The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1907-06-07
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A SERMON &sgs&A
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subject: The Church and the World.

Brooklyn, " Y.-Preaching at the
Irving Square Presbyterian Church.
on the theme, THE Church and the
| World" the Rev. Ira Wemmell Hen
derson, pastor, took as his text Is.
| 2:3, Come ye, 10 the house OF the
God of Jacob" He said:
The work of the church Is properly
definable in universal terms alone.
The church has no partial mission.
/ IL has no restricted message. It's
field is the world, and it's opportuni-
! ties are as wide as the universe and
as diversified as nature. Tne wide
expanse of the earth as IL stretches
! eastward and westward, from frozen
land to frozen land, is the sphere of
the church's activities. Only as the
church OF Jesus Christ accepts her
universal responsibilities and honest
| ly engages to transform the world is
! she true to the commission that she
has received under God through
Jesus Christ. Just in the measure
that her message is partial the
church is a partial failure. For the
universal concepts of Christian truth
are the strength OF the church. Her
universals constitute her compelling
appeal. 1t is only because Jesus had
world wide, an eternal vision of the
needs and the possibilities of human
ity under the providence of God that
He has any claim upon the world at
large. And it is only because the
church has a treasury of truth pre-
served to her through Jesus that to-
day she has a claim to universal at
tention and to a universal hearing.
| The moment that the church ceases
to declare truth that is universal in
it's application that moment the
church ceases to be a universal fac
tor. We must be unconfined by ma
tional boundaries or by geographical
divisions or by ecclesiastical distinc-
tions ii the church of Jesus Christ is
to do Christ's work. We are capable
Of securing and of retaining universal
sway over the lives of humanity be-
cause OF our universals. For they
appeal to men in every age and in
every land regardless Of their color,
their creed, their caste.
The Christian church has a uni
versal revelation, a universal mes
sage, universal mission, universal
opportunity, universal responsible
ity.
The church has in Jesus Christ a
mental upon which all else in che
Christian system is upreared Every
where and always men have recog-
nized that there are limits to the
comprehension OF divinity by the
finite mind when unaided by reve-
lation from on high. Men have been
conscious that while they were able to
know God partially through the
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in some measure ideas of divinity
through the power of human intelli-
gence, they have been finitely unable
to know God to the entire satisfac-
tion of their souls until God has re-
vealed Himself TO them. There has
always been a desire upon the part
of humanity for a revelation Of Him.
self to them. And the desire has
been met. Humanity has not recog
nized always the full content Of the
divine self-revelation, but 1t has
never been without revelation from
God. Before the days of Jesus men
had only partial consciousness of
the character, of the personality OF
divinity. Multitudes have no full
comprehension of God to-day. And it
is to the world that has the light OF
half the truth to which the church to-
day must address herself. For the
revelation of God in Jesus Christ is
a universal revelation. The truth
that is revealed in Jesus is supple
mental to all that humanity outside
of Him now knows. Wherever there
is a soul that is longing for a knowl-
edge of the truth concerning God
there is the field of the church. The
revelation Of God in Jesus Christ is
universal In it's outreach because it
meets a universal need, is universally
satisfying, is universally Ineligible,
is universally the elimination of re-
vealed truth.
The church has universal mes
sage. The sense of sin is q universal
consciousness. Likewise the realiza-
tion of human incapacity to deliver
self from the bondage of sin is uni
versal. Everywhere men acknowl-
edge the need of a Saviour. The
longing of every heart is that IL shall
experience a salvation from sin that
Us satisfying. sufficient and eternal.
The church of Jesus offers just that.
Its message is that of the universally
and the reality of sin, its conse-
quences and Its woe. The church
declares that humanity cannot un-
aided from above free itself from SIN.
Ii proclaims the necessity OF a Re-
deemer. IL offers a sure. comfort
ing. an everlasting salvation by the
gift of God in the personality of Jesus
Christ. And this salvation is not
restricted. II is not conditioned by
any captious commands. 1t is not
confined To any class. Whosoever
will may come. Ii is. for all men.
And IL the church win declare this
universal message the church will
receive universal hearing. We can
not do Gods work with any less mes
sage. IL is useless TO trim ii or to
pare IL or TO endeavor to change IL in
any essential manner. Ii is Gods
message in Christ. Ii is universal.
The universal mission of the church
is to carry this universal message TO
the whole world. The church has
national mission to the land to which
IL goes and TO the land in which IL is;
but it has more than this. IL has a