The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1906-04-04
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! SUNDAY SERMON :
v y y Y .
a Scholarly Discourse By Z
Rev. Lyman Abbott.

of the present pastor, the Roy y. ID.
Hills. DR.. Abbotts subject was The
Essential Spirit of Christianity" He
chose for his text the passage Matthew
xx:2T-2S: "Whosoever will be chief
among you let him he your servant,
even as the Son Of Man came not to
he ministered unto. but to minister,
and to give His life a ransom for
many" and said
What do we mean by Christianity 2
What is its essential. specific spiritY
1t is the spirit of the Christ who "camc
not TO he ministered unto. but 10 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
uah,e: all the accretions that are injur-
ing and all the additions which have
been made in the growth Of Christian
ity. doctrine. ritual aud institutional;
TO get back TO the time of Christ Him
self and. If we can, So, what Chris
tiGuiiy meant then and the,e. In order
that we may get at the essential spirit
of IT,
There appeared az the beginning Of
the so-called Christian era "a religious
teache? in a province of Palestine. He
was certainly for that age aud for all
ages singular man. The things we
care Tor most He seemed 10 be inditler-
ent o. lie did not care for pleasure.
but lie was not 0Scetic He aid not
hide Himself from the world There
is no instance in which He refused an
invitation TO q feast lie began His
ministry be creating wine TO prol0ng
the festivities at a marriage feast, and
vet lie d!d not care 90" what men call
pleasure. He said Himself that He
had not where 10 lay Ills head lie
often laid down 20 sleep with only the
stars overhead. He lived on the sim
plest food. lie did not care for wealth.
He never called q man a fool but once.
and that was the man who spent all his
life in accumulaating and then did not
know what to 60 with the accumula-
tionS. 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 "Hosannah"' and amid all the
joy and acclaim He stopped and wept
as lie remembered the sorrows which
We're 20 come upon Jerusalem.
Ambition did not appeal to Him. He
was willing TO preach to 5000 or to POO
or 70 twenty-five or thirty. or to sit
down with one poor wretched woman
dul ldlh 10 ueI bl lilt Ntlls anu IL ulu
not make any difference. What did He
care for? For service-to 20 about
among men and make them happy.
That was what He cared for. lie cared
for all sorts of men. He was equally
willing to serve the Greek or he Jew.
If He lived now. He would be as will
ing 10 serve the Jew as the Christian.
He was willing to save the poor and
the rich. He was not n 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 n man had
lived or how rotten was his character,
He was ready to help him He came
into Jericho one day and the people
crowded round Him. II was a city Of
priests and corrupt politicians. The
politicians were more corrupt than in
this day, and that is saying g great
deal. 1t was e. city Of priests and poll
ticlans, 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 man pass. This strange man
passed the priests and the orthodox
religious people and looked up at the
little man and said: Come down. | 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: as
this man in trouble?' Wha; kind of
trouble? 1T does not matter what
kind of trouble, | want to help him"
That was absolutely His only question.
And yet 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 lie 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, 10 get them
out of sin and lead them in the paths
of virtue and truth aud 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 chanced Him; here was
something more. He said: THAT ia
what / am here for. That Is what
God put Ne into the world for; II 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
10 be brought about. some said, by the
nation, by "a series Of prophets, or by
single man. a cOuqueror. Aud this
man Jesus said: "This kingdom of God
Is at hand. This good time Is already
here, and / am the one to bring 1t
about The first time He preached
was at Nazareth and then He told them
this. Then He gathered a few dscl-
pies about Him and after q year with
them He asked: "WhOm do men say
that ! am" They said: There are
many CTerent things said. Some say
a prophet; some a great teacher; some
one thing and some another" And He
said: But whom say ye that / amp
One can imagine the moment Of ST.
lence and hesitation ana uncertainty
that followed And then one, an impul-
sive one, said: you are the Messiah"
He replied: Yes. ! am; that Is right"
1.