The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-02-27
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. J. n. JOWETT M. A.
Theme: Every Mans Perfection In
Christ.

His text was. "Christ whom
we preach, warning every man, and
teaching every man In all wisdom;
that we may present every man per-
feet in Christ Jesus. Col. 1928.
This is an amazing and inspiring
Ideal, and all the more wonderful that
1t springs from the lips OF an old man.
IL II had come from a company of
Young crusaders 1t would have been
perfectly natural as the war-cry of
young fellows just buckling on their
armor and setting out to their earliest
conquest. The veteran toiler is often
q disillusioned man, for the early
vision has proved a dissolving view.
the strenuous purpose has become
less tense, the gay apocalypse which
tinged the horizon at dawn has faded
out OF the sky, and the earnestness
which aimed at achievements far
ahead has cooled down to more imme-
date and accessible ends. But here
Is an old man of quite another order.
He has spent the strength of his days
In cutting fine roads through rugged
and trackless wastes, and everywhere
has encountered persecution, resent
ment. and has often been treated as
the offscouring of the earth. His little
churches are infested with puerilities,
and even men for whom he has ira
vailed are turning out to be enemies
of the Cross of Christ Yet here at
the end of the day, in the imperious
grip of Rome, is the old man, with
the same undaunted purpose, yearn-
ing to present every man perfect in
Christ. Here is an old age worth
coyeting, an eventide that Is light
Every man every man
every man" It is a threefold blow
In the face of very popular heresy.
The very reiteration of the inclusive
term reveals to us one of the foes the
apostle had to face. There was the
colossian heresy. which sought to
make spiritual privileges the preroga-
tive of a highly-favored aristocracy.
There was also the Jewish heresy,
fenced about by the same limitations.
Here again the privileges of grace
were the perquisites of a class. and
not the blood-bought rights Of a race.
Side by side with that heresy place
he words of our text: Christ, whom
we preach, warning every man, and
teaching every man in all wisdom;
that we may present every man per-
feet in Christ Jesus" There is the
breadth of the apostles glorious ideal
In the redemption of men. Mark
also the height of it-"perfect.
Surely in the first place the term sug-
gests the removal of every mans de-
fects and faults. But perfection is
more. That is a negative ministry
and merely preparatory to a positive
ministry.
Perfection is more than the re-
moval of excrescences. When your |
convert is washed he has still to be |
perfected. The perfection of every |
man means the evolution of all the |
powers in mans life that are COM /
mon in the life of the race. 1t means
the awakening of a mans primary |
fundamental senses; the great mysti- !
cal senses of sight and hearing, con-
cerning which there are many exhor-
:ations in the Word of God. "I heard |.
voice from Heaven" "In the year
Lord" 20 taste and see that the /
Lord is good"-what wonderful
senses are exercised therel
Perfection means not only the !
evolving of the common endowment !
of men, but the manifestation OF |
every mans own peculiar Significance /
and individual color, which is the /
lamp of the great Creators hand.
Every man perfect the fascinat-
ing wonder of it!
How is this to be attained? BY
what means are men to be perfected?
[ cannot tell you how happy | am
that my function is to proclaim a
Gospel and not to fashion one. My
junction Is that of herald, to raise
The trumpet to my lips and blow no
uncertain sound. My task Is made
clear by the apostle who is so de-
tailed in the exposition of this truth
He tells me the threefold ministry
by means of which this result, per-
fecting of men, Is to be gained: (1) /
by preaching Christ, (2) by educating
The conscience, (3) by the energies
Of sacrificial toll. How are we to
awaken the sleeper?
By preaching Christ. Every mans
perfection is attained through the ex-
altation of every mans Christ. II
we set about getting the perfection of
men without Christ, we might as we'll
try to make a garden without the
sun. There is no other who can
reach the sleeper and open his eyes
70 see new world.
The ways OF service and the ways
Of modern life are Uttered with the
Lear-stained confessions of men who
have tried to secure the perfection
)f their fellows without Christ Leave
out Christ, and what is there left for
us? Culture and noble ideals will
not do. Sonorous words and Emer-
sonian maxims will not wake the
dead. You may as well string your
lighted fairy-lamps across your gar
den, and expect the seeds in the earth
TO germinate, as expect to awake dead
souls by reiterating Emersonian max
inns and high ideals.
We cannot do without the Naza-
rene. 1t is not enough to do Christian
work merely, but In the doing of it
we have to present Christ and allow ,
Him to work. II, II be lifted up,
will draw all men unto Me" That is |
where the magnetism centres-not in /
my work which resembles the Lords, /
but In the Lord Himself. By our
labor we can warm the surface, but /
we cannot warm through or kindle |
the flame that shall transhgure the (
heart. 1t is beautiful to be used In |
the service of our fellows; but we are (
playing with a mighty problem II we |
think this is sufficient. Men are in |
need OF high ideals, but they are in |
greater need of the Saviour. Apart /
from Him, everything else acts like 4
an oplate, and benumbs the sleeper
into deeper slumber. If the sleeper
is to be aroused, we have got to
preach Christ.
The second human ministry to be
used in the perfecting of men is the
education OF the conscience. warn