Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1909-02-11
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
FATHER MURRAY.
Constitution of the Church.

Constitution of the Church" from
this text
Gan 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 ]
have commanded you: and behold ]
am 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. 1t Is the greatest docu-
ment of all time. 1t applies to every
land till time shall be no more. 1t Is
brief and it is perfect. 1t suffers no
amendment God Is Its author.
AS 1t is God that gave 1t, 1t is from
Him it derives all Its Importance.
And it's Importance is to be measured
by the importance of its Author.
Other constitutions there are framed
by men, rich in blessings. but they
are for nation. This Is for world.
Nations die and with them their con-
situations. 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. I'm the beginning God
created heaven and earth" Such is
God. The prophet Isaias tells us that
he saw the scraphs, the highest choir
of angels, in the presence of their
, Creator, and that he heard them cry
ing enc to another: Holy. holy, holy.
the Lord God Of hosts, all the earth
is full of His glory" Great, then, Is
the constitution of the church.
have told you that It was God
that gave the constitution. Of the
church. Its 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
source and strength OF that constitu.
ton,
1t was for us Christ died. With
ont 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
measure of devotion" When He
gave His life. He made sacrifice so
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 tdkegard
Him as an other self.
The power that Christ merited we
find Him shortly using In our inter.
ests. He first uses 1t in sending His
apostles to teach men the new thing
that had come to pass. How else
could they know that they had Saw
Jour? His command was: Teach We
all nations" Great as was that COM
mand, it was not equal to the charity
that prompted It, for Jesus Is love IT.
self. And in what was He their Saw.
Jour? He was to save them from
their sins. That we do not appre-
ciate the evil Of sin is mans great
misfortune. We know that II we ap.
preciate the evil Of sins we would not
commit them. If they are blotted out
only by the blood of the Son Of God,
1t is no wonder that we do not under.
stand them We do understand sin
enough to know that It is disgusting
and injurious. How disgusting and
injurious then must 1t appear in the
sight OF God! The philosophers give
us another asnect of sin. They tell
us it is a privation. want Of some.
thing we ought to possess. Want
sometimes becomes very hard to bear,
Sin in the soul is the greatest want,
for 1t means want of spiritual life. A
dagger will kill the body. Sin is the
most deadly of all daggers, for 1t kills
the soul.
When Christ came the world was
reeking with sin. So disgusting Is
the account history gives us that We
think we could not endure to live
among the denominations OF the past,
BY their sins, men. not only as fndi.
viduals, but as whole nations, had OF.
Tended the Father and the Son and
the Holy Ghost. They had made an
enemy of Him that could send them
to eternal punishment. Christ mer.
cifully commands His apostles to
wash away the sins of the nations,
baptiZlng them In the name or the
Father and OF the Son and OF the
Holy Ghost. This was an exercise OF
that almighty power that He had re-
ceived. Thus was the account which
the Father and the Son and the Holy
Ghost had against them to be washed
away in the waters of baptism. What
a debt the nations owe to Christ!
/ AS the Issue proved, 1t was no easy
task to which the apostles were sent
Christ sent them to do mems work
/ But the apostles were full of the sub.
/ lime spirit of the Saviour, who had
trodden the winepress alone. For
three years they had imbibed the
/ lion spirit of Christ. So difficult was
their task that in it's discharge they
one and all encountered the martyrs
trial. The foul spirit of darkness
did not yield without contest, but
he had to yield. We can glory thai
| Christ so filled His apostles with His
spirit when He sent them out to
! preach that they did not shrink from
/ the trial of blood for the sake OF
Christ and for the sake of us. Our
faith is an evidence of how we'll they
preached. How terribly earnest are
the words of Christ when we inter.
pref them in the light Of what He
was and did, and in the light of the
lives and deaths of His apostles.
Let us now take up these other
words of Christ: Teaching them tc
observe all things whatsoever I have
commanded you" This the apostles
could understand. They knew what
commands He had given them. But
perhaps they might understand diff
ferently, perhaps they might forget
as other men do. This was all guard
ed against, as one might infer from
the brevity of the constitution, which
goes into no details, and which makes
no mention of mistake or failure
! Tho opootler wara inGpfrad THEW