Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1906-03-01
gsssss ssssssss sssssss SIS;
: SUNDAY SERMON
y y
4 A Scholarly Discourse By
y Rev. A. II. G. Morse.

u u U Y

OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Brooklyn, N. YIN the Strong Place
Baptist Church, Sunday morning, the
pastor, the Rev. A. H. G. Morse,
preached foreign mission sermon, the
subject being CHARACTERIZATION" The
text was from Joshua kill: "There
remaineth yet very much land to be
possessed" Mr.. Morse said:
There is an ancient Israel. and there
is a modern Israel. The task before
the former was the establishment Of
the kingdom of God in the land Of
promise. And the task before the lat
ter is the establishment Of the kingdom
of God in all the world. The work be-
fore these ancient people was prepara-
tory and temporal. The work before
the church is final. What remains be-
yond the work appointed to us is yet
hidden behind the hills of eternity.
The supreme thing, then, is the evan
gelizatiOn of the world. And I make
no apology this morning when I call
| Your attention to this stupendous sub
ject. 1t will do us good to lift our eyes
| from our own immediate field, and look
| at the world which Is the field Of God;
and to leave our own little beaten
| track, and to swing out into the circle
where sweep His mighty plans. Cen
| turtles have elapsed since our work was
announced. and herculean tasks have
| been performed. Mountains Of preju-
dice have been leveled; rivers of blood
have been fordcd; fires of persecution
have been endured, and whole king
doms have been taken. But there re-
Io,, 30
sessed" want to speak to you then
up "Thc Authority for Foreign Mis-
sions, and Their Aims and Insp!ra-
| ton"
In a single word, the authority for
Christian missions must be found, not
| in the truths we hold, but in the Per-
| son whom we love. This may be seen
in the very etymology of the word, for
authority is something added-added
to the abstract truth or duty. There
is no authority apart from n person.
When an attorney is asked his author
| ity, he cites the decisions of judge;
md when q scholar Is asked his au-
thority, he does not exploit his opin-
ions, but he names his author. The
same principle holds in religion. And
the ultimate authority must be per-
son, and that person must be the high
est, and moreover he must be known.
| 1t is easy to see, therefore, that al-
thority is ruled from the so-called re-
ligion of pantheism, for it posts no
personal being. 1t rules authority also
from rationalism, for reason, falllble
and dependent, cannot be the highest.
And it takes authority from agnosti-
cism for that declares that God cannot
be known. But l shall not pursue this
subject into the mazes OF philosophy
! / simpl.; lay this down as an opening
thought that the authority for Chris
tan missions is found in Christ be.
cause He Is person, and because He
is the highest person. and because He
can be known. 1t is in view of this
that He can say, "All authority is
given unto Me in heaven and on earth.
Go ye, therefore, and teach all ma
TONS"
Authority belongs to Christ because
He is the eternal word, and Is also the
| only God with whom we have to do.
know there are secondary sources OF
authority to which we must give ODE
dience, such as to parents and teachers
and 10 the laws of the State. But back
of all these and over them all is the
personal Christ, and He alone has a
right to tell me what are truth and
duty. And authority belongs to Him
because He has undertaken to dispel
the darkness of the world by a special
revelation of the love Of God. He has
joined Himself to humanity to save 1t.
And it is this revelation of God that
is added to all the truth we hold that
constitutes the authority for missions.
Missions are the propaganda Of Jesus.
and His method of reconciling an apos-
tate humanity. And even If He had
not uttered His great commission, still
worldwide missions would have their
claims, for they are but the answer
to the call from the ends of the earth;
for humanity sundered from God feels
its restitution and misery. The whole
world groans in its hunger. You can
hear it in the plaintive song of the bird,
and the signing of every breeze. And
after all a worldwide mission is only
an answer to a worldwide need.
The authority for missions is "God
manifest in the flesh" But what
flesh? The flesh Of the Anglo-Saxon.
| We are a wonderful people. Let us
freely admit that we are the most
virile race upon the earth; that our in
situations are the best; that we possess
| the bulk of the worlds culture and re-
fnement; that we are the subjects of
the best government; and are the most
/ ingenious and inventive and wealthy.
, But how came we to have this premier
position? We are only the great-grand-
children of heather and barbarous
fathers. We owe our superiority to
the remaining heather nations to the
fact that the Gospel was first preached
to us. Wonderful We are. But we
are not the sum total Of the race of
men. "Who do men say that l the
Son of Man am?" The son of what
man? OF Abraham? OF the Anglo
Saxon? OF the man of India? Or Of
Africa? Or the man of the islands Of
the sea? The manhood of humanity
was in the flesh of Jesus, and / fall
back upon the humanity of Christ as
my authority for worldwide mission.
! And that is what makes me confident
that the Gospel Is the power of God
! unto salvation to India and China and
| Africa, to the islands of the sea. Not
| IuaC we nope 10 make these peoples
but a pale copy Of the Anglo-Saxon; but
that we shall develop that gift of
thought and heart which God has
wrought into their texture, and that
they shall be patterned. not after us,
but after the Son of Man. The au-
thority for missions is found in a uni.
versal hunger of the heart.
So much then for the authority for
foreign missions Now speak of their
aim and inspiration. And this is a
phase Of the subject which is not al.
ways clear in the public mind. have
read in missionary paper, even, that
il foreign missions are 10 accOmnlish