The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-12-26
4 zoe PUL0yf 1
-Nnss~SoSeR R-Sls-1-ssSNA\s
"A SERMON A<&cSs s3s
pY ThE REV M%3ssK
YIRA%HtNDEHS0N@f'F'~
Theme: DiscipieshIp.


Irving Square Presbyterian Church,
Hamburg avenue and Weirfield street,
on the above theme. the pastor, Rev.
Ira Wemmell Henderson, took as his
text l John 26 "He that saith he
abideth In Him ought himself also TO
walk even as He walked" He said:
A disciple is a learner. He r. a
student who sits at the feet of a
teacher and imbibes knowledge and
wisdom. A disciple is a follower.
One who walks after another. One
who places his feet in the footprints
of his predecessor, who studies to
emulate the teaching and the practice
OF his guide
Pre-emlnently the disciples of Jesus
Christ are students and followers
Students they are of the wisdom of
God revealed in and through Him.
the essence and the refinement of.
eternal and supernal truth. Distinct
ively they are followers, If they be
true followers, and It Is of such only
that / care to speak tonight, of the
Lord. They seek to emulate His
knowledge and to practice His pre-
cepts and become conformed to the
standards of His virtues. They are
His disciples. They glory in their
special allegiance to Him. They exalt
His overlordship and promulgate His
principles and declare His divinity.
They pray, and they profess to strive,
70 become like Him. And all this
they do and endeavor to be simply
and solely because they believe Il to
be the Word of God that He that
saith he abideth in Him ought him
self also to walk even as He walked" "
This discipleship is the ambition
OF us all. 1t is the glory of practical
Christianity. 1t is the outward evil
dence in large measure of the faith
that moves within our souls as Chris
tian men and women. 1t is a true
standard of our worth as we walk
among men.
But it is manifest that before We
can practice the truth we must know
it.; that before we can follow we must
have a vision of the leader, that there
must be footprints ahead that we may
tread therein, that there must be ex-
ample ere there will be emulation.
To say this is prosaic. But none the
less 1t is necessary.
All of which is to say that II we are
to be disciples OF the Lord Jesus
Christ we must have some conception
of His character and IN understand
We must have a vision of the out
standing characteristics of His man
hood.
It would be impossible in the space
of time allotted to the sermon of this
or of any other day TO enumerate the
virtues of our Saviour or to present
comprehensively and fully the COM
ponents of His character. Tonight
we shall consider simply four of the
traits that we must possess and aug
ment by His grace within US and eX-
press TO His glory about us if we
would be His disciples. And these
traits are: l, g large outlook; 2, a
catholic spirit; 3. a militant right
eousness; 4, an optimistic foresight
These we must have are we to follow
Him and to be the sort of disciples
He bids us to become.
Jesus had a large outlook His
horizon was boundless. His vision
pierced the veil of time and pene-
trated the mysteries of eternity. He
was not circumscribed by tire limita-
tlons of His family relationships, nor
by the boundaries of His birthplace.
nor by the confines of Palestine.
Much less was He concerned with the
smallnesses and the meannesses of
ltA~ W ulNh 81 hOAlllndlA AlAt mus anu
stultify the spirituality OF so many Of
His followers. Jesus was so en-
crossed with the consideration Of
large things that He had no time 10
let little things annoy. He was so
busy promulgating principles and ex-
employing them to men that He had
no time for gossip. The trouble with
the Christianity OF the day is that
We have reversed the process of
on" Lord. We are so busy with the
small things that we have but
precious little time or strength TO at
tend the pressure of the large. We
are so busy with gossip that we for
get the proclamation OF principles.
The disciples of our Lord are gener-
ally so busy discussing what they
think OF the manners and the meth
ods and the clothes and the frailties
OF brethren in the faith that they
have little time to engross themselves
with the largest and perdurable a.
fairs of the Kingdom OF Almighty
God. But if we were true disciples
OF the Lord we would minify the fall.-
bil.ties and idiosyncrasies OF the
bcr thren in the household OF faith
wrOsc sins are 10 greater than OIL!
oWl, and magnify the need of the
NtrAit anu AAlF III I'bt 20 ltA wa a. 9~H+ y
res stance in the front rank IN the
no fight against sin, and the desira-
bility Of communion here and eter-
ma ly witt the inhuite King OF
Heaven. And we would practice what
We preached, and labor as we PRAYED
esus had a catholic spirit. There
never was a man who had frmsT o'
Eo.c ultimate convictions. q message
wore final than oar Lord. His con
I'D lnca in His ambassado-.2l r5ia
ticlsh;p between God and the woclt
N,e supreme. His belief In the fna,
isy OF His Gospel was consummace
Ard yeI He was never narrow. HI
VS. tolerant of all Affirming tht
y- ne of the truth that He declared
J. had ever a word o. encouragement
&C. the seeker afte: light Were tina
&c aker Samaritan o: a Roman, f;
rich man o" a slave, Jesus had tolera
t'tl for him. lie was dlsdainful
an that IS superficial in religion ant
M m1rals He had welcome for ever,
SOIL however weak and wandering
W.O was honest Quite otherwise 4
VITA multituGes within HIS church
T.ey seem to think that toleranc
G-d religious dishonor are cO-termin
oCs. They seem to imagine that ia
narrower they are the greater the
nder homage 70 their Lord An
ftal another multitude seem 10 thin
That In order to be catholic in splri
2ad tolerant In temper we must CO .
-. a "a q. 81