The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1907-01-31


it Is wise man who is willing to rec
ognize the fact that there are certain
limitations to his mental and spiritual
faculties. 1t Is wise man. who is
willing to confess that there are GER
tain things he does not know and new
er will be able to know this side Of
heaven. When you and come to that
glorious condition OF mind and soul,
we shall open our minds and hearts to
the full enjoyment Of the gospel life.
And, my brother, / never want you to
sit at the feet Of any religious teacher
unless he Is first willing to confess that
in his gospel Investigations there are
certain mysteries so high that he can
never scale them, so deep that he can
never fathom them, so wide that he
can never cross them.
We come to our pastors and friends
and ask just the same kind Of foolish
questions that the disciples asked
Christ of old. We come to Christ, for
instance. and ask: Jesus, here is q
man who has been married two or
three times on earth. when he gets to
heaven, Is that man going TO be Nor
mon and have two or three wives?'
Then we begin to make fiippant re-
marks about how man Is going to get
along in heaven with two or three
wives. You know this Is the question
which the Sadducees propounded to
Jesns himself. Or we begin to try to
solve the resurrection of the physical
body, or we go into a long and elabo
rate study of where Christ spent his
time between the crucifxion and the
resurrection, or we try to solve the
mystery Of the Trinity. And instead
of going ahead In brave, noble Chris
tan way, doing the work which God
gives MS to do and accepting the atone
ment OF the cross, we fritter away our
gospel peace and usefulness by asking
impossible questions and in trying to
solve impossible mysteries. Now, my
friend, why cannot you follow the adj
vice OF Paulf Why do you not concen-
/ trate all your faith on Jesus Christ?
Why not accept him at his word and
20 forth and work in Gods vineyard?
/
your mind which can outweigh the in
finite fact that Jesus was born the
Son of God, that he died to save you
and me, that he will pardon all our
sins and that in him we may have ev-
erlasting life?
Let Mysteries Alone.
But, If the great mysteries Of the BIZ
BILE should not separate us from the
love of God, why should the great di-
vine mysteries keep one Christian
church from working in gospel fellow
ship with other Christian churches?
Because one Christian church puts spe-
cial emphasis upon one of Gods attri-
butes in It's creed or practice is that
any reason why other Christian church
es which lay stress on another Of Gods
attributes should not affiliate with that
1 body OF Christians or cooperate with
lit? Because one gospel church loves to
sing the old psalms and another loves
j to use liturgy and another church
loves to put emphasis upon immersion
and another church makes the sermon
the chief part of its service is it any
reason why all these Christian church
es should not be united in working for
the same master and for salvation by
the same divine blood?
/ When you look over the ecclesiastical
history of the world you will notice one
striking fact-%the. church Is apt to de-
| generate when it becomes prosperous.
| After the cruci6xiOn came the dark
days Of persecution. But the growls of
/ the wild beasts, while crunching the
bloody bones of the Christians in the
Roman Coliseum, only welded that
Christian church closer together. The
| fires Of persecution only purified it.
The Christian church began to grow.
Its foundations became stronger. AS
the early church grew 1t was not only
able to resist and drive back its perse-
cutors, but 1t became stronger and
stronger until at last it was able to lay
claim upon the temporal as well as the
spiritual life Of the nations. Then the
Catholic pope became the acknowledg-
ed spiritual ruler of the world. Then
what happened? AS the Roman Cath
olic church financially prospered did it
spiritually prosper? Nay. The Vatican
became cesspool Of sin. The Bible
was closed book. The torture cham
Der was the holy of holies. fragrant
sin was everywhere in the church.
Then came the divine mission of new
church.
The Reformation.
The reformation came to its birth.
Martin Luther led the fight in Ger
many. John Knox in Scotland and
John Wyclif in England. The grasp of
the pope was shaken of. but soon in
the English church came laxity and in
, difference Another reformation was
needed, and John Wesley and George
Whitehefd began to preach, and Meth
odism and Congegationalism began
their mighty work. Still later William
Booth has stirred the stagnant waters
with his Salvation Army. So as the
need has arisen God has unfailingly
raised up men to do his work.
| Wherever the churches, growing in
numbers and in financial strength and