The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-07-19
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The First Commandment

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Irving Square Presbyterian Church.
Hamburg avenue and VERIFIED
street, on the theme, 1.-The First Com
mandment," the pastor, Rev. Ira
Wemmell Henderson, took as his text
Ex. 20:3, Thou shalt have no other
gods before Me-" He said
Given 70 a people who lived amid
polytheistic surroundings and he'd ged
| In by the worshipers of the many
| gods this commandment has as much
! force in this day as it had then. The
call OF Jehovah for undivided loyalty
at the hands of His people is but the
! demand OF reason. mo man can
serve two masters" and he who
would try so to do finds out, in what
soeyer department Of life he may
elect the test, that this Is a great
truth. Granting God only the aver
age OF human intellectually we must
agree that the Almighty knew what
He was about when He laid fast
claim upon the unified service OF His
chosen people. The history of poly
theism is the record of the deadening
or the best religious instincts and
capabilities in man, and the story of
the strife of the deities to secure
human patronage.
Grant, If you wish, that the first
word Is but the appreciation by Moses
OF the fundamental truths which God
had put into the hearts of the best
men OF the Hebrew nation, rather
than specific, face-to-face, objec-
tive revelation of Jehovahs will to
Moses alone, and the truth is not
quenched. The particular doctrines
you may hold as to just what are
the means of divine self-revelation
and inspiration do not in any way
affect the facts. Moses got the truth.
That is the point. 1t is of secondary
importance what view you may hold
as to how the truth sank into his
heart. But this is a depression.
Thou shalt have no other gods
before Me-" said Jehovah. And the
darkest days of Israel were those
when she served the no-gods of the
heathens. In this day and generation
many peoples are in the midst of the
blackness of thick darkness because
they serve too many and unworthy
gods. The religious activities and
spiritual sensibilities of any nation
have more to do with its material
success than shallow thinkers and
cursory students of history are ready
to admit. A high religious life has
fruit in fine morality. A deep
moral consciousness finds expression
in clean and benificent conduct. And
good conduct concerns the health
of all the departments of life wherein
human energy is expended. A ma
tion OF many gods will, for reasons
that are easily perceived, soon de-
generate. When men may play the
gods against each other for personal
gain IL is easy to compute how long
It will be before all social life will
become corrupt.
But much as we may be interested
IN the study of the effects of polythe-
istic religions upon the conduct of
nations, and willing as we may be
to contemplate the evil and disastrous
consequences OF such religions upon
the entire life Of a people, there is
yet more pointed application of the
text that very properly may COM
mand our attention.
You remember the story of the
rich young man! Well, the trouble
with him was not that he was rich,
but that money was his god. Riches
are no sin-if they are righteously
acquired. To be rich is to be tried
fearfully tried. Money as a means
to the service of God is unmixed
good. Money as Mammon is damna-
tion to heart and mind and soul
alike. Cash, considered as so much
credit from the eternal storehouse of
Gods wealth, is capable of much
good. Gold, as greed and the gamer
of personal self-satisfaction alone, is
a curse.
AS the young man, who so touched
the heart of Jesus, allowed his bank
account to deter him from the SER
vice God demanded of him, so many
of us serve money, ambition, social
demands and social preferment, in
stead of Jehovah. The man who sac
rifices all that is best within him
upon the altar of money is a
fool. The next panic may sweep
him away and drag his wealth from
him. The woman who works herself
almost to death and makes a slave of
her husband that they may have only
clear water ahead of them in the
social swim, will, when the end is
come, find that IL is all a farce and
that younger. better looking, richer
woman, whose husband has more
cash, now leads the social race. No
man can serve ambition for ambi-
tion's sake and keep his peace with
God. Ambition, selfish ambition,
mean. knows not God and respects
no man. The rush for a place at the
top. either in politics or society. is
largely responsible for that deaden-
ing of the finer impulses and that
qualification of conscience that, in
many circles. we see to-day.
But lest we become too destructive,
let us consider the constructive and
positive aspects of the commandment.
To answer the .s.ery of those who
tried Him in His exegesis OF the ten
words Jesus promulgated the clinch-
ing and summarizing commandment,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy
soul. and with all thy mind, and with
all thy strength" From the entirety
of the heart and in its unity; with the
central and soul life; intellectually
and in the fulness OF spiritual
strength; i'm short, with the whole of
his being man is TO serve the one
IL. n 4