The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-08-07
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. J. n. MEllSH.
Subject: Faith Once Delivered.

brooklyn, y. l.-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-
cred. 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 10 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. If the reports
arr true, it is a religion with two
sides. Those who have received II
and who are extending IL among their
y
Father" and Our Elder Brother"
The names which have been and are
to multitudes of us 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 sufficient statement of the
Christian faith? do not mean If II
is the sum total of the Christian
truths. OF course. II is not. Neither
do | mean If it is the "irreducible
minimum" without which man
can hardly be called a 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 rsgulative
ideas OF our religion. the fundamen-
tai propositions of which all other
truths are corollaries?
Such questions can be answered
only by the deep evperiences Of life.
Life. the abundant life. is the test OF
truth. There are times which try
mems souls. Then IL 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.
lie demands real answers for real
questiOnings. Such was the experi-
ence OF Job when disaster befell him.
Under the fire and the whil.wind 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
failed to make men righteous. He was
driven b. new needs to revolutionize
bis religion and morals st. Angus
tine, Luther. Wesley. also. were men
who, face to face with new experj-
ences, as few questions which ortho-
doxy failed 10 answer. They were
driven 10 the fundamentals of faith
by the facts of life.
If faith in God as Father and
Jesus as Elder Brother is sufficient
it must answer the deep duestionings
which spring from the deep evperi-
ences OF life. These unestions are
three in number. Behind all philoso-
phies you will find them. To answer
them all religions have set them
fh9 first question is: Is there
God, and If there is what Is Ug like?
II has it's origin in man as a feason-
ing and moral creature What is the
origin OF what we see and feel? Is
this universe self-evolved or is IL the
expression Of some power which
moves through 1t and presides over
II? If there is such a Power, what
Is II like? Has ii 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 1t 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
sem bled here. At the end of the
program of speeches Henry Ward
Beecher was called upon. He praised
science and eulogized the debt which
religion owed the men who toiled
so painstakingly to ascertain truth.
And then suddenly turning aside. he
made an appeal to universal experi
ence. There was not a man there
he said, who had not done something
for which he was ashamed. who did
not wish he had not done Il. who
would like 10 have men know IL. who
would not If he could wash his soul
clear of IL. Scientist, philosopher.
theologian, statesman in that learned
assembly rose 70 that appeal TO univer-
sal experience. So say all men. There
have been times when sin weighed
so heavily upon the consciences of
men that they have sacrificed their
children, thrown themselves under
the car of Juggernaut. fed 70 mo-
nastc penance. His as deep an ex-
perience to-day es ever, but Il IS ex-
pressed differently. Has my life been
OF any use 20 others? is the question
upon mans soul to-day. Not have
done wrong 50 much as have done
right? His the sense Of failure I'm
vell-doing that weighs upon men.
Sin, individual and social. Is a uni
Yersci and tragic pyuerience.