The Penn's Grove record., 1908-08-07
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. J.. II. MEllSH.
Subject: Faith Once Delivered.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-The Rev. Johr
Howard Melish, rector of the Church
Of the Holy Trinity, Clinton and Mon.
tague streets, Sunday morning
preached on 1.-THE Faith Once Deliv.
cred" The text was from Jude 8:
1.-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 supremely religious and edu-
c%ational, 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
whelming response. If the reports
aro true. it is a religion with two
sides. Those who have received 1t
and who are extending it among their
fellow countrymen know only 'The
Father" and "Our Elder Brother"
The names which have 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, but Christ
and the doctrines of the Trinity, the
incarnation, the atonement, are not
even 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 l mean 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 u religion, the fundamen-
tai propositions of which all other
truths are corollaries?
Such questions can be answered
only by the deep experiences of life.
Life, h 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~uest1onings. Such was the expert
ence of Job when disaster befell him.
Under the fire and the whirlwind not
only Jobs property, but Jobs the
ology,. was swept away. Orthodoxy
proved too weak to lean upon. Such.
too, was the experience of Saul of
Iarsus, when he discovered that law
rallied to make men righteous. He was
driven BY new needs to revolutionize
MS religion and morals. st. Angus
tine, Luther, Wesley, also, were men
VINO, face to face with new expert
ences, as few questions which ortho-
doxy failed to answer. They were
driven to the fundamentals Of faith
by the facts of life.
II faith in God as Father and
Jesus as Elder Brother is Sufficient
IL mus answer the deep questionings
winch spring from the deep expert
ences of life. These questions are
tnree in number. Behind all philoso-
ph1es 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 likea
IL has its origin in man as a reason.
ing and moral creature. What is the
origin OF what we see and feel? Is
thls universe self-evolved or is It the
expression of some power which
moves through it and presides over
it! II there is such a Power, what
is 1t like? Has it any of the attri-
outes of personality, intelligence.
righteousness, love? Behind ali bu.
man doubts and questionings is this
mother of questions, Is there a God9
me secon question is: When a
man sees upon his soul the blot of
a sin can 1t be removed? WAat theo-
logians call sin is a universal ex-
perlence. When Herbert Spencer
came to America he was entertained
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
and eulogized the debt which
religion owed the men who toiled
pa~1nstakingly to ascertain truth
then suddenly turning aside he
made an appeal to universal experi-
ence. There was not a man there
ne SAID. who had not done something
LOT when 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
GEAR or 1T. Scientist, philosopher.
theologlan, statesman in that learne,i
rose tothat appeal to uniyer-
sal experience. So say all men. There
nave been times when sin weighed
SO heavily upon the consciences Of
men that they have sacrificed their
children, thrown themselves under
the car of Juggernaut, fed to mo-
hastlc penance. His as deep an ex-
peIlence To-Day as ever, but it is ex-
pressed Inherently. Has my life been
Vi any use to others? is the question
upon mans soul to-day. Not have
l lone wrong SO much as have I done
right! His the sense of failure in
"0ii-uolnS tHdC weighs upon men
Sin, individual and social. is a mi.
Versal and tragic experience.
n third question is: When a man
dies shall he live again? The sight
OF a dead face is the mother of ali
mysteries. 1t compelled him to asl.
whether that soul had cor and IN
SO asking it lifted mans thoughts
from the temporal to the eternal. the
natural to the supernatural. the I'm.
man to the divine. Before the ex.
perience of death man stands ones.
t1oning, eager to know, half believ.
ing, half afraid, wondering whithe,
his friend has gone and no himself
will go.
These are the deep questions
which spring from the deep expert.
ences OF life. How does faith in God
as Father, in Jesus as Elder Brothe,
give sufficient answers?
Is there a God and what is He
like? "Yes," says Jesus, there is
a God. He is my Father and you1
Father" Some men there are who
find it easy to believe OH their owr
experience that God is Father. Other.
can hplinva univ uhar A. !.