St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1906-01-24
THE UNIVERSAL GOSPEL.
a Missionary Sermon Preached at the
south Church, Jan. 81, by the
Pastor, Rev. DIR. g. q. Barnes.


also give thee for light to the Gentiles. that
thou rnayest be my salvation unto the END
of the earth" Isaiah 1876.
Here is a great text, one of the noblest
mountain peaks of the Bible. Jehovah is
renresented as addressing the Messiah
and portraying His work. To redeem
Israel would be too small an accomplish
ment this great out going OF divine love
and power contemplates nothing short
of the enlightenment OF all nations, and
the salvation of the uttermost parts of
the earth. Anything less would be un-
worthy of God, who must needs love the
whole world if He is to be God worthy
of our alteration. Anything short Of this
would be unworthy OF the Messiah if He
IL TO represent the divine Father, who is
infinitely more than the tribal God of the
Jews. And furthermore, il Jesus to be
the Christ must accept this universal
plan OF God, no less must man, il he is to
be christian, also accept this plan in its
universally. Man is made IN the image
flood, and is meant to work with God,
and for the very same objects sought
from the beginning by the Father that
has worked hitherto. He can only be
fully man as be is in full fellowship With
God, and to come short of Gods stand.
ard in Gods work is to come short OF
manhood as God plans for it in Christ.
This work of God is never rightly
understood, save as it is seen to be
one work, at home and abroad. The
church that is willing to con6ne the
gospel to the home field, that is will
ing to withhold it from the millions
abiding in darkness, can have for its own
use only a MANNED and mutilated gospel,
and condemns itself to narrowness,
pettiness, tormality, weakness, and
ultimate ruin. So reads the history of
the Jewish church, the early christian
church, the church of the middle ages.
So will read the history of every church
OF our own time that tries the disastrous
experiment OF shifting its eyes to a
command OF God which is as plain in
His Word as is the sun in His heaven.
THE HEBREW IDEAL.
Consider how his universal note is
sounded with the irst call to Abraham :
IL will bless thee, and be thou blessing,
and in thee shall all the families OF the
earth be blessed For many centuries
this was forgotten in the stress OF
establishing the milton, and of holding it
to the worship OF one God. But in the
later prophetic times once more it is
sounded, and will increasing clearness
"God be merciful % us and bless us. that
thy way may be lnown upon earth, thy
salvation among Ill nations" typical
verse is this: Declare his glory among
the nations, his marvellous work among
all the peoples" rot "the people" OF the
old version. Themore Israel was scat
tered among the heather, so much the
more clearly the prophets saw that all
men were made for the truth and needed
the truth, and that the revelation OF God
to Israel was a sacred deposit entrusted
to the chosen people as stewards OF the
grace of God, the Hebrews being chosen
not as favorites II partial God, but as
His servants set for a ministry to the
whole world. The sacred fire had been
given to them not simply for their
warmth aud cheer but that they might
pass it on to all men as Gods gift meant
TOR all men.
THE DENIAL OF PLAIN DUTY.
How true was Israel to this standard
1t is sadly evident that the nation as a
whole never took it with any seriousness,
indeed never seemed to recognize it even
as dream. The Jews were more or less
hospitable to strangers who joined them,
and were ready to be incorporated relig-
iously and politically into the nation. 10
Chiist's time the Pharisees comprised
sea and land to make one proselyte; but
it was a superficial conversion, that pass
ed over to the convert the worst ele-
ments of the religion he adopted. Jonah
was the only toreign missionary that the
nation produced, and he was at first dis
obedient, and then merely submissive to
a mission he could not refuse, and then
angry with God because the success OF
his preaching invalidated his threat OF
doom. Strange material for a mission
airy, but the ews can show nothing bet
ter. What was given them to use for
Others, they counted treasure enrichlng
and digniIyi1g their nation above all
other nations. The trust fund was in
their eyes / private possession, mo-
,nopoly over which their control was abb
solute. The fire was blazing on their
hearth. II other nations desired FIRE, let
AuGu CUIUe " JCt uSdlNui, lSL thN III SUBMIT
to conditions imposed OF right by the
guardians divinely appointed. If out
siders were not minded so to come, let
them stay away. They were only
wretched leather, whom the Jew held in
contempt. and whom the God OF the He
brews indAerently turned into Sheol by
the million Such was the attitude, not
OF the prophets, not OF the spokesmen for
God, but Of the Jews as people.
rebellion AND RUIN.
This being the seed sown, what was
the harvest? The man who is constant
ly thinking OF his own rights and prerog-
atives, and of the obligations of others
of what the other man must do for him
self if he wants to be saved, Is essentially
a selfish man, and his selfshness steadily
makes smaller and harder the organ that
does duty as heart. His pride loves to
look down, loves to feel itself superior, is
content to leave others in helpless infe
riority; and this pride steadily paralyzes
and destroys everything noble within
him. His religion loses it's vitality. ano
runs to ceremonies whose forms are &C
cepted as realities, having in themselves
worth and power. Theology, which
ought to be the queen of the sciences
alive because springing from life with
God and for God, becomes formal thing
a substitute for religion,-one OF the
devils choicest devices tor feeding the
mind of man with that which is not
bread" Authorities are deliberately
marshalled; subtle distinctions are
droro Rahhinica1 theology had much