The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1906-03-21
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON ef
BISHOP SEYMOUR.
Subject: "My Shepherd"

Brooklyn, N. Y.-At the Church OF
the Messiah, tue Right Rev. Bishop
Seymour was the preacher Sunday
morning. He chose for his subject,
"My Shepherd" and his text was
Psalm 1923: The Lord is my shepherd;
therefore l can lack nothing" ne sald:
We pass from the brightness OIL
Christmas and Epiphany to the sea-
son Of Lent that closes with the dark.
ness Of Good Friday. Ere we Dlo
Epiphany goodby let us consider Whot
it tells us, namely, that our Saviour
came to 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 shepheros
came as the representatives OF the
shepherd nation; came called on by
an angel through whose dispensatlon
the law was given to the Jew;
came to the manger; came to worship:
And then the Gentle Christmas, called
Epiphany, when the kings were LED by
the star to worship the child. And
then the fact that the Jew and the
Gentle alike fell down and worshiped
the little child. a baby, weaker than
the weakest, I may say, of all the
young, and yet-Him by whom the
worlds were made. 1t Is indeed q won
derful spectacle to see the Jew ana
the Gentle alike worshiping the babe.
We leave the angelic host that sang
over Bethlehem and re brightness OF
the star which brought the three kings
at all events the kings of he East
worshiped the little babe with appro:
pirate gifts-for the transition period
Of Lent. 80,
Could I do better than ask you, with
myself, to consider our personal re-
sponsibility in the words Of the text:
1.-THE Lord is my shepherd; therefore
can I lack nothing?" Here Is a dec
laration which may make or not. as
we choose, for the ~possessive pronoun
is intensive-"my." rs though 1t were
something that we loved, as jewels OF
earth-"they are mine; I own them"
So: 5"'The Lord is my. shepherd" and
based upon that declaration is the
fact; therefore can I lack nothing"
There Is no word which more frequent
" falls from our lips than "I.". 1t Is
the shorte:t word in human speech
a single letter-because it brings to
the surface personality. Go whittier
you will, on every side you will hear
men,. women and child uttering IL"
81" is to each one the centre OF the
universe; everything radiates from II
and everything comes into 1t. And this
is right in its way, only sometimes 1t is
o-,r-orotod ona mo havQ what we
call se!fshness. But I am not dis
posed to critieise tina: Just now, only
to say that this p:onoun my" grows
out Of tt. personai pronoul IL" be,
cause it denotes ownership-"my."
And we may say, the poorest of US,
first we own ourselves: II, ~yself; ]
belong to myself" and it is on the
basis of that. claim tat we have the
wars for independence, for liberty or
personal right, and Een resist the idea
of being owned by the others, and pre-
eminently in this land Of freedom
claim to be free-"I own myself" !
have not time to analyze the worth OF
the claim, for it is immense: ."Mine,
spirit, body" this creature, OF God
like mould and summing workmanship,
how ~marvellously built up! A single
profession, numbering some OF the
greatest men, deyotes days and weeks
to studying it md yet has not fathomed
its, secrets. The medical profession is
largely experimental to-day. 1t has
made wonderful discoveries in fifty
I years, and still it has not yet probed
this little mass of matter, the body, to
its depths. And back of it is the mind,
the intellect, the memory that holds
the past and hope that grasps the fu'
ture; the mind that deals with prem
Uses and conclusions and reasons. II
has 10 moral quality, it 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 up together and
each Of US claim to own that trinity
blended into unity. 81, myself, 1 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 a good deal. We pass Still
further: "My position in life, In so
ciety, my parentage, my surroundings
my friends and relativeS-these belong
to me-" And they are worth q great
deal sometimes. Then we come down
to that with which we are most fa'
miliar: my material wealth, my stocks
and bonds, jewels. wardrobe. They be-
long to 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 it, and He allows it by coming
here to be reached and embraced. II
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 Ou'
from the invisible to be visible. He
can be touched and handled and seer
here. He was here with a certain gen
Grafton when this was the case We
must not envy them, for we have
greater privilege than they. You re
member Thomas. Jesus said to him
after he had been so obstinate, "Be
cause thou hast seer Me thou hast be
lieved; blessed are they that have moi
seen and yet have believed" We may
believe if we will, on the undoubted
testimony Of the ages, that Jesus after
death was on this earth. He ha6