The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1908-06-26
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A SERMON [Ns&2
81 THE REV. Ax@s
'lAWFtNDEeSpNWGe
subject: Bethel.

Wemmell Henderson, pastor, took as
lis text Gen. 28:19, "And Jacob
awaked out of his sleep, and he said.
Surely the Lord is in this place;
this is none other but the
The house of God, and this is the gate
If heaven. And he
called the name of that place Beth.
FL"
The scene is as grand as the Ian
guage is inspiring. And the sublim-
.ty of the picture and the elevation
Of the language are only to be ex-
planned upon the assumption that at
this time and under the conditions
that are described Jacob enjoyed
special and glorious spiritual expert
ance.
Jacob was journeying from Beer
sheba to Haran. He stopped on the
way, took stones for pillow and lay
Town to rest, the day being spent,
for the night And he dreamed,
and behold a ladder set up on the
earth, and the top of it reached to
heaven: and behold the angels of God
ascending and descending on it. And
behold, the Lord stood above 1t"
Is it any wonder that Jacob ven
Grated the place? Here he found
blessing. Here was inspiration. Here
was the manifestation of the ever
lasting God. 1t was but stone In
the open, rooted with the arching
heavens, walled by the horizon be-
yond which his vision could not PEN
citrate; but here he had seen God.
And he called the place Bethel.
No one is so foolish as to imagine
that the stone and the surrounding
locality were any more sacred in and
Of themselves than were a thousand
similar stones upon which Jacob
might have rested his tired head or
were a hundred other places in the
quietude of which he might have
found repose But upon that stone
his head had rested when the God of
Abraham and of Isaac reiterated to
him the covenant He had made with
the fathers. In that spot he had been
the recipient of the richest joy that
the heart of man may experience In
this life or the mind of man desire:
vision of the living God. And so he
poured Oil on the stone and conse-
Grated the place where he had tarried
through a memorable night.
What else would any man have
done? The event was not common
place The vision was beatific. The
covenant was tremendous both as to
its authorship and it's duration. Con-
sidered from any point of view the
occasion was to be concentrated
and the locality was forever invested
with a subduing and soul warming at
mosphere that would be effective
with us to-day were We within the
scope of it's influence. Jacob would
have been neither courteous nor hui
man if he had not set the place as in
a sense apart. If we may remember
heroes with monuments and good
men with statuary, shall not Jacob
commemorate the revelation OF Jeho-
yah with an oil soaked stone? 1t we
are conscious of thrill as with barred
heads aid reminiscent minds we stand
in Independence Hall or about the
graves of the martyr dead shall we
not admit the sacredness of the spot
where God showed Himself to the
leader of His people?
All of which is not to push sense
over the border line of reason, or to
make the logical become illogical.
Jacob called the place Bethel. the
house of God. And so we call our
churches. Every church is Bethel
or it is nothing better than club
house. A church Is not simply col
lection of stone and brick and plaster
and wood and glass and iron and
nails bound into building, any more
than the stone was the sanctuary or
the place where Jacob heard the
voice of God the shrine. A church Is
more than an edifice as the shrine
was something more than geogra-
phical or geological entity. We con-
oh, 70 hn A.
cent uses of the religious life of the
people not because we consider that
God abides simply and solely within
them or that blessed brick is holier
than all unblessed stone. We enter
our churches, rather, I should say we
should enter our churches, because
in a real way they stand for an e1per-
fence, they TEEN with Renaissance,
they commemorate individual and So
cial blessings and visions of the SOW
ereign God.
Jacob called the place Bethel be-
cause he had compelling religious
experience. And SO We should VEN
crate our churches. 4 church that
lacks the spiritual atmosphere, that
is not the expression of deep spirit
ual conviction, that commentaries
no visions and that is ineloqnent OF
mighty spiritual exaltations, is not q
church. 1t is fraud.
A church is Bethel. And as such
it should be revered. Within 1t
should be found blessing and inspira-
ton, out of it should flow the influ-
ences that tend toward God and that
initiate for the veal of men.
Bethel was notable as the COM
memoration of blessing. And what
blessings have We not had within the
confines of our churches. Where
such holy reveries, such glorious in
spirations, such lasting joys, such
revelations through the abiding of a
common spirit? Here we have seen
the glory of the Lord, here we have
known the power of His love, here
we have fed upon His promises and
been augmented in the riches Of His
grace. Here, as was Jacob at Bethel,
have we been inspired, filled with
larger hopes, urged On to nobler and
to holier achievements, filled with the
energy that no man may describe, in
effable, intensive and divine. Here
we have felt the warmth of the spir-
itual atmosphere and have clasped
hands with God.
The influences that rolled with pre-
QlClSu FlSUE LIOLu Iuo Sln pl0 Sullu0
at Bethel ought to flow and will,
from any we'll appointed church. The
church is not pool, it is a stream.
1t is rather a dynamic than static.
From the church should well forth
the influential streams of righteous
ness end of truth and fine healing Of
the nations. The world owes an in
calculable debt, as do we, to the
church, and the church should by her
unceasing and compromising influence
for good and for God, and unremit-
ting service for men, place the world
ever more largely in her due =.
The churches must be Beth-els or
many of them never could withstand
the abuses to which they are lent.
Only upon the assumption that the
spiritual influences that move within
them are born of God can We under
stand how many of them survive the
dissertations to which they are sub
jected. The average fair is enough
to kill anv church The AVERAGE
puerile as it is expressionless. would
he death blow to the social activi-