The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-02-15
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
AN ELOQUENT DISCOURSE ENTITLED.
'DIVINE cOMPANIONSHlP."
The Rev. Charles E. Benedict Makes a
Beautiful Commentary o. the Briefest
Yet Most Comprehensive Biography
Ever MATHEMATICIAN Gods Love-.

IfcE UOu o AopCs
BROOKLYN, y. Y.-The Rev. Charles E.
Benedict, pastor of st. James NJ. f.
Church, Eighty-fourth street and Twen.
tieth avenue, Bensonhurst, preached Sun
day morning on Divine COMPREHENSIVE"
The texts were from Genesis v:24: "Enoch
walked with God. and he was not, for God
translation he had this testimony, that he
pleased God" Mr.. Benedict said:
This is one Of the briefest yet most COM
prehensive biographies ever written. These
passages, containing twenty-three words,
tell US about all We know concerning this
man Enoch. Imagine the story OF your
life told in three sentences! He walked
with God, he pleased God and he was
translated. This is the record of Enoch's
life. It reads more like an epitaph than q
biography, yet J. would rather have those
first two statements true of my life than
to have the most eloquent tributes or euio-
men. To walk with God and tu please
Him! Do you know OF anything more de-
sirable?
1t is said that a mans walk is indicative
Of his career. Manner and gesture are an
index to character. 1t is possible to make
an estimate approximately correct Of the
type of men you meet on the street by not
ing the poise and bearing of the average
pedestrian. One walks with a firm, quick
step, head erect, shoulders back, and you
feel mstinctively that he is an energetic,
r~esolute, self-respecting man, bound to sue
coed. Another shambles by with shiftless
gait, dragging his feet rather than lifting
them, and you put him down for a loafer.
A third glides along noiselessly, threading
his way in and out among the crowd, and
n lnnr ,nffre1N. that ha &c n e1,r
scheming trickster. Another walks with
unsteady gait, stepping carefully, as if the
pavement were rolling and humping against
his feet, and as with pitying glance YOU
watch him stagger along you say, "The
poor fellow is drunk" So a mans gait be-
trays him. His walk signifies the manner
Of his life.
One is likewise known by the company
he keeps. We are largely what our friends
and companions are. Tell me the sort Of
persons with whom you associate. in whom
you conide, to whom you go with all your
troubles and with whom you share your
every JOY, and I will have no difficulty in
estimating your character. To retain pur-
ity of character if ones associates are base
and iguoble is an impossibility. And it
impure, vicious, wicked life if all our asso.
eiates are noble and virtuous. We are in.
Auenced unconsciously by the words and
actions of our friends. Like the chame-
leon, re take on the hue of our surround.
ings and reflect the likeness of our COM
panions.
The human heart under normal condi-
tons Graves companionship. From the be-
ginning it was so. God saw that.lt vas not
good for man to be alone, so He gave him
o companion and helpmeet. We are so
constituted that we must have some one
with whom to share our happy hours,
some good, true friend who enters into
Dur experiences with sympathetic appre-
citation, whose heart aches in our sorrow
and ~rejoices in our JOY.
The strangest truth contained in all
Gods wonderful volume Of truth is that
He who created the universes, the Lord
Sod Omnipotent, whose wisdom is omnis-
sience, whose goodness IS perfection; whose
name is love, that He should condescend
man, His creature. I said that this is the
~stransest truth. Let me take it back.
There is one truth more astounding yet.
IT'S this-that man should refuse the
friendship and disdain the companionship
of Jehovah, his God.
OF all the divine humiliations what could
be geater than this, that He should seek
the friendship OF mortal man and find it
not? That He should offer Himself for the
closest and most intimate relationship, as a
companion for LIES pilgrimage, a comrade
for life's struggles. an associate and conf
dant amid all life's changing scenes, and
yet be rejected
The trouble is and has ever been when
men have rejected God that they love the
darkness rather than the light, because
khair Iea1e - owl Erop, tho opapsn0
chapters of human history until now it
has been true that man. the creature, has
been out of harmony with God, the Crea-
tor.
1t is refreshing, therefore, to find in the
inspired record, amid the genealogies of
ancient nobodies who lived long, bore chill
dren, and eventually died, the story of one
holy life, a man who walked with God and
who pleased God. From this fragmentary
sketch of Enoch's Lie, reading between
the lines and penetrating beneath the sur
face of the words which contain his bio
yraphy, we may discover some helpful
truths concerning divine companionship.
To walk with God implies, first of all,
not on good terms with his Maker. Time
was when the most loving intimacy and
harmonious relationship existed between
them. Adam walked with God in the
garden in the cool of the day." Not be-
fore Him as a herald, nor behind Him as a
slave, but beside Him, as His companion.
and I. had almost said His equal. But
something came between them. They had
a falling out. As one has expressed it..
"Sin came and opened the mighty chasm of
separation, and since then the carnal mind
has been enmity against God"
The Fathers heart has yearned for rec
onciliation, but how could reconciliation
be made? The heart of man was wholly
tween him and his Creator. He had
sinhed against Divine Majesty and for
feited the Divine favor. But
The love of God is broader
Than the measure of mans mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind"
Therefore, "God, who is rich in mercy,
for His great love wherewith He loved us,
even when we were dead in SINS" deter
mined to bridge the chasm. to heal the
breach and win back the affections alien
ated by sin. He sent Christ into the world
as Mediator. And He, who is our peace.
Hath made both one. and hath broken
down the middle wall of partition between
us, having abolished In His flesh the enmi-
ty," and reconciled us unto God by His
death on the cross.
Acceptance OF Jesus Christ is the basis
Of reconciliation with God. On no other
terms can our arrangement be healed.
The trouble began when men insisted upon
turning every one to his own way. The
difficulties are perfectly and satisfactorily
adjusted when man is willing to turn back
into Gods way. And whenever one reaches
the point Of willingness to accept Jesus
Christ, then he begNs 10 walk in newness
Of life, and walking thus he makes a dis
covery. He discovers that "Old things are
passed away, and all things are become
new"