The Penn's Grove record., 1905-07-07

A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. T. c. MccLELLAND.
Subject: What is Christianity?

pastor, the Rev. T. Calvin McClelland,
Ph.D., preached on what Is Chris
tianity?" The text was from Acts xix:
%: "And the same time there occurred
no small stir about that way" DR..
McClelland said:
The name Christianity is not in the
Bible. Before the religion Of Jesus
was nodded into a creed or organized
into q church it was called simply the
Way. That was the name given It by
its friends and its foes. After Jesus
died the young men who had been His
students were asked and they asked
themselves what had Jesus given
them3 He had given them wonder
full words, but He had done ome
thing more than set them to learn
ing precepts to be repeated par
rot-like. He had formed them into
a circle, but the gift He had left
them was not a society. He had
given them-not something to believe
nor something to join, not q creed nor
a church, but just a way Of living.
And so they called Christianity the
Way.
In q little book called the Acts of
the Apostles we have pen pictures of
the lives of these first Christians, and
these pictures show a likeness in their
Way of living, and that Way they had
is marked by four characteristics:
First. The first Christians lived as
servants of Jesus.
Second. Those first Christians lived
by the strength of God.
Third. Those first Christians lived
In devotion to the common duties.
Fourth. Those first Christians lived
with men as brothers.
Let US study these four points.
The first Christians had a way Of liv-
Ing as servants of Jesus. That is, they
took Jesus word as law. They called
themselves His slaves" their favor
lite name for Jesus was Lord that
means simply, master, director, chief.
1t was their passion for Jesus which
won for them their first nickname. The
heather called them Christians" that
Is, the party controlled by Christ. This
was not the name they gave them
selves. Their common name for them
selves was THE Brothers" But more
than their love for one another, their
subsection to Christ impressed their
pagan neighbors, and so they anne to
De called CHRISTIANS.
Why did they call Jesus? They had
no theology of His person. You hunt
the Acts of the Apostles from begin
ming to end without finding any specu-
lation about the second person of the
Trinity, or the deity of Jesus. These
speculations came years after. At first
Jesus vas an absolute Master, and He
was a Master, because though He had
been crucified, He had risen from the
dead. Jesus had passed through death
into life; they had not expected it, and
In their exuberance Oye it what was
there to do but to make themselves
slaves of the man who had given them
this brand new reality? "He delivered
them, who, through fear of death were
oil their lifetime subject to bondage"
And so they made that empty grave
a throne and the risen Lord sat upoI
it. So the first characteristic of the
Christian way vast lived in subjec
ton to Jesus.
The second characteristic of the frs
Christians way of living was, they be
lieved they lived by the strength OF
God. They talked about themselve:
as being possessed of the spirit of God
the soul of God. The Holy Spirit, the
Holy Soul, spake through their lips
moved in their hands, dwelt in theil
hearts. This was a remarkable con
sciousness, this consciousness Of Goo
as being concerned in every detail Of
being and doing. The birth of this con
seriousness, the descent of this Holy
Soul, is placed in the opening of thC
story as the most memorable thing
about the way. Every individual, ever
the common people, who took JeSu!
for their Lord, felt that their life an(
Gods were all of one piece. The work
ing of this soul of God. this Hol!
Spirit. was felt everywhere and II
everything. By His power the.
preached, taught, healed and ordere'
their outward and inward life. Every
thing the first Christians said or dix
was said or done by the strength of tn
Father-God.
The third characteristic of the frs
Christians way of living was, the.
laid emphasis on the common duties
The immediate followers of Christ be
lieved that their first business was t
do their duty. "The fruit of tn
Spirit" they said, that is, the imme
date result Of this subsection to Chris
and this union with the soul Of GOO
lis love, joy, peace, long suffering, gen
tlenesS, goodness. faith, meekneSS, self
control" The lives that they lived i
subsection to Jesus and by the strengt
of God they lived in the midst of mel
Now this characteristic of the frs
Christians way of living IS all tn
more remarkable when you remembe
that these men were for the most par
Jews. They had been brought up t
believe that religion was summed u
in exact observance of eccleSiastica
forms. A Jews religion consisted o
the offering of certain prayers in a Gel
tain way, at certain times of the day
of various washings of the hands, o
prescribed visits to the temple, wit
prescribed gifts for each visit. To pei
form these and a thousand other cere
monies was to be religious, and tn
performance of these things took pre-
cedence of all else. For instance, ]
was granted by the Jews that 1t was
duty to honor father and mother, but
since the commandment requiring tht
was the fifth, 1t ranked not so high q
the first. which required of man tina
he should sacrifice to God. Therefore
if one had only enough to buy the pro
per sacrifice for God. he was wal
ranted in letting the parent starve an
to gain the temple offering. Now
was men brought up on this idea of re
ligion who suddenly turned the table
and laid the emphasis on common duty
1t were better to be charitable than
have the gift of prophecy, aye, bette
than to have a faith that could remov
mountains.
When the feeling of the lordship G
Jesus and the union with Gods Spiri
got on the nerves of the new convert
and let them into e~xtravagant othel
worldliness. word came from q grea
leader warning them that pure religio
and undefiled was summed up in VII
iting the fatherless and widows and /
keeping themselves unspotted. TIL
new way was one of life, Of the etern'
kind of life, but it was living the etc
nal kind of life in the midst of tim,
living it in subsection to Jesus by til
strength of God.
The fourth characteristic of the frs