Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-21
SIN OF IRREVERENCE
SERMON BEFORE COLUMBIA BAP-
fist ASSOCIATION.

At the opening meeting of the Columbia
Association. held last evening at the Metro
politan Baptist Church, corner 9Th and
streets northeast there was a large at
tendance The meeting began at 7:30
o'clock and was called to order by the
moderator, Rev. ]. ]. Muir DID,, pastor of
the Temple Baptist Church. Rev. Samuel
H. Greene, pastor of Calvary Baptist
Church, offered the invocation, and Rev. J.
w. Many, pastor of the East Washington
Heights Baptist Church. read the Scripture
lesson. The annual sermon was preached
Baptist Church.
at is Interesting to consider the import
ance of the clouds In Gods dealings with
His people," the minister said.
When Israel came out of Egypt 1t was
pillar of cloud that led them through the
wilderness. / have sometimes thought that
IL l were an idolater l would worship the
clouds. How beautiful they are, as fold
on fold and billow on billow they track the
silence of the upper air! How glorious al
sunset bathing in the gold and crimson OF
the dying sun. and floating away to their
silent places under the great dome OF
heaven! How mysterious they are, ever
changing wanderers of the upper deep,
silent pilgrims of the heavens, bathed IN
ineffable light. thridden with the magic
hlies of dying suns, and nascent moons,
and cleaning stars We hail them as
mysterious messengers of our GOD, ana IN
their serene depths we wait for the APP
pearing of our risen Lord. 1t was a day or
tremendous import, the day that CHRIST
came to these simple folk in the humble
walks of life and said, Follow me! II
was the call of the to the restless chlld
the guiding star of Bethlehem that was 10
lead them into the presence of the living
God"
Weakness of Human Nature.
The minister then spoke of the import
ance of answering the call of Christ as IL
comes to manhood today, and referred 10
the difficulties to be encountered.
Come" he said, ''and behold the hardest
battle ever fought. 1t was the battle of the
will. Into the garden at midnight the
Savior went, clean forspem- he haa
taken our weak human nature, and here IN
this hour must be the final subjugation OF
the human will. 1t was a contest beslde
which the wilderness temptation pales into
insignificance Failing down in the dark
ness the agony began. Three times he
prayed, three hours, until the rosy-nngereu
dawn crept over the eastern desert and the
mournful stars hid their faces from APP
preaching day; three hours and only one
petition Not my will but Thine be done
In that hour He achieved the victory over
the human will, and as He went forth II
was with the smile of Gods favor and the
cloud of Gods presence. What lesson Tor
usi Do not the awful hours of our Saviors
agony teach us that the hardest battle we
shall have is the subjugation of our wills to
the will of God? After the baptism comes
the temptation in the wilderness. but after
that comes the Gethsemane of self-sur- |
render to the will of God
ITO enter the cloud of Gods presence
means an entrance into the gates OF glory:
There are those who will say, 1t wouid
have been sweet to have lived when God
was so near man All, but these are better |
daysi These are days when the mountains
n
Door fishermen are SO transported with the |
glory that one of them cries out, Let US
remain here forever. We live in the go!deh
age of the glory of God.
ward God, the more it is oppressed by the |
pain Of the world.
Flash upon the diseased eye the bright |
sunlight and there is pain Flash upon |
the diseased soul the presence of God and !
there is pain Growth is ever painful.
There must be the breaking away OF oio
chords and the soul is made sensitive 10
new obligations and duties.
Sins Of Today.
"some one has said that every man prays
on entering battle. Tremendous issues are
at stake Life and death are hanging IN
the balance honor and dishonor' victory
and defeat. But how much more tremen-
dous are the issues of life as we enter the
presence of God. Our eternal destiny is be-
fore us, and is to be determined by the atti-
tude which we take toward the truth which
God is continually flashing upon the mega
tive of our lives. The old life with It's vui-
gar content, its toll unmocked by ambition,
its twilight shadows, is gone, and In its
place has arisen another, life OF ire
mendous possibilities through whose clouds
spake voice from heaven, and through
whose darkness shone pillar of fire as
unto Israel of old.
II commend this attitude for us all.
charge as the browning sin of this age
Nv -
erence for authority, irreverence for the
things Of God. 1t is seen In the children, In
the home: it is seen in thousands who, in
different to the claims OF God, make or HIS
holy day a holiday
'They are the Pompeys who enter into the
holy Of holes with drawn swords, the fools
who rush in where angels fear to tread:
The fault is in the home, in the training of
the children. They are not taught to rev.
erence and obedience. In this respect we
are Matching cockatrices' eggs: we are
weaving the spiders web, we are sowing
dragons teeth.
.~The child that Is not taught authority
and reverence in the home is very apt to be-
come an anarchist in the state and an an
archist before God.
Now, the remedy is to be found in the
inculcation of this reverence and authority.
1t consists in deeper culture, rather than
broader culture. The child may be trained
in the manual sciences, in the fine arts, but
If underneath it all the heart has not been
trained In reverence and obedience to au-
thOrity all your training mas out emphasized
a blot and stain, and, If you will, a rank
deformity in this great universe of God. All.
these children had learned the first lesson,
They feared as they entered into the
cloud" This is not the spirit of higher criti-
cism that comes with scalpel to cut and
to dissect, but the spirit of mysticism, that
stands with uncovered head in the temple
and hears the cry of the four beasts, Holy,
holy holy, all the earth is full of His
glory It is only In this way that we shall
see the beauty of God, 1t is only in this way
that the divine glory shall flood our souls"
Rev j. N. Lawless offered prayer at the
conclusion Of the sermon, and In the partial
report of the committee on order OF exer-
cises, which was then presented, several |
minor changes were made, which were