Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1906-04-19
THE PULPIT.
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON By
THE REV. HOWARD MELlSH.
Subject Repentance"

Subject: 'Repentance."
Brooklyn. N. Yin Holy Trinity
Church. Sunday morning. the rector,
the Rev. Howard Melish, preached
from the text, From that time Jesus
began to preach and to say, Repent"
st. Matthew iv:17. He said
l heard one Of the ablest men in
America, a man who had studied the
popular mind carefully and observed it
most keenly, say not long ago, that if
he We're young again the one message
he would endeavor to bring home to his
countrymen is-spirit, soul, manhood
make conditions, not conditions men.
Three forces are producing the oppo-
site view. The first is materialism.
Materialism as philosophy is discred-
tied. Twenty-Five years ago it received
tremendous Importance through the
formulation of a doctrine of evolution
by natural selection. To-day it is not
taught in a single university chair.
But materialism as a popular concep-
ton of the world, is more generally
needed than ever before. In it God is
identified with His universe. His name
is Force. His law is to be found not in
the Bible. but in the latest text books
on physics. Man is an animal which
thinks He is creature of his en-
vironment. When he dies he is dead
as every other beast of the field.
The second is the teaching of some
socialists. There is socialism and there
is Christian socialism. Christian social
ism endeavors to make a place in So
cialism for Christianity's emphasis on
-, ;,,1: So v,.nI
| with tie economic and Industrial reor
ganization of society. AS interpreted
by some of it's expounders it is telling
men that they can't be just or right OF
| pure or honest or humane under the
| competitive system. To talk about eth
ical standards so long as men must
compete to live is child's play. The
Sermon on the Mount is impracticable:
let a man obey its precepts and he is
sure to be thrown by the current of
| life OH to the bank as wreckage. What
| is needed to make men is different
order of society. Such teachings, such
| feeling, for it has become more a feel
| inc than a clearly articulated system.
| has weakened the sense of individual
responsibility. I can't be pure living
under tenement house conditions. |
can't speak the truth in modern pull
pit or modern newspaper. therefore
/ am not responsible for impurity, dis
honesty lying.
The third force, laying stress on con-
ditions instead of will, and so weaken
ing individual conscience. is Christian
Science. At first thought this may
seem an utterly inconsistent statement.
Does not Christian Science lay all the
emphasis on the individual-his atti-
f,1de of mind, his thought? Not at all.
What it emphasizes is conditions OF
thought. BY methods which rival the
methods of Hypatia and the Neo-Pla-
tonists. they endeavor to work your
mind in,o Il state where nothing ex'
ternal to your mind has any reality
Sin does Not exist. The suffering OF
little children IN the Home of st. Giles
the Cripple is mere thought. The
dishonesty Of business has no reality
/ The ira gedy Of much of our tenement
house life, with its starvation, unem
ployment, .-warfed lives, or the sinfu
righteousness Of much of the "Fiftl
avenue life are mere thoughts. Jesu:
on His cross was only acting a part
Such teaching. has no social mes
sage. Christian Science has pro
, duced some beautiful characters, us
, raelites in whom there is no guile.
who recognize in Jesus. as did Ma
tnaniel. "the Son Of God" brt it ha
not and cannot produce social re
former 10 go into black SUM ant
| stay there. working and dying for tn
kingdom of God. because it has IL
message to the conscience, individua
or social.
Over against .flese three forces whic]
, weaken individual responsibility
would put the one truth. Of repentance
> 1t is an old word with a long record
: The voca bulary of some nations doe
not know it, And those nations hav
: died. Wealth corrupted them, poWe
made them arrogant. and arrogsncy le
{ to national madness and ruin. The
had voices which criticized and con
f plained, which ridiculed and despaires
but no voice with thunder and ligh
1 ming in its tone to cry 'Repent!'' Rr
y one nation developed a race of me
: whom we call prophets. They wei
= men who spoke for God. The word {
: the Lord came to them. And the
u spoke that word to the conscience {
K their nation. They made men fe
guilt, they pointed out the right wa
@ and they inspired men to walk in
n And this is repentance. In circuI
stances when other nations have di
g appeared, as in transportation al
:, captivity, this nation was kept ali,
because Of its sense of responsible
: for it's own deeds, past and future.
That nation in the fulness Of tin
J gave birth to Christianity. Its imm
lr diate forerunner was John the Baptis
What he taught is summed up in Il
one Word-repent. The rich man wi