The Penn's Grove record., 1909-07-09
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. H. G. GREENSMlTH.
Theme: Limiting Jesus Christ.

touched upon what he declared to be
the limitations of the Emmanuel
Movement. He also spoke of Chris
tian Science. The text was from Mat
thew 1853: "And He did not many
mighty works there because of their
unbelief." Nj. Greensmith said,
among other things:
Even the Holy One of God, SEEM
ingly, had limitations. He was a
prophet without honor in His own
land. In Christ we find the wisdom
of the ages, the skill of the universe.
He was the "vis ~medicatrix" of all
science, religion and medicine. Pre-
eminent over all, and yet limited.
In Capernaum, per contrary to Naz-
areth, there seems to have been no
limit to the powers" of Jesus. There
and in adjacent places He had
wrought the mightiest miracles
known to the ages. No other man
has turned water into wine, or healed
a nobleman's son of palsy. None but
Jesus has cleaned out devils out OF
the temple of mans soul, or out of
the visible temple Of Gods Kingdom
on earth.
Entering into Jerusalem, His be-
loved city, the city which caused the
very nerve centres of His being TO
leap with joy, or travail in anguish,
He saw a man impotent for thirty.
eight years. By a word from the lips
of this rejected Nazarene" the man
takes up his bed and goes away re-
joicing. Even here we find limita-
lions. Christ could do nothing of
Himself. q am come in My Fathers
name and ye receive Me not" THE
Scriptures testify of Me, and yet ye
will not come unto Me-" And here
We see forthcoming "isms." IF an
other come in his own name, him ye
will receive" And how wild the
world has gone over Dowie and Mrs.
Eddy. They set forth a religion in
their own name, and people have gone
wild, and Christ instead of being ez.
allied has been bowed from His
throne. Eddyism, falsely called
christian Science" as there is SO
little of Christ in it, is nothing short
OF idolatry, worse than Mariolatry.
and Dowieism, is fast "going unto its
own"-to it's founder. Christ's pow
er is limited by these two fads.
Entering the temple one Sabbath.
Jesus meets a man whose right hand
is withered. What will He do?H
cries the Scribes. will He heal
him?" the Pharisees ask. And in
spite of them, Jesus shows forth His
power and commands the man to
stand forth. Then after a quiet talk
On His sovereignty, He orders the
man to stretch forth his hand, and he
was Immediately healed. This in
creased the anger of His a~dversaries
to madness, and they plotted how
they might destroy Him, thus limiting
again His powers.
Thus far we have seen Christ's
power over the lower limbs, in that
He caused a man to walk for the first
time in thirty-eight years; to another
He gives the use of an arm that was
useless; others who on the point of
death He restores to strength. These
exemplify His powers over life, but,
entering the City of Main, He shows
His power over death. The only son
Of a widowed mother is being carried
to the grave. Jesus commands him
to arise. And the young man sits up
and speaks. To another born blind
He gives sight. Surely such miracu-
lous deeds ought to have removed all
unbelief. But, sad to relate, He could
not do in His own city any mighty
works because of their unbelief. Even
His own disciples at times manifested
this unbelief, or lack of explicit trust.
John in prison shows this spirit in his
last message. Christ's answer was
not sufficient to remove all doubt,
even when He said: go, tell John
what We have seen and heard: The
blind receive their sight, lame walk,
deaf hear, and the dead are raised"
etc. And all these doubts limited the
Son of God.
In the calling of the twelve we see
Christ's limitations. He was sub
servient to His Fathers will, and He
must have helpers with Him. Every
step He took He counseled with the
Father before taking it. And He
continued all night in prayer to God.
And when it was day He appointed
twelve, that they might be with Him,
and that He might send them forth
to preach, and to have authority to
heal" cast out demons. and as He
came down from the mount a great
number of people from all sections
came to hear Him and to be healed
of their diseases. And the multitude
sought to touch Him, for power came
forth from Him, and He healed them
ALL" Now, this power of healing was
given to these new "Christs," or, as
they were afterwards called, Chris
tians," at Antioch. These men re-
ceived their new power and went out
under orders. How well they obeyed
is recorded.
They were to be voices of God.
SFor it is not We that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father that speaketh
in you." 81 will give you a mouth
and wisdom, which all your adyer-
saries shall not be able to withstand
or to ~gainsay." And they went
preached, cast out devils, anointed
with oil those that were sick, healed
them all.
All power was given to them which
Christ had. II have given you au-
thority," He said to the seventy.
Peter was rebuked for not using au-
thority over the waves upon which he
attempted to walk. @Oh, thou of lit
tie faith, wherefore didst thou
ioubt?"
The disciples were also rebuked be-
cause their little faith prevented their
healing the demoniac boy.
Power had been given them, and
they were rebuked for their failure
to use it, just as much as the one
talent ran was rebuked.
These brief suggestions lead to the
question: When did the authority
given to the disciples end? Why
should there not be direct manifesto
lions of the miraculous saving power
over diseases to-day among the discf-
pies of Christ as in the apostolic days?
The closing of the canon certainly
not close the door of healing.
Another question arises: Why
should we limit the power of the
Surely the psychical nature
Is not greater than the physical?
/ am in great sympathy with the
emmanuel movement. l am reading
all | can get my hands on about it,
but when / read the wonderful
wrought in so many lives, l
ask, Why could not we cast him out?
Why cannot the same mighty works
be wrought in Boston, as were
wrought in Capernaum? Is this not
a limitation on the work OF