The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-05-09
II PULPIT.
an ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON 81
THE REV. HOWARD MELlSH.
Subject I;epentance."

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:11. He said:
I 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 were young again the one message
he would endeayor 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 a 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 a 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
the individual. Socialism is concerned
with the economic and industrial reor-
g~anization of society. AS interpreted
by some of it's expounders it is telling
men that they can't be just or right or
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 on to the bank rs wreckage. What
is needed to make men is a different
order Of society. Such teachings, such
feeling, for it has become more q feel
ing than a clearly ~articulated system,
has weakened the sense Of individual
responsibility. I can't be pure living
under tenement house conditions. l
can't speak the truth in a modern pull
pit or u modern newspaper, therefore
I 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
.oop, on ,,{torlp inoopcictont StatampDt
Does not Christian Science lay all the
emphasis on the individual-his atti-i
tude 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 into a 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 a mere thought. The
dishonesty of business has no reality.
The tragedy of much Of u tenement
house life, with its starvation, unem-
ployment, Gwarfed lives, Dr. the sinful
righteousness Of much Of the Fifth
avenue life are mere thoughts. Jesus
on His cross was only acting q part.
Such teaching has no social mes
sage Christian Science has pro-
duced some beautiful characters, is
raelites in whom there is no guile"
who recognize in Jesus, as did Ma
thaniel. "the Son Of God," brit it has
not and cannot produce a social re-
former 10 60 into q black slum and
stay there. working and dying for the
kingdom of God, because it has no
message to the conscience, individual
or social.
Over against these three forces which
weaken individual responsibility l
would put the one truth Of repentance.
It is an old word with a long record.
The vocabulary of some nations does
aot know it. And those nations have
died. Wealth corrupted them, power
made them arrogant, and arrog&ncy led
% national madness and ruin. They
lad voices which criticized and COM
planned, which ridiculed and deSpaired,
but no voice with thunder and light
hing in its tone to cry Repent" But
3ne nation developed a race of men
whom we call prophets. They were
ulGa VIII S.JUhS lOl OOu. ~ WIN VI
the Lord came to them. And they
spoke that word to the conscience of
their nation. They made men feel
guilt, they pointed out the right way,
and they inspired men to walk in it.
And this is repentance. In circum-
stances when other nations have dis
appeared, as in transportation and
captivity, this nation was kept alive
because of its sense Of responsibility
for it's own deeds, past and future.
That nation in the fulneSs of time
gave birth to Christianity. Its imme-
date %forerunner was John the Baptist.
What he taught is summed up in the
one word-repent. The rich man with
self-suficiency, the powerful man with
his arrogancy are to be leveled down
like the mountains; the poor man with
his patience is to be filled up like the
valleys. Start now; for the az is laid
to the root of your tree and down y1u
will ONE if you don't have fruit.
Share your abundance with those who
have nothing: cease to squander your
money on clothes and food when men
are naked and children are hungry.
Stop levying unjust taxes on the poor.
Abide by the law and speak the truth.
Take what you earn and nothing more.
Jesus caught up that message and
cried "Repentp' John had been preach
ing to classes as the prophets had
preached to the nation. Christ brought
the truth home to the conscience of the
individual. Each one of you knows
of his " self what is right. Then
do it. Otherwise your religion is q
sham. Your prayers are words. Your
theology is speculation. Only he knows