual
CAristian 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. u
Ne are Christians we believe the world
cannot get on without that gospel: We
use the word gospel IN very slipshod way
H we are Christians we believe that not
only can not the world do without the gos-
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, put
when We ask them to put, it INTO practice,
not only by going to church, not by putting
q 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
enc thing, and religion is another. Men
that talk that way have got to step aside;
xhey 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, religion that can connne
itself to certain times and seasons ana tnat
can satisfy itself by obedience to certain
sonsciences on Sunday, and perhaps once
a week thrown In. We have got dehnte
charge for the world, and that Is the Sos-
Del Of Jesus Christ.
That being so, let me lead you TO another
y uuestion, and as l put it l shall seek to
=snswer it: What is the gospei OF Jesus
Christ, Again think you will agree with
me, aud perhaps more than before. II L
were to he allow ed to ask the question IN
diyidually, What is the gospe;? and ask
Tor definite reply. what great variety
OF answers would be given: and many
would hesitate AS Christians we certain
fy ought to be able to say what the thing
n e.. cta nNthlnp'
10 say what we mean by the gospel, or the
world won't believe at all. In church, II
we have one great thing Ill common which
ve 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 difficulties chief
aifficulty-is this: That men, from the
Lords own day to the present, in the ma
ture OF things add their program to the
ssospel-tack ON their programs. We are
nj 30 made that we must have program
/ mean our own thinkings about the gos.
pei 1t is right that every believing man
should have his own thoughts and theory
rs to the why, and the how, and the when
of the gospel. But my idea of why the gos-
pel was given. my idea as to how the gos.
pel rs given aud my idea as to when the
lave that right to think my own thoughts
about these three things, but if am trying
30 find light they will be Improbable, and
It would be impossible to stand N 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
~ 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. Eplscopa-
fians 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
cut baptism, even in the middle of winter
IN frozen streets: the Methodists do not
believe without Methodism, and 80 on.
There is SO much program that you can
scarcely see the gospel. Men say: Il do
net know which is gospel and which is