The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-05-21
REV. P. A. S|MPK|N
ON SALVATION
He Is Dealing With the Funda-
mental Principles of Chris
tian Religion.
SALVATION AS NORMAL AS
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT
One of a Series of Sermons at
the Phillips Congrega-
tiOnaI Church.

u
with the fundamentals of the Christian
religion, the Rev. P, 4. Simpkin, pas
tor of Phillips Congregational church,
preached Sunday night on "Salva-
tom The text was a part of the de-
feuse of Peter when haled before the
council and charged TO preach no more
the truth he had been proclaiming. Aft
or Il brief alluslon to the change which
had swept into new manhood, courage
and power the little company of fishers
and peasants. the speaker pointed out
the tragic failure Of the Jewish lead
crs to catch inc spiritual note IN the
prophecy and the longing of It's own
life They looked for the perfecting
of their own splendid ethical system
with material crewning, and IN the
failure were led 10 crush by any means
il possible this new departure AS
Peter faces them in the council, 1t Is
to fame courageously in an answer OF
which this is the heart, "And saliva
ton is in Him alone This utterapce
is al once the characteristic message of
Christianity, and the revelation of the
true purpose of Jesus coming TO the
earth.
lie continued:
When he came the proclamation was.
He shall save his people from their
sins" After his work is done. the pro-
clamation is unvarying-there Is salvation
in none other Because that is true, be-
cause IL is the ultimate truth in its effect
on humanity. so far as II is related with
God the audience is widened from the
circle OF dark faces and flashing eyes in
that council TIL all humanity is swept
into view. and the age listens TO the mes
sage and is bidden weigh Its import
n the scale of judgment. Peter is think
ing, and speaking OF that which Is Is, ne
the self development and fulhllment
which makes saving.
The word salvation has been on the
lip OF the age. The values expressed by
u have been. varying. 1t has been wide
and narrow, high and low. noble and un-
worthy in its meanings To the centuries
Immediately preceding our own. In meas
ure in our own time. IL has had and has
meaning ultra mysterious, strangely
apart from much OF life That Is an err
ror Salvation Is just as normal a thing
for the soul and life as are the physical
development pubity. manly peuecting for
the body. or training equipment and cul-
ture for the mind.
Problems Simpli6ed.
II one will just remember that life is
set for worthy end, that happiness and
we'll being lie in true fitting OF self
To its end. whether II be in the physical
tai through the mind. or the spiritual
peyfecting by the higher nature and all
its means OF service and development to-
ward both God and men, the problem of
be forgotten that the trinsl nature of
life and man is one. But in that infinite
IS wonderful and beautiful life we know.
the crown is in the spiritual. The door
by which the saving thing comes is that
. OF the spirit. Christ and his interpreters
are at one in laying the royal robe Of
that which the Nazarene brings upon all
the life. but they are also one in their
insistenee that the problem lies In the
spiritual. 1t is only in wrong. life thai
the body is enthroned above the mind,
or the mind above the. spirit.
Now what is salvation, as Peter here
speaks Of il? Primarily, it is deliver
lnce; secondarily. IL is completing. What
is meant by deliverance? The SIN is the
thing OF bondage. which is here and al
ways referred 10 In the message OF Chris
iianity. For when that Is adjusted de-
nverance and completing follow. and are
only possible then. How does 1t come?
Let us take parable.
tus and sage grow scant and scrubby.
The gravels of a far-oh glacial age burn
in the sun. The thin soil is wonderfully
rich. Mother Nature evidences her life
In the persistence of the despised shrubs
that, shriveled and dwarfed. live on
through the burning summer. and the
decade the scene is changed Where
was desert Is now earthly paradise
The charming bungalow nestles amid
fragrant groves Of orange. and myriad
blossoms fash in beauty. The desert has
found MISUNDERSTANDING It has been
put where u may serve It's end. In the
force OF a higher life. that OF man. in
.he Touch OF his intelligence and the life
of the irrigaJing stream brought from The
far hills; the dsser, Issrt dies into higher,
lizard and creeping reptile. die out with
the barren desert
Heart Like Desert.
ave, The human heart IN the long
age has been Ike the desert. Not be-
has been an unending stress in upreach
OF the heart. The life has always bloomed
somehow, even though In gray sage with
its elemental fragrance. or low-lying cac-
ever in the soul. despite It's high yearn-
ings. for the realization in the life over
bore the souls prophecy, and spiritual
self -realization was a dream OF mist. And
lust what the touch of man with his toll.
intelligence. ideas and life giving waters
is to the desert for deliverance, so is
Christ TO the heart and life of man. He
comes from the high place with the power
perfectnessi love in completeness. purity
stainless the secret of mastery over sin.
and the impulse and power of the all
and drought OF the desert II prevents
the realization OF the souls end in rela
tionshp with God. The removal OF the
room for the good. The past has seen
too much religious teaching that summed
up all In the problem OF the noxious III
the soul, Deliyerance from sin, barren
ness and moral limitation are basic in The
problem of saving but the work of com
pletng is just as essential
Peter asserted that this deliversnce car
come only through the Christ. The time.
spi.it has been laying emphasis on the
intellectual as the medium OF perfect.
ing. The toiler for better things has
taken largely body and brain from the
circle TO be the object of his ministry
All the end OF the school and the Social
list Is for things good. pure. beautiful
gernlinal IN the message that Peter
spoke. The mind finds easily in stimulus
need and competition It's fulfllmcnt
There has never been difficulty in face
OF sufficient opportunity for the mind Il
find enlargement. whether In Greece Of
Germany, in Phoenicia or Pennsylvania
And more than culture or ethics is de
mandcd for salvation. Bondage inhere.
in the Will and the elements of the spir
itual The Christian era has demon
strated that what naught else will do II
making dcllyerance for the soul thi.
Christ Will do. II there be a sure founda
ton FOR the hope and aspiration OF thu