The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-07-22
The PULZ2Nk
A SERMON "a
81 THE REV. A%M
IFAWFENDEeSoNWH@
Subject: Bethel.

Presbyterian Church, Hamburg ave-
nue. and Wierield street, the Rev. Ira
Wemmell Henderson, pastor, took as
his text Gen. 2S:19, And Jacob
awaked out of his sleep, and he said,
Surely the Lord is in this place;
81 = 4 this is none other but the
the house of God, and this is the gate
of heaven. r. r = And he
called the name of that place Beth
ell"
The scene is as grand as the Ian
guage is inspiring. And the subllm-
ity 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 a
special and glorious spiritual expert
ence.
Jacob was journeying 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 so foolish as to imagine
that the stone and the surrounding
locality we're any more sacred IN and
of themselves than we're a thousand
similar stones upon which Jacob
might have rested his tired head or
were a hundred other places in the
uuietude 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 desi2e: a
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 vas not common
place. The vision was beatifc. The
covenant was tremendous both as to
it's authorship and it's duration. Con-
sidered from any point OF view the
occasion vas to be commemorated
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 lot Jacob
commemorate the revelation of Jeho-
yah with an oil soaked stone? If we
are conscious of a thrill al 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?
ALI 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 a Bethel
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 and
nails bound into a 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 edifce as the shrine
was something more than a geogra-
phical or geological entity. We con-
secrate our churches to the beneh-
cen uses Of the religious life OF the
people not because we consider that
God abides simply and solely within
them or that a blessed brick Is holier
than an unblessed stone. We enter
our churches, rather, I should soy we
should enter our churches, because
in a real way they stand for an exper-
fence, they TEEN with Renaissance,
they commemorate individual and So
ciai blessings and visions of the SOW
ereign God.
Jacob called the place Bethel be-
cause he had a compelling religious
experience. And so we should VEN
crate our churches. A church that
lacks the spiritual atmosphere, that
is not the expression of a deep spirit
ual conviction, that commentaries
no visions and that is i%neloquent OF
mighty spiritual ~eXaltations, is not a
church. It is a fraud.
A church is a 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
m]emoration Of a blessing. And what
blessings have we not had within the
confines of our churches. Where
such holy reveries, such glorious in
SEPARATIONS, 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-
d7cted vigor from the simple shrlne
at Bethel ought to flow and will,