The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-07-31
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. ]. n, MELlSH.
Subject: Faith Once Delivered.

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 8:
1.-THE faith which was once for all de-
livered to the saints Mr.. Melish
said:
A Pentecost seems to 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 new birth. Men every
where are inquiring about the new
religion" Churches are crowded
many times day. Teachers and
preachers cannot meet the need. We
seem to be witnessing what has not
been seen for centuries, a 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
ara true. it is religion with two
sides. Those who have received it
and who are extending it among their
fellow countrymen know only ''The
The names which have been and are
to multitudes of lis 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? do not mean If 1t
is the sum total Of the Christian
truths. Of course, it is not Neither
do l mean if it is the "irreducible
Minimum without which a man
can hardly be called a Christian. But
Is this faith in God as Father, in
Jesus as Elder Brother, sufticien.
! for life and death? Can men live
by this? Are these the regulative
| ideas of our religion, the fundamen.
tai propositions of which all other
truths are corollaries?
Such questions can be answered
only by the deep experiences 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
! questionings. Such was the exneri.
| ence of Job when disaster befell him.
Under the fire and the whirlwind 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 by new needs to revolutionize
f, his religion and morals. st. Angus.
| tine, Luther, Wesley. also, we're men
| who. face to face with new expert
! ences, as few questions which ortho.
| doxy 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
| it must answer the deep questionings
which spring from the deep expert.
ences of life These questions are
three in number. Behind all philoso.
phies you will find them. To answer
| them all religions have set them
selves.
The first question is: Is there a
! 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
1t? IT there is such Power, what
is it 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
a 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
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 toileG
so painstakingly to ascertain truth
And then suddenly turning aside, he
made an appeal to universal expert.
ence. There was not a man there
he said, who had not done som ethin 2
for which he was ashamed, who did
not wish he had not done it, who
!! would like to have men know it, who
would not if he could wash his SOU
clear of it. Scientist, philosopher
theologian, statesman in that learn ed
assembly rose to 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 theil
children, thrown themselves under
the car of Juggernaut, fed to mo-
nastic penance. His as deep an ex
perience to-day as ever, but it is ex
pressed differently. Has my life beer
of any use to others? is the question
upon mans soul to-day Not hay,
| l done wrong so much as have don,
right? His the sense of failure il
Well-doing that weighs upon men
Sin. individual and social, is a uni
yersal and tragic experience.
The third question is: When a maj
dies shall he live again? The sigh
of a dead face is the mother o. al
mysteries. It compelled him tc asl
whether that soul had gone, ald IL
SO asking it lifted mans thought
from the temporal to the eternal, tn
natural to the supernatural, the hu
man to the divine. Before the ey
perience of death man stands ques
tioning, eager to know, half believ
! ing, half afraid, wondering whithe
his friend has gone and he himsel
will go.
These are the deep question
which spring from the deep expert
ences of life. How does faith in Go
as Father, in Jesus as Elder Brothe
give sufficient answers?
Is there a God and what is H
like? Yes" says Jesus, there
God. He is my Father and your
Father" Some men there are who
ind it easy to believe on their own
experience that God is Father. Others
Fan believe only when the sun is
bright and the sea is calm. When
the storm breaks their hearts faint
within them. But the multitude OF
US men and women are glad that
Jesus is part of our life. Our bright
est moments of assurance get their
light from Him; our darkest mo,
! L