The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-10-18
THE PULPIT.
A sCROLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. w. f. RAMSAY.
Subject The Religion Of Jesus.

| u
sins, which are many are forgiven; for
she loved much.-Luke vii, Al.
Love took up the harp of Life, and
smote on all the chords with
might;
Smote the chord of Self, that, trembling,
passed in music out of sight
-Tennyson.
In the midst of so much confusion and
! perpleXity about questions relating to
religion, nothing is more helpful than
| to turn to the words of Jesus and find
what He taught and believed. We
| shall find little difficulty in doing this
| if we confine ourselves to the first
three Gospels. If we include the
Fourth Gospel, we shall introduce an
element Of difficulty and confusion:
The Fourth Gospel sets a wonderful
philosophy about Jesus and His mis-.
sion, and it relates incidentally some OF
| the events in the life of Jesus. But for
| simple statement Of the words or
Jesus Himself, apart from any theo.
logical theory about Jesus, we must
turn to the other Gospels. There is
unuuestionably much in these narra-
| tives besides the words of Jesus, much
| that betokens misapprehension and
misconstruction on the part OF those
| that heard Him. and an attempt to in
|, l,terpret His words and deeds as con-
! irmation of the materialistic hopes and
expectations of His followers. But the
utterances of Jesus Himself on the
great and vital questions Of spiritual
religion are so exalted and so self-evi-
dent that we shall find no difficulty in
discovering them.
What does Jesus teach about God,
about Man. about Sin and Righteous
ness, about Redemption, about the
kingdom of God upon earth? We
might include other questions such as
the nature of Divine Revelation, the
| Church and its Sacraments and Rites,
etc. But these are minor and subor-
| dinate matters.
What does Jesus teach about God?
| Strange to say, Jesus has nothing to
state about God, after the manner of
the theologians and creeds. He en-
| tered upon no metaphysical discussion
about the nature of God. He never
mentions the doctrine of a Trinity.
HE had unquestioned faith in God
as a living, conscious, intelligent agent.
This faith came to Him by inheritance,
and was received by Him as the lndis-
pensable and indisputable presupposi-
ton of all religion" Jesus took the
| highest thought about God in the He
| brew religion, the conception of God
| as the Eternal Father of men, and ex-
panded and purified it. He interpreted
this idea by His own subime and spot
less moral consciousness. He saw the
truth Of the Divine Fatherhood through
] the medium Of His own loving and
righteous soul. The thought Of God
as the ever-present Spirit Of righteous
ness and love was a constantly beset-
| ting thought with Jesus. He lived and
moved and had His being in this con-
sciousness Of the Fathers presence.
He saw the ceaseless operation of the
Fathers love and goodness and care
! for all things. The whole universe was
encompassed by the Fathers love. He
loves and pities and provides for all.
Even His wicked and unthankful and
prodigal children are provided for. His
| rain descends and His sun shines for
| the evil and the good alike.
Jesus did not think of the Father as
| q far-off and inaccessible Deity, but as
q near and indwelling Presence. He
did not offer any explanation of the
mystery of this wonderful truth; He
simply believed =. and lived and
wrought and taught with this thought
perpetually in His mind, with its in
spiration in His soul. God was a liv-
ing reality 10 Jesus.
What did Jesus teach about man?
The thought of Jesus about man and
| human nature might be summarized
in the words, Man is the child Of
God" This truth had been expressed
by others before Jesus, but it had
| never been taught in the wy that
Jesus taught it. No prophet G" teach
er before Jesus had ever drawn such
inferences from the belief, or made it
the basis of such an appeal to mans
faith in his own spiritual and moral
possibilities. Jesus shows everywhere
that He had deep and unshaken
faith in the essential divineneSs and
worth of all men, whatever mans
character might be, whatever the out
| ward and accidental deformity Of the
life. No matter how far the prodigai
| might have wandered from his faith.
er's home, he was still his fathers
child. He might deny his birthright
| and eat with the swine. but the faith
er's love never ceases and never
WaneS.
Jesus. faith in the essential divine
ness Of man is shown in His treatment
Of all men, especially Of the outcast
and the sinner. He loved the outcast,
| the fallen, 1.-The lost sheep of the house
of Israel" He had compassion upon
them, because He knew how they had
been tempted, how they had been
taught and brought up, how they had
been neglected and left TO wander like
| sheep without q shepherd" losing
themselves in the wilderness and miss
ing the true goal cf life. Oh, the di-
vine compassion Of Jesus FOR man, the
deep-veined humanity, the eternal love
of the Father breathing through Him
and looking out through His pure eyes!
| It is this last that has made His name
forever blessed, and turned the hearts
of the lost and fallen sons of men to
| Him as the dearest pledge and symbol
of the eternal love and compassion
| that is at the heart and is the great
heart of the world.
What does Jesus say about sin?
Strange to say, very little. Jesus
never speaks about sin in formal or
theological way. He saw it; He felt
it's presence and witnessed its degrada-
tion of the lives of men. He saw it as
the negation of goodness, as the alb
sence OF the abundant life, the blind.
| ness Of the lost child, the impotence of
the ignorant and foolish, woundins
themselves against the terrible rocks