The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-06-14
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
REV, DR.. NEHEMIAH BOYNToM.
Snb;ect. The Moaning of Christian Service

BROOKLYN. n. "a large audience
greeted the Rev. DR.. Nehemiah Boyn-
ton. the pastor-elect Of the Clinton Ave
d Congregationalist Church, Sunday
morning, to near his first sermon in
i his new pulpit. The subject Of the
sermon was: christian Service" The
text was from Mark x:43-44: whose
ever would become great among you
shall be your minister; and whosoeVer
would be first among you, shall be ser
want of ALL" DR.. Boynton said:
Jesus never questioned the PROPOSE
ton that it was a fine thing to be
great. He had no small %jealousies to
nurse. But He continually empha-
sized the declaration that it was a finer
thing to be first. and, to His thinking,
greatness and prirlacy were not syn
onymous terms.
In our clumsy English it is not easy
to indicate the distinction in the text
between the minister" who aspires
4 to be great, and the servant of al"
who becomes first: it is the difference
between the mere waiter, who serves
with one eye on Your need, the other
on your tip, and the bodyguard, who
has committed himself unreservedly to
your interests and who is happy alike
in life or death if only. like the Japan
csc. he can have the honor of serving
the Emperor.
So Christian service is the first thing
in the, world; it is greater than the
great thing.
The outstanding characteristic Of our
age has been and is the realization
4 49, 4h& ,,nsY.oren &c Tnn. II lS E0n'S
world, it is Christ'S world; that the
spirit is me-: it is Gods spirit. it is
Christ's spirit: that the Christian ser
vice means nothing less or more than
Il taking Christ's spirit out to Christs
world and installing it. All that is in
volved in this mighty conception we
do not yet comprehend. for 1.-The new
age stands. as yet. half built against
the sky" but it is easy enough to see
3that the struggle of the day in pres
lence Of the mighty and impressive
jchanges which are transforming mod
ern life is to match the growing world
and the widening universe. with a gen
1uine. circumferential Christian spirit,
tputting the noblest Christian science
in play "far as the course is found"
fBeyond this, it is equally evident that
\ the supreme challenge to the church Is
to accept and to appropriate. faithful
~ and fearlessly. all revelations and
revisions, which the many sided truth
of the unity of Gods universe illu-
mines and inStallS. for the church will
have lost her mission and her influence
when she is content to be a camp fol-
lower trailing along in the rear of the
advancing legions of the Lord Of Hosts.
The peril of small conceptions of the
Superiority of Christian service is
many times most imminent where His
Il presence is least suspected. A brave
4 and aspiring spirit will pray most ear
4 nestly for deliverance from this pesti-
= lence that walketh in darkness n
destruction that wasteth at monday.
Ones spiritual ability is bounded by
his horizon and his service is init
mately related to his sight. The soul
which has settled into the comfortable
conceit that the faith has once for all
been delivered to the saints, that spirit
nal ministry for to-day is but a repro
duction Of the type and method of yes
terday, may indeed be conteDted with
its conclusion. but its ability to min
lister effectively to the present day
kingdom of God is shorn of adequacy.
Little conceptions make little Chris
tians; large conceptions make large
Christians. DR.. Peabody is yoicing a
ringing truth when he declares that q
great heresy of modern ChriStendom
is in residence in the belief that life
is q ship composed of watertight COM
partments, in one of which we work,
in another study, in another play n
in another worship. The great in
clusion Of life, the permeating power
of the divine spirit. the Wilderness Of
81 Gods mercy. the depth of His love,
q the breadth of His interest, the newt
= ableness Of His will. the absoluteness
Of His law, these furnish a perspec-
tive for an attentive spirit, in the Wis
ion of which the meager and petty are
Overlooked and the promised won
& drous things of Thy law" gieam and
= glisten like the flash Of the harbor
light against the blackness Of the
night!
Christian service needs the snap and
stimulus of the great idea Of the unity
OF Gods world to get it in possession
of its comprehensive chance. so that
while we feel a kindling sympathy
with the wide visioned martyr, pray
ing as the flames licked his feet, Lord,
open Thou the King of England's
leyes,' it is in order for US to pray for
ourselves the heroic petition, Con
slider and hear me. o Lord, my God;
tighten mine eyes"
If, however, the time of Christian
service is related to small conceptions,
the prerogative of Christian service
is certainly to introduce the same to
great and masterful ones, and to teach
hit to find its choicer fellowship as it
kdees-its mightier inspirations here.
Pilates question, What is truth" is
pertinent to-day. Is it q mere cunning
assembling and formulation Of facts?
There it is a cold, inert. useless thing.
lis it a glowing faith, q vital, personal,
absolute experience? There it is warm
with a divine fire and instinct with a
glowing anticipation.
Henry Drummond marked that day
with q red letter when he ceased to
ignore truth as mere propositional wis
Dom and began to realize it as per-
eeptire wisdom. He declares that he
had almost finished his college course
before he had any other conception OF
Christ than that He was a theological
conscience in the interests of the Trim
kty. But the day anne when the eyes
bf his understanding were opened, and
he came to know Christ. Not as alb
stract but as concrete truth. Not as
related to life philoeophically by a
series Of dreary propositions. but as
Ik =. L. $1,000 .re -.A14 H. a.