The Penn's Grove record., 1905-09-22

the fuiness Of stature, as in the Beati-
tudes, here and there, in Epistles, in
the Apocalypse, but above all in the
deep mystical sense of the Bible all
through-the true mystics, that we do
not get from hearsay, that we know by
intuition, but which, of course, to the
mass Of men are absolutely unknown
and invisible. So far as the Bible is
concerned the principle is true, mot
u~nclOthed, but clothed upon?"
You cannot make anything grow that
has not roots. 1t is curious, but you
cannot. Whatsoever it is sooner or
later it will wither. In order to grow it
has got TO grow out of something. Ideas
are precisely like plants. As | told you,
all the plants of the universe are alike;
growing things are all alike, whether
ideas or anything else. 1t is of abso-
lutte necessity that they shall have
roots. Thus, for example, love. joy,
peace, g~entleness, goodness, truth are
ideas. Nobody can complain OF them,
but of what conceivable use would it be
to stand on a pillar and call out to
mankind, BE loving, be joyous, be
peaceful, be gentle and good and true
If you had nothing more to say to them
than that? What conceivable purchase
would those principles have in the
world without the spiritual reasons out
of which they grow and on which they
depend, namely, the facts of living re-
ligion? The blunder of planting ideas
without roots is as old as the hills.
Every scholar. every student of his
tory, is W to his knees, up to his chin,
in withered sects, withered religions,
withered kinks and notions of this and
that sort, every one of which had a
good side to it, but all of which have
died for want Of roots or continuous
power-evolution. l do not like that
word, but we will use it now.
Now, as opposed to both of these peO-
pie, those who give the world no new
truth and those who give the world
nothing but new truth. The Christian
church at large represents the latest
truths, as well as the first truths, and
the first as well as the last. There is
nc fault to find with these new doc
trines. OF course not. On the con-
trary. For instance, the dynamic pow
er-that capital and most useful thing,
the dynamic power of the forces of
nature-a prayerful desire for the heal
ing of the sick. All right. The power
of altruism, sacrificed for the healing of
the sins of society. All right. My
good friends, they are plucked straight
from the branches of the tree of the
gospel. There is no fault to find with
these. On the contrary, it is for the
sake of their production that we in
sist that they be taken in connection
with the tree that has grown them
Jesus Christ and His sacrifice from
which they sprang. Every institution
springs from some root or other. There
is the font at the door of the church.
Well, 1t represents baptism, and some
body says it is a good thing to have
a conventional symbol Of purity or inn
provement. But do you suppose it
would be there at all if Il were only a
conventional symbol of purity or i'm.
provement? Why. my friend, that
font reaches down and down through
all the strata of history; through the
darkness of the Middle Ages, down &c
the first Christian centuries; down TO
Jewish rites; down to the ancient
pagan and prophetic mysteries; ali OF
which had their thought, or what an
swers to it, under the direction of Him
who lighted, not merely Jews and
Christians, but every man that COM
eth into the world"
This baptism is a reality in the uni
verse forever, because it lives by its
roots. 1 might prove the same thing.
if l had time, with regard to the cross
or the altar, which goes down through
the centuries, back to time and space
before the foundation of the world.
These, with other Christian doctrines
illustrate the Divine method, which Is
continual progress without any loss
In other words, as the apostle says,
mot unclothed, but clothed upon" The
principle is equally true of ourselves
and our whole existence, for apparent
" there is never a real break in the
progress Of humanity. The Christian
is never ripe, he is always ripening.
Even in the moment of death he is still
growing. Obscurely, but just as stead
lily as when he was a babe. whey
passing by death through the blessed
gate like the newborn infant he is be
ing clothed upon with new senses.
new power and understanding, new
ways of looking at things, so that h3v-
ing died, as we call it. he stretches out
: the arms and limbs of his being and Is
clothed upon like a tree III spring
time. Life is worth living. Aye, in
deed. it is. Don't you ever imagine
for a minute that ii is not. Life Is
worth living TO a degree you have nc
conception of because the glory thai Is
coming upon us, that is to be put upon
us, may be measured, by the highest
standard the world has ever seen, the
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ
Nothing is ever LOST; it would be con-