The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1905-07-13
PAUL'S GOSPEL.

BY Rev Thomas Yates.
Text - Remember Jesus Christ,
raised from the dead, according TO my
gospel."-II Timothy 2:s
You will notice the intensity of che
possessiye pronOun. 1t glows with
passion; it makes the text incandes-
cent-"My gospel" 1t is not proprie-
torship it is Identification. 1t seems
like egotism; it is really uttermost self
surrender. 1t is not possible to sepa-
rate the man from the message; they
are one, fused in grand and grow
ing experience. He had a message,
and the message was in the grain and
the fibre of his being He has writ
ten a sentence Of it to his friend, ana
then, us if impatient lest what he has
written should bear, even for an IN
slant, the look of an impersonal utter
ance, he hastens with a kind OF happy
pride in self-committal to give MN
self away on it--"AccordinS to my
gospel" The weight and the impact
of a transformed personality is thrown
llLO Iut ulleIdHCt. L ou IN'i tilt III ~
OF terrific conviction in this little pos
sessive; it vibrates with energy. What
ever the gospel is, it is become to this
man a conservation, a passion, an en-
thusiasm, and, if need arise, it Will
become martyrdom. II is little Won
der that the world thought this man
a provocative man, ar that few men
in human history have 50 compelled
the world TO take count of them.
Paul has one great certainty: he is
certain that he is right. The audacious
faculty Of mounting a pulpit, is the
inevitable expression Of any audacity,
the audacity of knowing that he is
right. He is sure about some things
that really matter; he is ON the ground.
! urther the audacty of knowing that
he is right this man adds another
audacity, that Of believing and say
ing that the fact of bis being right
is good thing for the world. The
Gospel IS not true news only, but good
news. The thing about which he was
right was not to be neglected without
irpoverishment. 1t is of passionate
moment to men; it concerns their
highest welfare; it is Gospel of
good tidings. and he who has it is un-
der necessity to preach II. This man,
then, is finely revealed in this little
phrase that he has added like a post
script. Such Il man is always a chal-
oh, hat
day, when the temper of our time
does not encourage It.
He is sent to guard the church ana
to hold forth the good news in Ephe
sus, where the splendor and the AFRO
gance of paganism had made the
place a proverb. One hesitates to
paint the picture of that city as il
was, the home of superstition and Sor-
Gerry the citadel of the most immoral
ana lawless of idoators
DO you wonder that the restleSsness
ana superstition outside worked slow
and subtle mischief within? is it any
wonder that, with that atmosphere
soaking into their life, it WAS easy to
My brethren, we need a deep, eff
fcctivc force lodged at the heart OF
our church life, mt the heart of it's
pulpit ministry, at the heart Of all
its varying work. The only justi,ira-
ton for a church is that it shall have
something at the heart Of it, of viii
it says, with a passionate JOY of pos
session, My Gospel" which it exists
to utter This very church fabric is
not here for any beauty it has, but
for the good tidings it brings. 1t IS
not a memorial; it is witness At
the heart of the church's life, feeding
the church's life the power of its
ministry, the burden of its mission.
lies the great force of an organic re-
lationship with Divine Lord, an in
tensely personal relationship, realiz-
able ana actual with every believer.