Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1908-07-09
The BUZnI/ /
"A SERMON X%E4
BY TKE REV. A6
MMfENDEeoNW%
Subject: Bethel.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-Preaching on the
above theme at the Irving Square
Presbyterian Church, Hamburg ave
nue. and Wierfeld street, the Rev. Ira
his 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
Of heaven. And he
called the name of that place Beth
ell"
The scene is as grand as h Ian
guage is Inspiring. And the sublim-
ity Of the picture and the elevation
of the language are only to be ex-
planned upon the assumption b a at
this time and under the conditions
that are described Jacob enjoyed q
special and glorious spiritual expert
ence.
Jacob was j%ourneying from Beer
sheba to Haran. He stopped on the
way, took stones for a pillow and lay
down 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 it."
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 a 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 80 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 % the mind of man desire: a
vision of the living God. And go 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
it's authorship and its duration. Con-
sidered from any point of view the
occasion vas to be commemorated
and the locality vas forever invested
with a subduing and soul warming at
mosphere that would be effective
with us to-day were we within the
scope of its 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? If we
are conscious of a thrill as with barred
heads and 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 tc
Adhc Iu0 lOS1Cdl UCCOU10 lllOSlCdl.
Jacob called the place Bethel, the
house OF God. And so we call oul
churches. Every church is a Beth-e'
or it Is nothing better than a club.
house. A church is not simply a col
lection of stone and brick and plaster
and wood and glass and iron an6
nails bound into a building, n more
than the stone was the sanctuary OF
the place where Jacob heard thu
voice of God the shrine. A church il
more than an edif1ce as the shrine
was something more than a geogra
phical or geological entity. We con
secrate our churches to the benef
cent uses of the religious life of tn.
people not because We consider tina
God abides simply and solely within
them or that a blessed brick is hole.
than an unblessed stone. We ente.
our churches, rather, I should say W.
should enter our churches, becaus'
in a real way they stand for an exper
fence, they TEEN with reminiscence
they commemorate individual and so
cial blessings and visions of the SOW
: ereign God.
Jacob called the place Bethel be
cause he had a compelling religion
experience. And so we should ven
! crate our. churches. A church tina
lacks the spiritual atmosphere, tina
is not the expression of a deep spirit
ual conviction, hat commemorate
no visions and that is ineloquent O
mighty spiritual exaltations, is not
church. It is a fraud.
A church is a Bethel. And as sue
1t should be revered. Within i
a should be found blessing and inspira
ton, out of it should flow the influ
= ences that tend toward God and tina
initiate for the veal Of men.
Bethel was notable as the com
m%emoration of a blessing. And wha
= blessings have We not had within tn
confines of our churches. Wher.
: such holy %reveries, such glorious in
, spirations, such lasting joys, sucl
revelations through the abiding Of
: common spirit? Here we have seel
= the glory of the Lord, here we hav
known the power Of His love, her
we have fed upon His promises an,
been AUGMENTED in the riches 0f TT