Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1909-02-18
THE PULPIT.
4 SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
FATHER MURRAY.
Constitution Of the Church.

Long Island City, N. Y.-Father
Murray, Of ST. Mary's Church,
preached Sunday morning on 1.-THE
Constitution of the Church" from
this text:
"All power is given to Me in heav-
en- and in earth. Go, therefore, teach
ye all nations; baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them
to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you: and behold I
I'M with you all days, even to the
contamination of the world" Father
Murray said:
This is the constitution of the
church. We find 1t at the end Of the
first gospel. It Is the greatest docu-
ment Of all time. It applies to every
land till time shall be no more. It is
brief and It is perfect. It suffers no
Amendment. God is It's author
AS it is God that gave it, it is from
Him it derives all its Importance.
And its Importance Is to be measured
by the Importance of its Author.
Other constitutions there are framed
bye men, rich in blessings, but they
are for nation. This is for a world.
Nations die and with them their con-
stitutions. This will endure as long
as the race. Manifold are its bless
ings, as was to be expected from its
| Author. of whom the meek and in
spired Moses is the head Of the book
records. In the beginning God
created heaven and earth" Such is
God. The prophet Isaias tells us that
he saw the seraphs, the highest choir
of angels. in the presence Of their
1 ~ kh~A - h~~~I 4I--~ ---.
ing one to another: Holy. holy, holy,
the Lord God OF hosts, all the earth
is fun of His glory" Great, then, is
the constitution Of the church.
I have told you that it was God
church. It's words are the words of
Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is God.
the Second Person Of the Blessed
Trinity. From eternity this Person
had "all power in heaven and in
earth" This same divine Person. as
the Person Of Christ's humanity,
which He assumed that He might suf-
fer for us, has now also "all power in
heaven and in earth" When He died
as man, for He could not die as God.
He merited all power. This is the
power He refers to in the preamble
Of the great constitution that He gave
to His church. This power is the
sc rec and strength of that constitu-
ton.
1t was for us Christ died. With
out doubt when. He died for us He
showed us. the deepest affection. To
use Lincoln's expression on the field
of Gettysburg: "He paid the last full
me- sure of devotion" When He
gave His life, He made a sacrifice SC
much greater than the sacrifice OF
our lives would be as a divine person
Is greater than we. Jesus has been
SO good to us that we ought to regard
Him as an other self.
The power that Christ merited WI
find Him shortly using in our inter.
ests. He first uses It in sending His
apostles to teach men the new thing
that. had come to pass. How else
could they know that they had a Saw
Jour? His command was: Teach W
all nations" Great as was that com
mand, it was not equal to the charit,
that prompted it, for Jesus is owe it
self. And in what was He their Saw
four? He was to save them from
their sins. That we do not appre
ciate the evil OF sin is mans grea'
misfortune. We know that If we ap
preciate the evil of sins we would no
commit them. If they are blotted on
only by the blood Of the Son Of God
i It is no wonder that we do not under
stand them. We do understand sill
enough to know that It is disgustin,
and Injurious. How disgusting ant
Injurious then must It appear In TIL,
sight OF God! The philosophers Civ,
Us another aspect of sin. They tel
us tits a privation. awant Of some
!, thing we ought to possess. Wan
sometimes becomes very hard to bear
: Sin in the SOULS the greatest want
for it means want OF spiritual life.
: dagger will kill the body. Sin is tn,
most deadly of all daggers. for it kill
the soul.
When Christ came the world wa