Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1905-06-22
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
5 SUNDAY SERMON :
y = y
2 A Scholarly Discourse BY 4
3 Rev. G. E. Jefferson. y

New YORK City. - In the famous
Broadway Tabernacle the pastor, the
Rev. Charles Edward jefferson, ID. d.,
OH Sunday preached the following ser.
mon entitled. WANTED: A New Vision
of God:'
The great word on the lips of the
coming preacher will be Cod The
name which is above every name has
been too much neglected In these re-
cent years, even by the men anointed
to proclaim it.
There have been reasons for this neg
lect. The evolutionary philosophy
awakened a new and thrilling interest
in man. Whence he came, how he
started, what have been the processes
of his climbing, these are the questions
which have bewitched and absorbed us
all. The phenomenal achievements OF
the last half century have worked to-
ward the same result. Never has man
been so wonderful as now, never has
he done such mighty deeds. He is a
miracle worker who says each evening,
81 will do greater things tomorrow
His proves, cunning and mastery are
astounding, and to chant his praises
Has bttil oul puSiliit anu b'iiSh''
The miseries of man have also con-
spired to fix our attention on him. He
has come from the country TO the city
and he is in trouble. He has become
the victim of all sorts of economic ana
social forces, which have left him
lying bleeding and half dead by the
side of the road along which the
strong have driven furiously to wealth
and power. TO lift the man who is
down and place him on our beast and
get him into the nearest inn is prob
lem of vast dimensions. and has taken
Il deal of our thought and time.
We have been caught in the COM
pick of secondary causes, and have lit
tie inclination to consider the Cause
which undcrlirs them all. TO many
minds Gods presence has become dim,
His personality vague and doubtful
His holiness has been by many quit"
forgotten. In admiring or plying the
creature we have gotten our eyes on
the Creator. Our first duty is the step
of the prodigal, Il will arise and 30
back to my father"
The prophet of the coming days Is
going to say in the words Of on" of
y
Gods behalf" Mans cause has been
pleaded cloqucntly and long, and the
time has arrived for the forthputiug
of the claims of GCl. beginning ut
the earth always ends in Babel, be
ginning at the throne of God 'cads to
Pcntcc0St.
We are coming back to the Old evan
geliSm of the apostles. Wherever Paul
went his message was. 1--WE pray You
in ChriSt's steal, be We rtconcil"d to
God" Simon Peter net the uprUar
in the streets of Jerusalem OH the Day
Of P"ntcCoSt with great Gee Aration
of God-"l will pour out of My spirit
upon all flesh: and from first to last
it was upon what God had done in
Christ that lie based his passionate cX.
hortation to repentance.
All docp-eycd men are seeing with
increasing clcarncsS that it is not by
ecclesiastical might or political power,
but by the "pirit of Jehovah that the
mountains of niquity are to be lrvclcd
and the rough places made smooth.
The evangelism Of the coming days
vii! begin wi h God.
Three doctrines will be counted car
dinal In the forefront will he placed
the sovereignty of God. If the Puri'
tan passion has died out of our blood
ii is because the Puritan conception
of God has faded out of our hearts.
What we need TO see to-day is a throne
with God on it, Democracy has made
havoc with our ideas of authority,
and the result il a ilahbincSS Of rcSpon-
sihlity and Il laXncss of conduct,which
unless countCracted. will lead to our
ruin. The pcSSimiSm and hopeless.
ness so prevalent to-day, even among
protesting Christians are the direct
result of Il failure to grasp the funda.
mental doctrine of Gods OmnipOtcnCc.
Along with the doctrine of Gods
sovereignty will go the doctrine of
His immanpnce. 1t is an Old doctrine
courhcd in fresh phrascOlogy and with
new light shot through it by modern
science. The doctrine is written large
across the pages of Scripture, and in
every land and time the saints have
known that God dwellS u the hearts
of men, In Him we live and move
and have our being. as the apostle
long ago declared. And centuries be-
fore PaurS day Hebrew poet thrilled
by the thought Of Gods omnipotence
wrote the 10th Psalm.
That God is above all ard through
all. and in Ill, and that Of Him and
through Him and to Him are all
things is one Of the commonplaccs OF
the Bible; and whether we use the old
phrase 1.-THE indwcling God" or the
phrase row most popular, 'the imma-
ncnt Cod the thought needs to be
emphasized and wrought into the con-
sciousncSS of the Christians of our day
that God is in His world and dwells
in special fulncSS in the hearts of those
who love and serve Him.
Nor will the holiness of God be for
gotten. The decadence of tie sense
of sin has been caused by the blur.
ring of the doctrine of Gods holiness.
Holy Father VS. the title by which
Jesus knew God and it is thus that
we must know Him if it is to be we'll
with our souls. The forms in which
retributiOn was often preached in pre-
ceding generations were 50 grotesque
and arbitrary that some of us have
been ashamed to say it right out clear
and strong, that God pun shes men
for heir sins. In the coming day we
dlt SDlIlS " bcHtNc dSdlll tlldl WHulSo-
ever a man SOY eth that shall he also
reap. that without holiness no man can
see the Lord that there is no peace
unto the wicked, that the soul that sin
meth dies i'll the act of its SHINING, and
that God is calling upon men every
where to repent.
No man acquainted with the teach
ing of the latest science need be
ashamed or afraid to preach the most
rigorous doctrine Of retribution. you
preachers do not tell men often enough
that every sin brings its inevitable
punishment" is sentence spoken to
me years ago by physician. Behold
the goodness and severity of Cod This
is the completing statement of the
apostle. and the prophets who are re-
deem the tweltieth century will let the