The Penn's Grove record., 1906-04-06
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE R-V. DR.. LYMAN ABBOTT.
Subject: "The Spirit of Christianity"

GtINCAS III NV ~ L.
Hills. Dr. Abbott's subject was THE
Essential Spirit Of Christianity" He
chose for his text the passage Matthew
xX:21-2S: "Whosoever will be chief
among you let him be your servant.
even as the Son of Man came, not to
be ministered unto, but to minister.
and to give His life a ransom for
many" and said:
What do we mean by Christianity L?
What is its essential. specific spirit?
It's the spirit of the Christ who ''came
not to be minfstered unto, but to minis
ter" The spirit of the Christian is to
be like the Christ. 1t is to get back of
all that is injurious and all that is val
liable; all the accretions that are injur-
ing and all the additions which have
been made in the growth of Christian
ity, doctrine, ritual and institutional:
to get back to the time of Christ Him
self, and, if we can, see what Chris
tianity meant then and there, in order
that we may get at the essential spirit
of it.
There appeared at the beginning of
the so-caIled Christian era a religious
teacher in a province of Palestine. He
was certainly for that age and for all
ages a singular man. The things we
care for most He seemed to be indiffer-
ent to. He did not care for pleasure,
but He was not ascetic. He did not
hide Himself from the world. There
is no instance in which He refused an
invitation to a feast. He began His
ministry be creating wine to prolong
the festivities at a marriage feast, and
yet He did not care TO" what men call
pleasure. He said Himself that He
''had not where to lay Ills head" He
often laid down to sleep with only the
stars overhead. He lived on the sim
plest food. He did not care for wealth.
He neyer called a man a fool but once.
and that was the man who spent all his
life in accommodating and then did not
know what to do with the accumula-
lions. He did not care for power, for
when He was offered a crown He re-
fused it. One day they gathered about
Him, waved palm branches and
shouted "Hosannahw and amid all the
joy and acclaim He stopped and wept
as He remembered the sorrows which
were to come upon Jerusalem.
Ambition did not appeal to Him. He
was willing to preach to 5000 or to 200
VI W bhSLLlN hNO III LII Llfs vi ~ sit
down with one poor wretche& woman
and talk to her by the we'll: and it did
not make any difference. What did He
care for? For service-to go about
among men and make them happy.
That was what He cared for. He cared
for all sorts of men. He was equally
willing to serve the Greek or the Jew.
If He lived now, He would be as will
ing to serve the Jew as the Christian.
He was willing to save the poor and
the rich. He was not a poor mans
prophet, nor a rich mans prophet. He
was willing to minister to the ignorant,
and just as willing to minister to the
wise. He would talk with the peasant.
Or spend an evening with one of the
great rabbis at Jerusalem. Character
or past conduct did not separate men
from His sympathy. 1t did not make
any difference how badly a man had
lived or how rotten was his character,
He was ready to help him. He came
into Jericho one day and the peopE
crowded round Him. 1t was a city of
priests and corrupt politicians. The
politicians were more corrupt than in
this day, and that is saying 6 great
deal. 1t was :. city of priests and poll
ticians. and one of these latter, who
had made money by squeezing the pub
lie, was a little man, who climbed into
a tree, because he wanted to see this
strange nan pass. This strange man
passed the priests and the orthodox
religious people and looked up at the
little man and said: Come down; l am
going to dine with You to-day" He
sought out the bad man because He
thought He could do something for
him. He was equally ready to minis
ter food to the hungry, healing to the
sick. comfort to the afflicted, wisdom
to the ignorant, inspiration to the de-
pressed or succor to the simple and the
burdened.
The only question with Him was: us
this man in trouble?" What kind of
kind of trouble, l want to help him"
That was absolutely His only question.
And vet this man saw that the deepest
troubles of men are the troubles that
come upon them because Of their
wrong doing. In His first great ser
mon He gave the secret of happiness
when He said: Blessed are the. pure in
heart" and blessed are the poor in
spirit etc. The secret of happiness
is what you are. not what you have.
So the thing He wanted to do was to
change mems characters, to get them
out of sin and lead them in he paths
of virtue and truth and good will. He
wanted to lift off the burden of their
sins and make them healthy, normal,
holy men and women. To this He
gave His life. He did not do this Incl
dentally, as it CHANGED Him; there was
something more. He said: THAT is
what 1 am here for. That is what
God put Me into the world for; it is the
mission He has given Me-" He be-
longed to a nation that had been taught
to look forward for the golden age, not
backward. They thought the good
time was yet to come. Their prophets
had told them so. They thought it was
to be brought about, some said, by the
nation, by a series of prophets, or by n
single man, a %conqueror. And this
man Jesus said: This kingdom of God
is at hand. This good time is already
here, and l am the one to bring it
about" The first time He preached
was at Nazareth and then He told them
this. Then He gathered a few disci-
pies about Him and after a year with
them He asked: Whom do men say
that l am?" They said: There are
many different things said. Some say
a prophet; some a great teacher; some
Il thing and some another" And He
said: But whom say We that l amp
One can imagine the moment of 81
lence and hesitation and uncertainty
that followed. And then one, an impul-
sive one, said: You are the Messiah"
He replied: Yes, 1 am; that is right"
The mission of His life was to bring
about the kingdom of God on the earth
and He said, The way to do it is to
help every n in need. NO matter
what the characterize help one anoth-
err, that is the way" The Jews wanted
it another way. Queer people. these
Jews! They thought they were the
| great people, which was very like the
| Anglo-SaXons of to-day. They thought
there were no other people who We're
religious or civilized or who had the Sc
cret of great progress. They said the
Ein0dom woull cOmp ; 1 JpruSalpm DOt