The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-09-23
BALLOT BOX OR
COMMAND OF
GOD
MAN of the World and
Excise Question Discussed
by Rev. MIR. Hutchinson.

Heferred to the observance of Sunday ana
me efforts being made to have saloons
opened on Sundays. The solution Of the
question, said the minister, lies In the OBJ
servance Of the command of God to keep
the Sabbath holy. The proposition to get
the solution Of the question In the ballot
box Is made by the man of the world. In
part Mr.. Hutchinson said:
Jesus Christ was prominently the cham
pion and the friend of the poor. He was
born among the poor, He lived among the
poor. He chose His disciples from among
the poor. and He Himself was SO poor that
He had not a place that He could call his
own Ia which 10 lay His head. But some
OF the most precious of all the relation
ships of the life of Jesus were those among
that class that we call the rich. The most
beautiful and the fullest chapter of all the
New Testament is the third chapter OF
the gospel of John, and this chapter was
simply the report of his conversation with
a rich man, Nfcodemus. Nieodemus was
what we would call a man of the world.
He was rich, he occupied high social po-
sition and he was a member Of the sam
hedrim. He occupied in that day about
the same position that the millionaire di-
rector of one of our great railroads does
when he is elected to the United states
> Senate. He had reached about the highest
position tina it was possible for a man TO
reach in his nation in wealth and power
below hat of the chief magistrate. Now
Nicodemus might have been all this ana
yet not have been n worldly man. But he
was a man Of the world, not only in the
outward circumstances which | have men
toned, but he was also a man of the world
In his inner life, that is, in his convic-
tons.
There are three things that go to make
up what We speak of as a man or the
world. First, he is a man who flows with
the tide instead of breasting 1t. There
are two classes of men in the world, those
that flow along with the current OF their
times, rejecting its spirit echoing its SEN
timents. They are like straws in the cur
rent, with no power or no disposition to
stand out against the evil of their times,
but allow themselves to be carried along
by the tide about them.
''Then. ON the other hand, are those who
do not flow with the tide, but struggle
against il. They have their own thoughts
and work them out In their own way for
the current against the tendencies OF the
times. You have seen sometimes a river
rushing swiftly down a gorge, and Just In
the midst 1t may be there is a rock that
stands up in the midst of the stream. The
current dashes against 1t and sweeps
around 1t OH every side, but 1t stands there
immoVable. Such a man as this was
Moses and John the Baptist and Luther
and William Lloyd Garrison, men VINO
will not be influenced by the tendencies
of the times, but struggle with might ana
main against them. Now Nicodemus was
d man Of the world. He did not struggle
against the tide, but allowed himself 70
be carried along with 1t. He was u Phari-
see because his fathers before him had
been Pharisees. He believed the current
talk In regard TO the Messiah that was
to come because the crowd believed. II.
He went out to the Jordan that he might
hear what John had to say because the
crowd went. He was much ike the man
today who votes the Democratic ticket be-
cause his father did before him, VINO
thinks 1t is all right to, 90 out IN his auto
rest of his set do 1t. who has no pro-
nounced religious conyictions tecanse the
crowd haven't any. Ih's Is me man WIZ WIZ
sneak of as tAe NAH Of the world.
Now Sor the second characteristic OF a
man of the world. Not only is q man
Of the world a man who goes with the
tide, but he is also a man who regards
himself as all-sufficient. You go to
a man today, a s~o-called man Of the, world,
and try to tell him of heaven and Jesus
Christ and his great need for those things,
and very likely he will not be able to see
it. He will tell you that he has his home
and his business and his friends and his
club and those other things that are dear
to him and in them he Is perfectly salts
fled. He doesn't need, he thinks, the
Christ of whom you come to tell him. A
man of the world is not necessarily a man
who is a bad man; he Is simply one who
does not think that he needs anything
that the other world has to offer to men.
Nicodemus was just such a man as this;
a man like the other Pharisees, who
thought that their birth and their train
ing IN the Mosaic Jaw was as an eptr en%s t into
heaven. This is the second Characteristic
OF a man of the world.
''Then there Is a third that. we note IN
men of this sort. Not only do they flow
with the tide; not only do they regard
themselves as all-suficient, but they are
also skeptleal as to the claims OF
Christianity. They do not believe that the
Bible and the teachings of Jesus are the
only solution of the deep problems OF the
world. Here is another particular In which
Nicodemus has his counterpart In the men
~ the world TODAY.
'HThe Christian believes that the solution
of the Sabbath question IS to be found in
the fourth command: Remember the
Sabbath Day to keep 1t holy" The man
of the world refuses to believe this and
SAYS that the solution of the matter should
be left TO the ballot box, putting the whim
and the caprice Of men higher than the
eternal will of Almighty God. The Chris
tian believes that God meant 1t when He
said. Cursed be every man that putteth
the bottle to his neighbours lips to make
him drunken Herewith" The man of the
world thinks that If the majority of the
people of the community want II we ought
10 license places where for seven days in
the week men can make paupers and luna
tics and criminals and moral lepers.
NOV / am to tell you how Jesus dealt
with this man of the world. First, He
changes him from a man who goes with
the current to a man who stood out against
st. Three times he is spoken of in the
he came to Jesus by night. Notice lie
came timidly, he came secretly, he came
alone, put nevertheless ne tdNlt. Cuuihbt
was rising in this Pharisee's heart, cour-
age that would by and by make him stand
like a rock against all the fury and the
fanaticism of his age.
THE second time he appears is In the
meeting of the Sanhedrim. They are gath
cred together to devise ways and means to
destroy the Christ who is working such
wonders among them. Thlrsting like
wolves for the blood OF this Man who came
to earth that He might save them, they
send out officers to take Him. Suddenly
one Of their number arises and single
handed and alone pleads the cause OF this
just Man whom they are seeking to de-
stroy. 1t is Nicodemus, he who came to
Jesus by night, who, like a man and a
hero, has dared to arise and stand against
the crowd.
1.-The third time he appears in the gospel
story is after the ~crucihxion, when ne
comes with Joseph and In the face Of the
whole nation that had condemned and dis
owned him helps to take down that body
and lay it away in the tomb. Do we need
any further evidence of the transforming
power that Jesus had wrought in the life
of this man?
II believe that there are more men kept
from following Jesus Christ because they
are afraid OF the crowd than for any other
reason. The man Of the world must come
God.
Men thlnk today that If they have the
washing with water. that is, II they are
free from sin, that that is enough. They
have the idea that a merely moral life is
good enough, but the truth that the Lore
makes plain is that simple freedom frOu
sin isn't enough. that does not make 4