The Penn's Grove record., 1906-01-05
NUMBER rs.
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON By
THE REV. EDWARD NILES.
Subject: Goodness in Forms

That distance lends enchantment
to the view" is true of time as we'll
as space. The older we grow, the
more immaculate appear the imagined
days of youth. Christian believers are
purer in our eyes in proportion to the
number of centuries that intervene.
Within the covers of every volume of
sermons. whether written il one age
or another, are the well-nigh certain
jeremiads over these time of extreme
worldliness. %unequaled love of money,
peculiar Indifference to spiritual
things" followed by laudations of
the apostolic age as the golden era of
Christianity.
A reconstruction of conditions exist
ing in those New Testament churches
from materials afforded US in the
epistles, warrant no such assumption.
HereSies then were rampant, incon-
sistent lives numerous, backsliders
distressingly frequent. The things of
sense maze cogent appeal. The husks
of the gospel often satisfied to the dis
regard of its kernel. Paul's descrip-
ton of "the last days was based upon
facts about him. AS he penned the
sentence of u text, he probably had
in mind fellow communicates who
held the form of godliness, but denied
the power thereof.
Since then outward changes have
been many, kingdoms have come and
gone, languages have died and been
born, church order and ritual been met
amorphosed. Human nature is I'M
affected by time or cline. So the New
Testament is not a graveyard. WITH
Aepitaphs of only antiquarian interest,
but is Photographic of contemporary
heart throbs.
In our Borough of Brooklyn are 1885,
$40 people holding to the Protestant
form of godliness. While statistics
are unable to figure out how many
hold to the Protestant power thereof,
if form and power were identical, not
one of the buildings where divine wor-
ship is being held tonight would have
a vacant seat and every theatre end
hall would be utilized for overflow
meetings.
The original of deny has as its
root meaning mot to seek" Hold
ing a form of godliness, they have not
sought for its power" The world has
much to say about hypocrites. 1 be-
lieve the cutlery against them is u
of all proportion TO their numbers.
The conscious %hypocrite to-day is a
rare bird. 1 have made frequent hunts
or him. Despite the most diligent
search, 1 have seldom found him.
The number of those called hypo-
critics, who would rightly be e%atalogued
as Journalists, is legion. They are not
striving to deceive hers. They sue
coed in their striving TO deceive them
selves. Satisfied with the appurte-
nances. the trappings of goodness,
they inquire no further. Attendants
upon the services of the church, mem
bers of it, supporters of its outward ac-
t~ivities, they fancy themselves to be
godly. Branded as Christians, they
but feebly apprehend what disrepute
they bring upon the name by their in
feriority to the real article. Their
gullibility is wrongly taken for ny
pocrisy. They submit to the drudgery
of religion to pacify troublesome con-
sciences and impose upon themselves.
An important, reason for so many
lapses from church membership is be
cause so many become dissatisfied with
q form, vet fail to seek the reality, so
give up all.
Almost every one in this congrega-
ton has a form of godliness. You look
good. 1 find little to criticise in what
you do. for there is so little you do on
which to base a criticism. The trouble
lies in what you do not. You may
have called me here to predigest your
spiritual food. to relieve you from
frst-hand study of the Bible, to rep
resent your church not only in Chassis
but in the tenement. to be your proxy
in heart to heart work for souls, your
substitute when the battle is on be
tween good and evil, while you go
your business and household ways dur
ing the week and on Sunday enjoy
your cushioned pews, c~riticise the SER
mon and singing.
The Lord never called me to any like
task. If there has been any such tacit
agreement l now repudiate it. l am
called of God to point out the forms
of godliness as means of obtaining its
power.
The imperative needs of our invent
i've age have almost bodily transferred
to our language the Greek here rem
dered power" in the word dynamo.
l believe in forms, just as the railroad
engineer believes in the third rail. as
he believes in the elevated structure on
the Williamsburg Bridge. But the
mass of iron is a senseless eyesore IN
til it is connected with the main line.
Even then it is useless until related
to the power house, until the power,
the fre-fed dynamo. sends forth the
electric current, enabling the cars to
carry thousands of w~age-earners to and
from their places of everyday toll.
What private. concern would be so in
ane as to sink for two years such a
wealth of money in an enterprise for
accommodating rust?
The forms of religion are essential as
preliminarieS to the accessories of
power. Churches, ministers, Bibles
were instituted and have been perpet-
uated because divinely ordained and
humanity tested to be good for making
the kingdom of heaven go" upon
earth. In themselves, they have no
value. The power of godliness gener-
ated in Christian lives must electrify
them or they are encumbrances.
You are commissioned to lead others
to Christ. Your commission gives you
power to act" Are you availing your.
self of that privilege? 1 find no verse
in the Scripture which reads BE good
and you will be a Christian" l lind
reiterated, over and over, DO good"
Christianity is not colorlessness. 1t
has no minus sign. 1t is ever positive.
A negative being is peculiarly abhor-
rent to Him whose biography is cpl
tomized by "He went about doing
good" 81 would thou vert either
cold or hot is His message to such
torpid professors. Because thou art
lukewarm, 1 will spew thee out of
Ny mouth" Better the mistakes, bet
ter even the sins that come from activ-
ity than the f1abbysabsence of either
good or bad. True religion consists
not in outward ~observances, but in in
ward graces; not in semblance, but in
reality. Because God is a living God,
He has no satisfaction in half-alive
saints. We must not only serve Him
in this life; we must also live in His
service. The arc lamp u~nconnected
with the dynamo is n the way. Your
| presence in the church is in the way
| of others, unless the dynamo of power
within you is at work and your light
is shining.
A man may cry Church. Church, at
every word