The Penn's Grove record., 1906-04-13
THE p
r =
AN ELOQUENT SUNDAY SERMON BIZ
THE REV. HOWARD MELlsH.
Subject; "Repentance."
Subject Repentance"

began TO preach and to say, Repent
st. Matthew iv:17. He said:
l heard one of the ablest men in
America, a man who had studied the
popular mind carefully and observed it
most keenly, say not long ago, that if
he were young again the one message
he would endeavor to bring home to his
countrymen is-spirit, soul, manhood
make conditions, not conditions men.
Three forces are producing the oppo-
site view. The first is m~aterialism.
Materialism as a philosophy is discred-
tied. Twenty-Five years ago it received
tremendous Importance through the
formulation of a doctrine of evolution
by natural selection. To-day it is not
taught in a single university chair.
But materialism, as a popular concep-
ton of the world, is more generally
needed than ever before. In it God is
identified with His universe. His nam
is Force. His law is to be found not in
the Bible, but in the latest text books
on physics. Man is an animal which
thinks. He is a creature of his EN-
vironment. When he dies he is dead
as every other beast of the field.
The second is the teaching of some
socialists. There is socialism and there
is Christian socialism. Christian social
ism endeavors to make a place in So
cialism for Christianity's emphasis OIL
the individual. Socialism is concerned
with the economic and industrial reor-
ganiZation of society. AS interpreted
by some of its expounders it is telling
men that they can't be just or right or
pure or honest or humane under the
competitive system. To talk about eth
ical standards so long as men must
compete to live is child's play. The
Sermon on the Mount is impracticable:
let a man obey its precepts and he is
sure to be thrown by the current of
life on to the bank as Wreckage. What
is needed to make men is a different
order of society. Such teachings, such
feeling, for it has become more a feel
ing than a clearly a%rticulated system,
has weakened the sense of individual
responsibility. 1 can't be pure living
under tenement house conditions. |
can't speak the truth in a modern pull
pit or a modern newspaper, therefore
I am not responsible for impurity, dis
honesty, lying.
The third force, laying stress on con-
ditions instead of will, and so weaken
ing individual conscience, is Christian
Science. At first thought this may
seem an utterly inconsistent statement.
Does not Christian Science lay all the
emphasis on the indiyidual-his atti-
tude of mind, his thought? Not at all.
What it emphasizes is conditions Of
thought. By methods which rival the
methods of Hypatia and the Neo-Pla-
tonists, they endeavor to work your
mind into a state where nothing ex-
ternal to your mind has any reality.
Sin does not exist. The suffering of
little children in the Home of st. Giles
the Cripple is a mere thought. The
dishonesty of business has no reality.
The tragedy of much of our tenement
house life, with its starvation, unem-
ployment, Gwarfed lives, or the sinful
righteousness of much of the Fifth
avenue" life are mere thoughts. Jesus
on His cross was only acting a part.
Such teaching has no social mes
sag Christian Science has pro-
duced some beautiful characters, IS
~raelites in whom there is no guile"
who recognize in Jesus, as did Ma
thaniel. "the Son of God" brt it has
not and cannot produce a social re-
former 10 go into a black slum and
stay there, working and dying for the
kingdom of God, because it has no
message to the conscience, individual
or social.
Over against these three forces which
weaken individual responsibility l
would put the one truth of repentance.
1t is an old word with a long record.
The vocabulary of some nations does
not know it. And those nations have
died. Wealth corrupted them, power
made them arrogant, and arrogancy led
to national madness and ruin. They
had voices which criticized and com
planned, which ridiculed and despaired,
but no voice with thunder and light
ming in its tone to cry Repent" But
one nation developed a race of men
whom we call prophets. They were
men who spoke for God. The word OF
the Lord came to them. And they
spoke that word to the conscience OF
their nation. They made men fee
guilt, they pointed out the right way
and they inspired men to walk in it
And this is repentance. In circum
stances when other nations have dis
appeared, as in transportation ant
captivity, this nation was kept alive
because of its sense of responsibility
for it's own deeds, past and future.
That nation in the funess of time
gave birth to Christianity. Its imme
date forerunner was John the Baptist
What he taught is summed up in tho
one word-repent. The rich man witt
self-suficiency, the powerful man will
his arrogancy are to be leyeled dow
like the mountains; the poor man witt
his patience is to be filled up like the
valleys. Start now; for the AK is lai(
to the root of your tree and down yot
will come if you don't have fruit
Share your abundance with those whit
have nothing; cease to squander you
money on clothes and food when mel
are naked and children are hungry
Stop levying unjust taxes or the poor
Abide by the law and speak the truth
Take what you earn and nothing more
Jesus caught up that message ant
cried Repent" John had been preach
ing to classes as the prophets hat
preached to the nation. Christ brough
the truth home to the conscience of tn
individual. Each one of you know
of his own self what is right. The
do it. Otherwise your religion is
sham. Your prayers are words. You
theology is speculation. Only he know
God who wills to do His will. Yo'
have no peace in your soul, no joy i
your life, but you are weary and heav,
laden under all this luxury and forma
ism. Your money is your undoins
Turn from it. Resolve to seek tn
right and do it, come what may. You
foes will be those of your own house
hold. You will be as a sheep anon
wolves. But you will find peace an
joy and will be really free. In thi
way He awoke the conscience of tn
Mediterranean world and quickene
individual responsibility.
How are we to Gus among us n
sponsibility and quicken u individu;
and social p~entance. But is not tina
preached by every pentance. But
not that preached by every evangelist
1t is, and some men are touched by j
But when they go to the evangelist q
men went to John the Baptist and oil
ers went to Christ asking "Wha
wouldst Thou have us to doT' the al
swer is "Stop smoking, leave off th