The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1906-03-16
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON er
BISHOP SEYMOUR.
Sabject: my Shepherd"

morning. he cuose loE his SubINN'
MY Shepherd" and his text was
Psalm l :23: The Lord is my shepherd
therefore can lack nothing" he said;
We pass from the brightness OF
/ Christmas and Epiphany 10 the sea
son OF Lent that closes with the dark
, ness of Good Friday Ere we bid
| Epiphany goodby let us consider what
! il tells us. namely, that our Saviour
came 10 be the Saviour of all mankind.
| Epiphany falls into two divisions: The
! Christmas of the Jew and the Christ
| mas of the Gentle. First, the Christ
! mas of the Jew. when the shepherds
! came as the representatives Of the
/ shepherd nation: came called on by
! an angel through whose dispensation
| the law was given 10 the Jew;
I came 70 the manger: came 10 worship.
/ And then the Gentle Christmas, called
! Epiphany. when the kings were led by
! the star 10 worship the child. And
| then the fact that the Jew and the
! Gentle alike fell down and worshiped
the little child. n baby. weaker than
/ the weakest. / may say, of all the
! Young, and yet-Him by whom the
worlds were made. 1t is indeed won
derful spectacle 10 see the Jew and
the Gentle alike worshiping the babe.
We leave the angelic host that sang
over Bethlehem and lie brightness of
the star which brought the three kings
at all events the kings of the East
worshiped the little babe with apprO.
pirate gifts-for the transition period
of Lent.
Could DO better than ask you. with
myself. 10 consider our personal re-
/ sponsibility in the words of the text:
The Lord is my shepherd; therefore
can | lack nothing?" Here is dec
laration which may make or not as
we choose, for the possessive pronoun
is intensive-"my,' as though it were
something that we loved. as jewels OF
earth-'they are mine; l own them.
So: The Lord is my shepherd" and
based upon that declaration is the
fact: therefore can l lack nothing.
There is no word which more frequent
ly falls from our lips than "l' II IS
the shortest word in human speech
single letter-because it brings 10
the surface personality. Go whittier
! you will. on every side you will hear
men. women ana child utterilg ~
'I' is to each one the centre of the
universe: everything radiates from il
and everything comes into it, And this
is right in its way, only sometimes il is
exaggerated and we have what we
! call seltishness. But | am not dis
posed 10 criticise that just now. only
10 say that this p:onoun my grows
ont of tie persohai pronoun IL" be-
cause il denotes ownerShip-"my
And we may say, the poorest of us.
first we own ourselves: Il, myself |
belong to myself" and il is on the
basis of that claim tEat we have the
wars for independence, for liberty or
personal right. and men resist the idea
OF being owned by the others. and pre-
eminently in this land of freedom
claim 10 be free-"I own myself |
have not time To analyZe the worth of
the claim. for il is immense: Mine,
spirit, body" this creature, of God
like mould and summing workmanship.
how marvellously built up. \ single
profession. numbering some of the
greatest men. devotes days and weeks
to studying il and yet has not fathomed
its secrets. TIE medical profession is
| largely experimental to-day. 1t has
made wonderful discoveries in fifty
years. and still it has not yet probed
this little mass of matter. the body, 10
its depths. And back of it is tie mind.
the past and hope that grasps the fu-
ture; the mind that deals with prem
ises and conclusions and reasons. Ii
has no moral quality. ii is pure intel
lect Deeper down than it is the spirit
the seat Of conscience. the moral sense
marvellous beyond expression, that en-
phasiZes our nearness TO God. Body
mind and spirit bound mp together and
| nf N fr u
blended into unity. Il, myself. / own
myself"
Let us pass on. MY time" that is.
"my life. These hours and days and
weeks are mine" and. hence. the wage
question, when men claim the right TO
sell their time for so much. So, you
see. we claim the ownership Of time.
OF course, IT is not really ours. Our
times are in His hand" Still. we
claim it. MY years are so many"
Hence, we see another element Of
wealth-time. opportunity. Then
again. character. my character" en-
phasiZed by the name. A good name
is worth good deal. We pass still
further: MY position in life, in So
ciety, my parentage. my surroundings,
my friends and relatives-these belong
deal sometimes. Then we come down
10 that with which we are most IA
miliar: MY material wealth. my stocks
and bonds, jewels. wardrobe. They De
long 10 me-"
Now, that brings us to David's
claim: "The Lord is my shepherd
You do not give up the other things.
but you make another claim, and that
you can only make through Him who
allows il. and He allows II by coming
here 10 be reached and embraced III
you will. and loved. he revealed Him
self as one of us in order that through
Him we. by the Holy Ghost. might
reach the Father. for He comes out
I from the invisible to be visible. He
| can be touched and handled and seen
here. He was here with a certain gen
GRAFTON when this was the case. We
/ must not envy them. for we have a
/ greater privilege than they. You re-
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