The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-07-30
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. J. H. MELlSH.
sabJect: Faith Once Delivered.

Brooklyn. N. Y.-The Rev. John
Howard Melish. rector of the Church
of the Holy Trinity. Clinton and Mon
tague streets. Sunday morning
preached on The Faith Once Deliv-
Ored" The text was from Jude 3:
''The faith which was once for all de-
livered TO the saints" Mr.. Melish
said:
A Pentecost seems 10 be taking
place in Korea. Forces. no doubt in
large part political and commercial.
but also supremely religious and edu-
cational. are bringing that Eastern
nation TO a new birth. Men every
where are inQuiring about the new
religion" Churches are crowded
many times a day. Teachers and
preachers cannot meet the need. We
seem to be witnessing what has not
been seen for centuries. nation
turn Christian.
What is of great significance in the
religious awakening and conversion
of Korea is the kind OF Christian re-
ligion which is receiving this over
whelming response. II the reports
ara true. it is a religion with two
sides. Those who have received IL
and who are extending IL among their
fellow countrymen know only "The
Father" and "Our Elder Brother"
The names which have been and are
to multitudes OF MS Western Chris
tians of value have no existence to
those Eastern followers OF Jesus. God
and Jesus they know. but Christ"
and the doctrines of the Trinity. the
Incarnation. the atonement. are not
even names. Their religion is with.
out dogma
Is this a Sufficient statement Of the
Christian faith? 7 do not mean II IL
Is the sum total Of the Christian
truths. OF course. It Is not. Neither
do I mean If It is the "irreducible
minimum" without which a man
can hardly be called Christian But
Is this faith in God as Father. in
Jesus as Elder Brother. sufficient
for life and death? Can men live
by this? Are these the regulative
Ideas OF orr religion. the fundamen-
tai propositions OF which all other
truths are corollaries?
Such questions can be answered
only by the deep eXreriences Of life
Life. the abundant life, is the test of
truth. There are times which try
mems souls. Then It is that a mans
books are opened. his words are
WEIGHED. his traditions are tested. At
such moments the soul is concerned
not with words, but with realities.
He demands real answers for real
uuestionings. Such was the exneri-
ence of Job when disaster befell him.
Under the fire and the whirlwlnd not
only Jobs property. but Jobs the
ology was swept away. Orthodoxy
proved too weak to lean upon. Such.
too, was the experience OF Saul Of
Tarsus, when he discovered that law
tailed to make men righteous. He was
driven b, new needs to revolutionize
his religion and morals. St. Angus
tine. Luther. Wesley, also, were men
who, face to face with new expert
ences, as few questions which ortho-
1oxy failed to answer. They were
driven to the fundamentals of faith
by the facts of life.
If faith in God as Father and
Jesus as Elder Brother is sufficient
{ must answer the deeb Questionings
which spring from the deep evperi-
ences of life. These questions are
three in number. Behind all philosc-
phies Won will find them To answer
Them all religions have set them
selves.
The first question is: Is there n
God. and If there is what is He like?
1t has its origin in man as a reason
ing and moral creature. What Is the
origin of what we see and feel? Is
this universe self-evolved or is it the
expression OF some power which
moves through it and presides over
It? III there is such a Power. what
Is 1t like? Has it any of the attri-
butes of personality, intelligence,
righteousness, love? Behind all hu-
man doubts and questionings is this
mother of questions, Is there a God?
The second question is When a
man sees upon his soul the blot OF
sin can it be removed? What theo-
logians call sin is a universal ex.
perience. When Herbert Spencer
came to America he was entertained
at banquet by the most learned
company which had probably as.
sembled here. At the end of the
program OF speeches Henry Ward
Beecher was called upon. lie praised
science and euloglzed the debt which
religion owed the men who toiled
so painstakingly TO ascertain truth
And then suddenly turning aside, he
made an appeal 70 universal expert
ence. There was not man there
he said. who had not done sometime
for which he was ashamed. who dic
not wish he had not done II, who
would like 70 have men know II. wbC
would not II he could wash his sou
clear Of IL. Scientist, PHILOSOPHER
theologian, statesman In that learned
assembly rose TO that appeal 20 univer
sal experience. So say all men. Their
have been times when sin weighe,
so heavily upon the consciences o
men that they have sacrificed thei
children, thrown themselves unde
the car OF Juggernaut. fed TO mo
nastic penance. His as deep an ex
perience to-day as ever, but 1t is ex
pressed differently Has my life bee
Of any use to others? Is the question
upon mans soul to-day. Not hav
done wrong so much as have / don
right? His the sense of failure q
well-doing that weighs upon mer
Sin, individual and social, Is a uni
yersal and tragic experience.
The third question is: When a ma
dies shall he live again? The sigh
of dead face Is the mother o, al
mysteries. IL compelled him &c as
whether that soul had gone. ald 1
so asking II lifted mans thought
from the temporal to the eternal, tn
natural to the supernatural. the ht
man 10 the divine. Before the e,
perience OF death man stands que,
tioning, eager to know, half belle,
ing, half afraid, wondering whithe
his friend has gone and he himse