Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1906-04-05
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: SUNDAY SERMON :
5 = = y =
Z A Scholarly Discourse By =
. Rev. Lyman Abbott. d
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Brooklyn, N. Y. At Plymouth
Church, the Rev. Lyman Abbott, ID. d.,
occupied his ola pulpit in the absence
of the present pastor, the Rev. n. ID.
Hills. DR.. Abbotts subject was "The
Essential Spirit of Christianity" He
/ chose for his text the passage Matthew
xX:27-2S: "Whosoever will be chief
among you let him be your servant,
even as the Son of Man came, not to
be ministercd unto, but to minister,
and to give His life a ransom for
many" and said:
What do we mean by Christianity?
| What is its essential, specific spirit?
! 1t is the spirit of the Christ who 'camc
not to be mnistered unto, but to 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
| liable; all the accrctions that are injur-
ing and all the additions which have
been made in the growth of Christian
! ity, doctrine, ritual and institutional;
| to get back to the time Of Christ Him
tianity meant then and there. in order
that we may get at the essential spirit
of it.
There appeared at the beginning of
| the sO-called Christian era religious
| teacher in province of Palestine. lie
was certainly for that age and for all
! ages singular man. The things we
! care for most lie seemed to be indiffer-
ent to. He did not care for pleasure,
but He was not aScetic. He did not
hide Himself from the world There
| IS no instance in which He refused an
| invitation to a feast. He began His
ministry he creating wine to prolong
! the festivities at q marriage feast, and
yet He did not care 70" what men call
! pleasure. He said Himself that He
"had not where to lay His head" He
often laid down to sleep with only the
stars overhead. He lived on the sim
plest food He did not care for wealth.
He never called Il man fool but once.
and that was the man who spent all his
| life in accommodating and then did not
| know what to do with the accumula-
| tons. lie did not care for power, for
when He was offered crown He re-
fused it. One day they gathered about
Him, waved palm branches ana
shouted "Hosannah!' and amid all the
JOY and acclaim He stopped and wept
| as He remembered the SORROWS which
We're to come upon Jerusalem.
Ambition did not appeal to Him. He
was willing to preach to 5000 or to POO
or to twenty-five or thirty, or to sit
down with one poor wretched woman
/ coll 20 hnp lt-t IN
not make any difference. What did He
care for? For service-tO 90 about
among men and make them happy.
! That was what He cared for. He cared
! for all sorts of men. lie was equally
willing to serve the Greek or the Jew.
! If He lived now, He would be as will
| ing to serve the Jew as the Christian.
He was willing to save the poor ana
the rich. He was not poor mans
prophet, nor rich mans prophet. lie
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 a 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. 1t was n city of
priests and corrupt politicians. The
! politicians We're more corrupt than i'll
this day, and that is saying great
! deal. 1t was :. city of priests and poll
| ticians, and one of these latter, who
! had made money by squeezing the pub
| lie, was little man, who climbed into
a tree, because he wanted to see this
strange man pass. This strange man
! passed the priests and he orthodox
religious people and looked up at the
! little man and said: "Come down; am
going to dine with you today 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?" What kind of
trouble? ut does not matter what
kind of trouble, l want to help him."
That was absolutely His only question.
And vet 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 He 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, to get them
ont of sin and lead them in the paths
| of virtue and truth and good will. lie
wanted to lift off the burden of their
sins and make them healthy, normal,
holy men and women. To this lie
gave His life. He did not do this Incl
| dentally, as it CHANGED Him; there was
something more. He said: "That IS
what | am here for. That Is what
God put Me into the world for; 1t 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
to be brought about, some said, by the
nation, by series of prophets, or by Il
single man, cOnquerOr And this
man Jesus said: "This kingdom of God
is at hand. This good time is already
here, and I am the one to bring 1t
about.p The first time He preached
was at Nazareth and then He told them
this. Then He gathered few disci-
ples about Him and after a year with
them He asked: "Whom do men say
that l ann" They said: "There are
many different things said. Some say
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