The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-09-02
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. j.. H. MELlSH.
Subject: Faith Once Delivered.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-The Rev. John
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:
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 supremacy religious and edu-
%cational. are bringing that Eastern
nation to a new birth. Men every
where are inquiring about the new
religion" Churches are crowded
many times a 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
ar true. it is a religion with two
SldSS. 1HOSe II ndbO lSSSlfSu IL
and who are extending it among their
fellow countrymen know only "The
Father" and Our Elder Brother"
The names which nave been and are
to multitudes of us Western Chris
tians of value have no existence to
those Eastern followers of Jesus. God
and Jesus they know. bnt Christ"
and the doctrines Of the Trinity, the
incarnation. the atonement, are not
ever names. Their religion Is with
out dogma.
Is this a sufficient statement of the
Christian faith? I do not mean if it
is the sum total of the Christian
truths. OF course. it is not. Neither
do I 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, sufficient
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 co%rollaries?
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
q~uestionings. Such was the expert
nee of Job when disaster befell him.
Under the fire and the whirlwind not
only Jobs property, but Jobs the
oloSy. 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 10 revolutionize
his religion and morals. St. Angus
tine, Luther. Wesley, also, were men
who. face to face with new expert
ences, as few questions which ortho-
aoxy 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 s~elf-evolved or is it the
expression Of some power which
moves through it and presides over
1t? If there is such a Power, what
Is it like: Has it any of the attri-
butes of personality, intelligence,
righteousness, love? Behind all hui
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-
pericnce. When Herbert Spencer
came to America he was entertained
at a banquet by the most learned
company which had probably as
sembled 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 toiled
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 something
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 soul
clear Of it. Scientist, philosopher.
t~heologian, statesman in that learned
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
mel that they have sacrificed their
children, thrown themselves under
the car Of ~Juggernaut. fled to mo-
perience to-day as ever, but it is eX-
pressed differently. Has my life been
of any use to others? is the question
upon mans soul to-day. Not have
l done wrong SO much as have I done
right? His the sense Of failure in
well-Going that weighs upon men.
Sin, individual and social, is a uni
Versal and tragic experience.
The third question is: When a man
dies shall he live again? The sight
CT q dead face is the mother of all
mysteries. 1t compelled him to ask
whether that soul had gone, ana in
so asking it lifted mans thoughts
from the temporal TO the eternal, the
natural to the supernatural, the hu-