The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1908-09-24
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
Or. c. S. MCFARLAND.



and Second street. Sunday morning,
The Rev Charles s. Macfarland. phi
~. of the Conversational Church OF
South Norwalk. Conn, author Of
The Infinite Affection" and other
works, preached on "The Imperial
Spirit Of Jesus. The texts we're
from John 14:27: "Peace leave
with you; NV peace give unto you;
not as the world giveth give unto
you Let not your heart he troubled
neither let II he afraid John 1898:
Ntn the world ve shall have tribula-
tion: but be of good cheer. I have
overcome the world" Matthew
1924 think not that I am come
to send peace on earth; came
not to send peace. but sword" Or.
mcfarland said.
Jesus is reassuring His disciples
He says TO them BE courageous. be
bold. overcome the world. BY the
world He means the temporal life.
Be masters. He saws ove~ that life;
let vour snirits overcome It.
What sublime picture, There
He is. awaiting the end. He Is going
down 10 apparent defeat. tn human
eyes. His life seems nought. The
cross awaits Him. a cross between
the crosses Of two thieves. Baraobas
Is TO be chosen instead of Himself.
He no longer has any followers. ex-
cept those faithful few. and even they
are trembling, fearful and ready 10
dee. Yet He utters these STRANGELY
contradictory words, 81 am the Mas
ter of the world"
We SEQ here also the moral gran
deur of Jesus, the translation of His
personality and His inner life into
terms of moral mower. As He was
the great thinker. so Pe was the
NOBLE liver OF the race. As He gains
the mastery of lofty minds. so he is
the sovereign Of all noble lives.
His splendid life is now centering
in the cross toward which It hps been
leading. From the beginning He has
seen the end Rehin1 Hin is a long
trail Of moral strength. From Him
goes the impression Of a SOVEREIGN
personality. He is the supreme ex-
ample Of noble living. for the man
hood of our day. with its alternating
bravery ard cowardice, with its roble
resolve and weak compliance. Jesus
beComes, first. the shamer and then
the inspirer of human living.
Having in some measure aunre-
helded the SPLENDID mind of the Mas
Ger and gathered something of the
moral grardeur Of His life. we seek
TO discover the hidoer secret Of His
outward splendor. Let us trv to look
into His soul and discover the mean
ing of tais majestic. brave. strong,
lmpellingly attractive manhood.
Look again at our text. recall the sit
uation under which it was uttered,
remember that He is facing a cross.
listen to His words: "Peace leave
unto you," "Be full of confidence"
i have conquered the world"
Another strange thing is the con-
tradictoriness of the Master. For
upon another occasion did He not
say, Think not that l am come to
send peace on the earth; I came not
to send peace. but a sword?"
How are we to explain the paradox
OF these two contradictory. texts?
Shall we avail ourselves Of the liberty
OF criticism and say that one appears
in the Synoptic Gospels and is his
torical, while the other appears in the
Fourth Gospel and is unhlstorical?
Shall we decided that one of them
is an Interpolation? This is alto
gether too easy and ready method.
Let us wait and see If we may not
bring them into harmony.
First of all let us look at the Sec
ond text and see how true 1t is. He
sent those disciples forth into the
world. Did rot they find the sword?
Their story is a continuous one of
persecution, imprisonment, death. II
there was the one thing they did not
ind 1t was peace. Peter and John
began at Jerusalem. They were told
that they must not speak or teach in
the name of Jesus. They went out,
prayed for courage and went to
preaching again. For it they were
beaten with stripes They received
their hundredfold reward with per-
secutions.
what mockery are Jesus words to
Him! Peace l leave with you
How fortunate If the Fourth Gospel
were written very late and is unrelia-
BILE! Does it not make our Lord
guilty of false prophecy?
The story goes on through succeed
ing ages. The successors Of these
disciples live and die in Roman cata-
combs and caves They are hunted,
hungered, despised, prosecuted, suf-
fering unto death. How It must nave
Knocked them: Peace / leave with
you" Jesus bequest was broken, or
at least this codicil revoked
But even all this is less perpleXing
than the utterance coming from the
lips of the man who spoke It. Was
1t mistaken prophecy Of Jesus? Be
cause His own life was so calm and
peaceful did He suppose that His
disciples would be also? Look for
a moment at the life of the man from
whose lips these words come Fol-
low Him in His WEAKNESS, in His re-
lection, in His disputes with carping
critics, with His misunderstanding
and quarreling disciples Not a place
to lay His head. Go with Him on the
mountainslde at night. Witness Him
in the Garden, where He sweat, as it
were, great drops Of blood Behold
Him on Calvary between thieves.
Watch Him crowned with thorns,
buneted, spat upon. mocked in dis
dain. What contrast and contra
dictlon are His words. Peace |
leave with you; My peace l give unto
you" Evidently we must accept the
prophecy OF our second text and deny
the truth of the first.
Before doing so let us go back and
look at those disciples again and be-
hold another aspect of their life.
Peter is there, 1t is true, in prison.
But We read about the presence of
an angel of the Lord and of a light in
the midst Of the darkness. Think OF
some Of those little gatherings In the
upper rooms with the breaking of