Milford chronicle., 1906-01-12
N.sg nt15s&~4 In a @


Christ as only Paul could preach Jesu
he lifted up his hands and waved then
toward the countless shrines and wick
ed deities of Athens. Then he uttered
the memorable words of my text, "AnC
the times of this ignorance God winkeC
at, but now commandeth all meT
everywhere to repent" AS God bore
with the ignorance of the Greeks OF
old God has been bearing with our ig
norance, but now our eyes are opened
as were those of the Athenians. Now
/ it is time for us to repent of our past
/ sins and surrender our hearts to Jesus
Christ. Could we have a better time
to do this than on this first Lords day
of the new year? AS the year 1905 has
slipped into the year 1906 we seem
to be in almost as dramatic a position
as We're the Athenians when listening
to the preaching of the mighty Paul.
God in the first place has borne with
our ignorance theological He has been
dealing with our creeds a great deal as
he has been dealing with the shrines
Of the Athenian worshipers. To use
a homely figure he has been shutting
his eyes to our superstitiOns as a moth
er sometimes pretends not to see the
wrongdoings of her little child. because
she does not think it best to cRrect the
boy now Man in the past 2as been
holding the Baptist creed and the Epis-
copal creed and the Methodist creed
and the Presbyterian creed and the
Lutheran creed and the Catholic creed
sometimes with as little intelligence as |
did the Athenians worshiping at the
altars Of a Mercury an Apollo, a Ju-
piter, a Juno and Hephaestus, but
now men are beginning to realize that /
while it is important TO adhere faith |
fully to the creeds Of their respective /
churches the supreme necessity is that
they give their loyal worship to the
Holy Trinity, Of whom God is the Fa-
tner and Jesus Christ the elder brother
and the holy spirit is the paraclete.
And yet, my friends, there was a time
when Christian people built their sec
tartan fences so high that they could
not see any good in any church unless
that church belonged to their own
household of faith.
No sooner did John Wesley come into
touch with the Moravians and get
broader conception of Christ than had
The EpiscOpalians than at once the
,hancel Of the Church of England was
closed against him. To the EpiscO-
lalian he became a spiritual outcast.
70 sooner did John Bunyan attempt to
tart forth as a nOncOnformist preach
r than at once he had to surrender his
'ulpit for Bedford Jail. No sooner did
Albert Barnes, like ST. John, get a :
roader vision of heaven than had his :
Ministerial brethren than he was de- =
rived Of his Presbyterian orders, and
ne greatest Bible teacher and COM '
lentator Of his generation had to sit in =
le pew of the First Presbyterian L !
lurch Of Philadelphia as a worshiper =
lstead Of standing in the pulpit as a y
reacher All the prosecutions of the y
ark ages were due to the worship Of =
,ctarian creed. All the horrors of a !,
!. Bartholomew massacre and the y
urderings of the Covenanters among -
,Ottish hills and the fiendish works ~
a Bloody Mackenzie" and of a - -
Bloody Mary" were due to the wOr- =
lip at a denOminational altar instead VI y.
the cross of Jesus Christ. Oh, re- =. p
zion, religion, what awful crimes -
we been committed in thy name! The :"
mons of the darkest caverns and the P'
Ost bestial Of sins have drenched .
cir garments with human gore be- u
use under the helmets Of sectarian- ~ ~
n they have been prompted to un- - -
cath the sword of bigotry. But now -
things are being changed. Paul re ~
vealed the unknown God" to the NJ
henians. Jesus Christ has revealed a.
ID to us. Now our religious teachers ie
We become so broad that they are ~ ~
ldy to join all Protestant churches in ~
e great federation for Christian work a.
long as the one cardinal doctrine Of "a
,se churches is Jesus Christ the Saw Eo
IT. who has come to save man, a " "
ner" Vl'