The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1909-10-01
THE PULPIT.
4 BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. g. A. JOHNSTON ROSS.
Theme: Gods Second Best.

Brooklyn, N. Y.-The Rev. g. A.,
Johnston Ross, D. D., preached sun
day in the Lafayette Avenue Presby-I
terrain Church. DR.. Ross, who was
until recently the minister at st. Co.
lombas Church in Cambridge, Eng
land, a church largely attended by
university men, has accepted the pas
torate of the fashionable Presbyterian
Church at Bryn Mawr, near Philadel-
phia. DR.. Ross spoke on Gods Sec
ond Best" from the following text: I.
Samuel %: For the Lord will not
forsake His people for His great
names sake because it hath pleased
the Lord to make you His people.
Moreover as for me, God forbid that
I should sin against the Lord In ceas-
ing to pray for you; but I will teach
you the good and the right way. Only
fear the Lord and serve Him in truth
with all your heart; for consider how
great things He hath done for you.
But if we shall still do wickedly, We
shall be consumed, both you and your
King" He said:
If man has blundered and played
the fool in the management OF his
life, missing his chances and throw
ing foulness about his spirit. how far
may that man, If anxious to do we'll,
look for the recovery of lost ground
and the renewalof opportunity? That
is the question which I purpose to
deal with tonight. OF course the
unteachable fool must simply look
forward to certain ruin, but am
thinking of a man anxious to redeem
his life, and the question l want to
discuss is this: Is there for such
man a second chance? For all
know such a man may have come into
this church tonight; and how long
he may have been worried with this
question, and in how many churches
he may have tried to get light upon
it, God alone knows. Buff there Is
a second chance for the man 1t is ire
mendously important that the man
should know its nature and extent.
If a man has been depressed by fail
ure and is really ashamed Of his fool
ishness he has almost right to be
made aware of the existence of the
process of divine repair, If such a
process really exists. And it is equal
ly important that he should under
stand the limitation of such a process
of divine repair for salvation, lest he
should be too tempted to count upon
divine indulgence, which does not, as
a matter of fact, exist, or else he
should be tempted to count upon the
providential bordering of his life,
which will not take place.
What, precisely, does forgiveness
mean? What does 1t involve? IT 1t
means that when one Is sorry for sin,
God is glad to hear of it, that is a
very creditable representation of God.
But surely it means more than that.
Does it mean that God not only ap-
proves the mans penitence, but as
sists him? Does forgiveness involve
the recovery of lost ground? That Is
what we want to know. Is 1t legit1-
mate for a man to look forward, II he
accepts Christ, to a real restoration OF
life, strength and hope? 1t Is on the
rock of that question that the mes
sage of religion is most often split,
either by being mispreached or mis-
understood. Men see for themselves
that life becomes more and more
tangled; that habit grows in power;'
that it Is impossible to put the clock
back; that wrongdoing sticks and
clings and ones omissions and fall
ures tend to lose their negative power
and in time become stumbling blocks,
and we are in the ENHANCEMENT pro-
duced by sin, and then we hear the
message of salvation. Woe betide
the religion which then holds out
false hopes to the man. Thousands
of men are asking: What do you
preachers mean precisely by the for
giveness of sin? Personally, I be-
lieve with all my heart and soul In
the forgiveness of sin. There is a
certain process, principle. to which
I want to call your attention, and I
want to give that principle certain
name, which name, 1 warn you, is not
absolutely accurate, but which Is
brief and approximates to accuracy.
1t Is not my thought; Ihave borrowed
it. The name is this: Goods second
best" l believe, If we are to under
stand the doctrine of forgiveness we
must hold this truth of Gods second
best 1 will try to illustrate this.
First of all, the Bible shows that the
Jewish people were designed to stand
before the nations of the world as
the people of God, being obviously led
and guided by the immediate spirit
ual control of the one true God. AS
a scholar, now dead, put it, "Israelwas
to be so passionate1y devoted to God
and to be so sensitive to the divine
will that Israel was to need no human
rule or government to compel them to
do right. They were to live in the
immediate intercourse with God"
Israel had no king at the beginning.
They were under Gods care and they
were to stand before the world as an
object lesson.
That was Israel's first best. The
books of Judges and Samuel tell the
story of Israel's degeneration from
this first best. There came time
when the people said 1t was absolute
ly necessary that they should have a
king. Samuel was grieved at this de-
liberate remuneration of Gods first
best, and demonstrated. But the peo-
pie pressed him, and he prayed to
Jehovah, and when he had done so he
began to see that after all he must &C
quiesce Note the bearing of this on
the meaning of forgiveness. God Is
represented as acquiescing in the &C
ton Of the people, and He says, Let
them have their king"
Samuel says, ''The Lord will not
forsake His people for His great
names sake" God is not going to be
tickle because you are.
Thus it Is shown that God is con.
sistent with Himself. God has
planned a certain plan. Smash 1t as
you please. You will not defeat God.
But the kings passed away. Their
existence was but a parenthesis In
Israel's history. The prophets re-
NAMED still to hold up the idea OF
divine sovereignty until John the
Baptist came and Jesus came, in
whom the prophetship and kingship
and priesthood were all realized to-
gether. You perceive that God is
faithful throughout. He never al
tiers the eternal plan FOR His great
names sake"
Forgiveness is not spasm with
God. 1t is not a mood which you
create in God by your appeal to Him.
Forgiveness is the, perpetual condi-
ton of the divine power. If God were
a being in. whom spasms of forgive
ness could be created we would ultf-
mately not revere Him. The utterly