Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-10-18


never fall" declared Rev. DR.. U. G. B.
Pierce. pastor of All Souls Unitarian
Church, at the conclusion of his sermon
last Sunday morning.
The text was the 4th chapter of the
and 81 verses:
And when He had opened the book.
he found the place where it was written.
The spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because He hath anointed me to preach
the Gospel to the poor; He hath sent me
to heal the broken-hearted to preach
deliverance to the captives. and recover
ing of sight to the blind, to set at liberty
them that are bruised. to preach the
acceptable year of the Lord.
And He began to say unto them. The
day is this scripture fulfilled in your
ears
Or. Pierce said in part:
In religious circles there has been
considerable disturbance, traceable to a
very important book written by a scholar
ly man. entitled The Reproach of Christ;
an Examination Into the Reasons for the
Failure OF Christianity. 1t is somewhat
cheap to say that Christianity has failed,
1t Is rather more cheap to say that 1t
has not been tried. But back OF all these
things we seem to forget to ask ourselves
what Is the criterion by which we shall
measure the success or failure of Chris
tianity. What did the Founder of Chris
tianity undertake to do? Precisely how
did the work lie in His own mind? Then
we ask ourselves another question, How
are we to learn this? Are we to learn
1t from His followers of today? Are We
to learn it of His earlier interpreters such
as Peter and Paul? Is not the fair
thing to do to take Jesus at his own
estimation? Let the man answer his own
question what he proposes to do. Then
whether he has succeeded or failed.
whether it is worth succeeding, or
whether failure were lamentable will be
matter very easily settled. Fortunately
His utterances give us the Masters own
idea Of the thing He wanted to do in
life. Not in Paul, not in Peter, but here
the first Christian teachers profession
of faith. 1t is. literally speaking. the
magma charta of the Christian religion.
Now. at the outset. let us anticipate
one difficulty that comes to the mind
from the fact that this utterance is in
the early career of the Master. Let US
be thankful that If the stream at its
source is smaller. If it grinds no grist
floats no ships, it Is at least farther from
the corruption of commerce and nearer
to the rainbow of promise. But. as a
matter of fact. this is not the statement
of an immature man. One resents that
imputation absolutely. There is no i'm
maturity in the prophet. The soul never
quoted these words was young man in
years, to be sure, at the beginning of ais
career but He was wise enough not even
to begin His career until He was sure
of His ground. He did not work out His
conclusions through practice. but practice
was the verification of certain conclu-
SiOnS.
ITO one who cares to read it there is
vast significance in this fact. that this
little sermon follows Immediately after
the temptation. It is not the word of a
youth fresh from the school of the rab
bis: 1t is not the word of young man
full of a divine fire to redeem the world,
he knows not how. Nothing of the kind.
it is the word of a young man who has
deliberately consecrated his life to the
highest things in the world. 1t is the
word of a man who has just gone through
that tempest Of the soul. who has just
passed through that sitting of his own
nature, that weighing in the balances
that we call the temptation. He had
been in the wilderness, as every man is
He had been left, that is to say, unre-
strained. That is what 1t means to be
alone. It is to have things your own
way. The whole world was before him.
or as the New Testament says. in its
fondly paradoxical way. He was alone and
ever been alone and just discovered that
the wild beasts were in you and with you.
that heaven opened above and below was
the vast region of animal passion and
appetites. greed. ambition. covetousness.
the love of applause? That is what 1t is
to be alone. And he heard the voice Of
this tempter. The voice says to him,
Here you are, young man full of
promise. with a noble family back of you.
Why throw this away on a nameless
cause, a thing which even has no organic
form as yet? Come with me. join the
conventional religious sect. l know them,
says the tempter, in irony. They are
all mine; they think they own me, but I
hold the mortgage Prostitute your
spiritual nature, be a time-server. speak
not the truth. but what men ask, and all
these things shall be yours. No. he re-
membered the teaching at his mothers
knee. 1t Is written. he says, 'Thout shalt
worship the Lord thy God and Him only
shalt thou serve. But the tempter takes
voice to itself again. 1t says. You have
just been baptized. the heaven of oppor-
white dove OF peace has lighted upon your
brow in your conscience you have already
heard the divine approval. Thou art my
beloved son. in thee l am we'll pleased.
So. young man, you are a child OF the
living God; all things are yours in
heaven and on earth. Put 1t to the test:
discount your future. If all things are
yours you can afford to be reckless. Cast
yourself down from this pinnacle, for 1t is
written, He shall give His angels charge
concerning thee, and with their hands
shall they bear thee up lest thou dash
thy foot against a stone. Take it literal