The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1908-03-25
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. J. n. JOWETT M. A.
Theme: Every Mans Perfection In
Christ.

is Every Mans Perfection In Christ. "
His text was: Christ whom
we preach, warning every man, and
teaching every MAN in all wisdom;
that we may present every man per-
feet in Christ Jesus. Col. 1928.
This is an amazing and inspiring
ideal, and all the more wonderful that
it springs from the lips of an old man.
If it had come from a company Of
young crusaders it would have been
perfectly natural as the war-cry of
young fellows just buckling on their
armor and setting out to their earliest
conquest. The veteran toiler IS often
a disillusioned man, for the early
vision has proved a dissolving view,
the strenuous purpose has become
less tense, the gay apocalypse Wh1ch
tinged the horizon at dawn has faded
out of the sky, and the earnestness
which aimed at achievements far
ahead has cooled down to more imme-
idiate and accessible ends. But here
is an old man of quite another order.
He has spent the strength Of his days
in cutting Sne roads through rugged
and trackleSs wastes, and everywhere
has encountered persecution, resent
ment, and has often been treated as
the offscouring of the earth. His little
churches are infested with puerilities,
and even men for whom he has ira
vailed are turning out to be enemies
of the Cross of Christ. Yet here at
the end of the day, in the imperious
grip of Rome, is the old man, with
the same undaunted purpose, yearn-
ing to present every man perfect in
Christ. Here is an old age worth
coveting, an eventide hat is light!
Every man . y y every man y 1"
= every man." 1t is a threefold blow
in the face of a very popular heresy.
The very reiteration of the inclusive
term reveals to us one of the foes the
apostle had to face. There was the
colossian heresy, which sought to
make spiritual privileges the preroga-
tive of a highly-favored aristocracy.
There was also the Jewish heresy,
fenced about by the same limitations.
Here again the privileges of grace
were the perquisites of a class, and
not the blood-bought rights of a race.
Side by side with that heresy place
the words of our text: Christ, whom
we preach, warning every man, and
teaching every man in all wisdom;
that we may present every man per-
feet in Christ Jesus" There is the
breadth of the apostles glorious ideal
in the redemption of men. Mark
also the height Of it-"perfect. "
Surely in the first place the term sug-
gests the removal Of every mans de-
fects and faults. But perfection is
more. That is a negative ministry
and merely preparatory to a positive
ministry.
Perfection is more than the re-
moval of eXcrescences. When your
convert is washed he has still to be
perfected. The perfection of every
man means the evolution of all the
powers in a mans life that are COM
mon in the life of the race. 1t means
the awakening of a mans primary
fundamental senses; the great mysti-
cal senses of sight and hearing, con-
corning which there are many exhor-
tations in the Word Of God. II heard
a voice from Heaven" "In the year
that King Uzziah died, I saw the
Lord" 20 taste and see that the
Lord is good"-what wonderful
senses are exercised there!
Perfection means not only the
evolving of the common endowment
Of men, but the manifestation of
every mans own peculiar significance
and individual color which is the
lamp Of the great Creators hand.
Every man perfect"-the fascinat-
ing wonder of it!
How is this to be attained? By
what means are men to be perfected?
I cannot tell you how happy / am
that my function is to proclaim a
Gospel and not to fashion one. My
function is that Of a herald, to raise
the trumpet to my lips and blow no
uncertain sound. My task is made
clear by the apostle who is so de-
tailed in the exposition Of this truth.
He tells me the threefold ministry
by means of which this result, per-
fecting of men, is to be gained: %
by preaching Christ, (2) by educating
the conscience, go by the energies
of sacriicial toll. How are we to
awaken the sleeper?
By preaching Christ. Every mans
perfection is attained through the ex-
altation Of every mans Christ. If
we set about getting the perfection Of
men without Christ, we might as we'll
try to make a garden without the
sum-. There is no other who can
reach the sleeper and open his eyes
to see a new world.
The ways Of service and the ways
of modern life are Uttered with the
tear-stained confessions of men who
have tried to secure the perfection
of their fellows without Christ. Leave
out Christ, and what is there left for
us? Culture and noble ideals will
not do. Sonorous words and Emer-
sonian maXims will not wake the
dead. You may as we'll string your
lighted fairy-lamps across your gar
den, and expect the seeds in the earth
to terminate, as expect to awake dead
souls by reiterating Emersonian max
inns and high ideals.
We cannot do without the Naza-
rene 1t is not enough to do Christian
work merely, but in the doing Of it
we have to present Christ and allow
Him to work. II, IL / be lifted up,
will draw all men unto Me-" That is
where the magnetism centres-not in
my work which resembles the Lords,
but in the Lord Himself. BY our
labor we can warm the surface, but
we cannot warm through or kindle
the fame that shall transfigure the
heart. 1t is beautiful to be used in
the service of our fellows; but we are
playing with a mighty problem if we
think this is sufficient. Men are in
need of high ideals, but they are in
greater need of the Saviour. Apart
&c. ILL.,
an epiate, and benumbs tho sleeper
into deaner s1umbpr IF the SleeDep