Semi-weekly herald., 1909-05-31

v day. And the case was hopeless uni
5 their leaders not only stood on tn
e very brink, but until the soles of the.
y feet actually trod in faith the turbr
Il lent water, and then. behold, IL parted
e and that above stood up in heal
i and the host passed through dry-shod
We pray THY kingdom come" an,
we surely want II to come this yea
at least nearer than ii has eve
come before. And what is It we ex
pect VIII happen? Do we think tina
God will part the heavens and appear
In majesty? DO We expect Him tc
come on great white cloud. surround
ed by attendant angels. to seat Him
self upon a golden throne in Chicago
or Denver or Durango? We know
very well that the Kingdom OF Heaven
viii not be inaugurated in any such
spectacular manner 1t ccmes without
seryation-slowly, quietly. but sure.
ly--in the lives of those who are real,
ly striving 10 live as the Christ lived
The Kingdom of Heaven is found in
the hearts of men and women When
God has a message to proclaim to
mankind, He selects some saint whose
life can exemplify 1T; some prophet
whose voice can announce it. The
| Christ Of the Sermon on the Mount
He who Went about doing good. who
died on Calvary-~this Savior of men.
Is seen today, il seen at all, in the
lives of our neighbors "Ye shall be
Witnesses unto Me" We're His parting
words as a cloud received Him oui
of their sight, and that is Christ's
program for Christianity-to be wit
nesses unto Ein-our very selves
that His Kingdom" may come.
And how are we witnessing unto
Him2 One of the most fervent pray.
ers OF the Master was that we might
all be one even as He and the Father
are one. And what Is the spectacle
hat we display before n scofTing
world An attempt at Kingdom,
which has seemed for hundreds OF
years to be hopelessly divided-and
by petty things.
some 400 years ago there lived o |
great and good man whose name was
John Calvin. He felt called of God |
TO become one OF the leaders in what |
we now know as the Reformation.
but his particular contribution TO thar
movement was largely Intellectual |
Emphasizing the tranacendence of
God al the expense of His immanence,
The Moral Theocracy which he sci
mp In the city OF Geneva was founded
on The Sovereignty OF God, which pos.
tuIated the power to predestinate ev.
cry act OF man. He "foreordains what
soeyer cometh to pass" The natural
order OF the divine DEGREES thus he.
comes: Creation. Election. the Fall
and Redemption" But the Supralap
snrians who thus logically applied the
thought of Calvin were succeeded by
the lnfralapsarians who sought to
avoid the Idea that men are condemn
ed before they are guilty. by changing
the order OF DEGREES to Creation, Fall,
Election, Redemption The decree
that man shall fall has gradually be.
come a permissive decree until IT Is
acknowledged that man sins by his
own free will-that sin Is his own act
and not that of God And so the
teaching OF Calvin has been gradually
emptied of meaning until the leaders
of the great Presbyterian church,
which reaches back to Geneva for its
origin. have recently gone still further
and so lightened the burden OF their
belief that there is no reason why
The Presbyterian church should remain
a divisiye factor OF Christendom
Some 200 years ago there lived a
better man than John Calvin, whose
name was John Wesley. 1t has been
well said mo single figure has ever
Influenced so many English minds,
no single voice touched SO many Eng-
lish hearts" as the example and soice
oF John Wesley A clergyman of the
Church OF England AT an hour of spir-
iudi ushuUess, ne DlOugHl new Nlsi
ion and gave new inspiration to the
Anglo Saxon race. Personally ho ex-
perienced. like st Paul. an instantan.
eous conversion, and in that age Of
dccadence. such a stirring DIP Of the
spiritual life became a fundamental OF
his system. AS he went up and down
the land. preaching from wagons or
stone walls, his sincerity and earnest |
ness and goodness. found an eyer-in.
creasing hearing. until what oxford |
called his new Method" had created |
tho Methodist church. Wesley himself |
never left the Church of England. and
II was his dying hope that his follow.
ers would remain faithful to their spir.
itual mother. But his insistence on
that psychological experience OF "in.
Simultaneous conversion" which comes
with helpful permancnce only to the
few. had produced rift which time
has been unable to mend. And so the
zeal and earnestness and dynamic
force of the great Methodist church,
which ought TO be exerted within our