The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-01-03
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A SERMON &&ES&
PY THE REV. Nnk
IAMHENDEeS0NW
Theme: Discipleship.


on the above theme, the pastor, Rev.
Ira Wemmell Henderson, took as his
text i John 2:6: He that saith he
abideth in Him ought himself also 10
walk even as He walked" He said:
A disciple is learner. He i5 a
student who sits at the feet of
teacher and imbibes knowledge and
wisdom. A disciple is a follower.
One who walks after another. One
who places his feet in the footprints
of his predecessor, who studies to
emulate the teaching and the practice
of his guide.
Pre-eminently the disciples of Jesus
Christ are students and followers.
Students they are of the wisdom of
God revealed in and through Him,
the essence and the refinement of
eternal and supernal truth. Distinct
lively they are followers, If they be
true followers, and IL is of such only
that l care TO speak tonight, of the
Lord. They seek TO emulate His
knowledge and TO practice His pre-
cepts and become conformed to the
standards of His virtues. They are
His disciples. They glory in their
special allegiance TO Him. They exalt
His overlordship and promulgate His
principles. and declare His divinity.
They pray, and they profess to strive,
to become like Him. And all this
they do and endeavor TO be simply
! and solely because they believe u TO
be the Word of God that He that
saith he abideth in Him ought him
self also TO walk even as He walked"
This discipleship is the ambition
| OF us all. 1t is the glory of practical
Christianity. II is the outward evil
dence in large measure of the faith
! that moves within our souls as Chris
tian men and women. 1t is true
standard of our worth as we walk
among men.
But it is manifest that before We
can practice the truth we must know
II; that before we can follow we must
have a vision of the leader, that there
must be footprints ahead that We may
tread therein, that there must be eX-
| ample ere there will be emulation.
To say this is prosaic- But none the
less ii is necessary.
All of which is To say that If we are
to be disciples of the Lord Jesus
Christ we must have some conception
of His character and IN understand
ing of the manner of life He lived.
a
a.standing characteristics of His man
hood. -
II would be impossible in the space
OF time allotted 10 the sermon of this
or of any other day to enumerate the
virtues of our Saviour or to present
comprehensively and fully the com
ponents of His character. Tonight
we shall consider simply four of the
traits that we must possess and aug
! ment by His grace within ns and ex-
press TO His glory about us il we
would be His disciples. And these
traits are: !, large outlook; ., a
catholic spirit; 3, militant right
eousness; 4, an optimistic foresight.
These We must have are We to follow
Him and to be the sort OF disciples
He bids us to become.
Jesus had large outlook. His
horizon was boundless. His vision
pierced the veil of time and pene-
trated the mysteries of eternity. He
was not eircumscribed by the limita-
tions OF His family relationships. nor
by the boundaries of His birthplace,
nor by the confines OF Palestine.
Much less was He concerned with the
smallnesses and the meannesses OF
life which so dominant the minds and
stuitify the spirituality OF so many OF
His followers. Jesus was so en-
crossed with the consideration OF
large things that He had no time TO
let little things annoy. He was so
busy promulgating principles and eX-
employing them TO men that He had
no time for gossip. The trouble with
the Christianity OF the day is that
we have reversed the process of
our Lord We are so busy with the
small things that we have but
precious little time or strength to at
tend the pressure OF the large. We
are so busy with gossip that we for
get the proclamation OF principles.
The disciples of our Lord are gener-
ally so busy discussing what they
think of the manners and the meth
ods and the clothes and the frailties
of brethren in the faith that they
have little time to engross themselves
with the largest and perdurable af-
fairs of the Kingdom OF Almighty
God But If we were true disciples
of the Lord we would minify the falli-
bilities and idiosyncrasies OF the
brethren in the household of faith
whose sins are no greater than our
own. and magnify the need of the
world, and the Importance OF stern
resistance in the front rank in the
hot fight against sin. and the desira-
bility of communion here and eter-
nally with the infinite King OF
Heaven. And we would practice what
We preached, and labor as we prayed.
Jesus had a catholic spirit. There
never was a man who had firmer or
more ultimate convictions. a message
more final than our Lord. His con-
fidence in His ambassadorial rela-
tionship between God and the world
was supreme. His belief In the final
ity Of His Gospel was consummate.
And yet He was never narrow. He
was tolerant Of all. Affirming the
value of the truth that He declared.
He had ever a word Of encouragement
for the seeker after light. Were that
seeker a Samaritan or a Roman. a
r'ch man or "A slave Jesus had tOlera-