The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1909-10-14
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON by
REV. J. H. JOWeTT, M. A.
Theme: The Christians Resources.

Jowett, M. A, the most famous minis
ter of Carr's Lane Congregational
Church, Birmingham, England, who
is on a visit for the first time to this
country, preached Sunday in the Fifth
Avenue Presbyterian Church. The
sermon was on "The Christians Re-
sources" Mr.. Jowett's text was Luke
1881, "Or what king going to make
war against another king, sitteth not
down first, and consulteth whether
he is able with ten thousand to meet
him that cometh against him with
twenty thousand?" He said
Our Lord was always seeking to
get men to sit down to think. He
seeks to win their judgment, to touch
their reason, that they may see the
reasonableness of His doings and the
reasonableness of His evangel. He
is continually calling upon men and
women to think. What think ye?"
what king" He says, "about to en-
gage in a campaign stitch not down
first to estimate the strength of the
fee and the strength of his own re-
sources, and then ascertain whether
there is legitimate hope of his forces
being able to meet and conquer those
who oppose him?"
My simple purpose to-day is to ask
you to do this little thinking, to medi-
tate on what kind of enemy we have
to meet, and ] pray you not to let
your thoughts wander away to a far
off world, but let us consider what
enemies we have to meet in this
world where we have to labor and die,
and whether we can with our own
strength overcome them. And If not,
let us turn to those resources which
are offered to us In Jesus Christ, our
Lord.
Now what are these enemies that
we have to meet? What are the enc
mics in front of us? l repeat our
Masters own estimate of the foe
which every one Of us will have to
meet to-day and tomorrow. Jesus
Christ calls one -the world" Now
what Is the world? We sometimes
say a man is worldly man. What
is the significance Of the term? Too
frequently when we use this term we
refer to something a man does or
leaves undone. Men may be habitues
of the theatre, or fond of cards, and
we say they are worldly; and people
who abstain from these things are
labeled unworldly. I do not think
that covers it in the slightest degree.
Worldliness is not implied in what we
do or do not do. Worldlness is not in
doing this, or not dong this. World
liness is in the spirit. It is the at
mosphere of the soul. Worldliness is
the spirit of the horizontal. Worldli-
ness looks on and out, but it never
looks up and prays. 1t is ambition,
not aspiration. Its motto is for
ward" never upward" It's goal is
success, never holiness. Worldliness
is life without the vertical, without
the upward calling in Christ Jesus,
our Lord. And whenever you find
man or woman, no matter what they
do or don't do, who always looks out
to the horizontal end, men and wom-
en- who have no ideal, no aspiration,
no heavenly vision, no prayer, those
are men and women who would be
described by the Master as "of the
world. worldly" Everybody here
knows what an exceedingly strong
gravitation there is toward the hori-
zontal life. In the church and out of
1t you feel this tremendous mesmer-
ism, this worldly fascination, leading
us to turn our eyes from the heights,
from what Paul calls "the heavenly
things in Christ Jesus" We have
got that force of gravity to meet
the world.
Then there Is the flesh" Every
one knows the power of the flesh;
not merely the carnal power of the
body, but of carnal power expressing
itself in vanity and pride. The flesh
that bows down the soul and rides 1t,
instead of the souls determining the
movements of the flesh. We have the
flesh" to meet, whether in appetite
carnal 6asira "Tha ynrId no
flesh and the devil" / do not know
how can define the devil, but Paul's
phrase always seems to describe my
relationship with the devil better than
any other: The prince OF the power
Of the air" He does not leap upon
you like a lion. The devil usually
appears as "the prince CT the power of
the air. and he comes into every
life and let's down the temperature;
he changes the moral atmosphere.
You were just praying fervently, and
suddenly YOU experienced chill. It
Is the prince of the power of the air. I"
You start with great zeal to lead
clean life, and before you know It the
temperature is perceptibly chilled.
The prince of the power of tAe air"
quietly, silently makes that t-emen-
dous change in your moral life by in
fuencing and changing the atmos-
phere. We have got the devil to
meet
Have you anything else to meet?
Yes, the fourth enemy is the binding
power OF guilt In my country there
are prominent men who say that men
and women have no longer the Fease
of guilt. l cannot regard that as
healthful. There are many who can
rot hear the voice OF God who are
nevertheless pursued by their guilt
You do not need to hear the thunder
/ aHd see the lightning to have proof
of the storm. The souring of the
milk in the dairy proves the storm s
presence, and there is often the proof
OF the Lords presence ald OF guilt
IN the souring of the disposition, the
manufacturing OF cynics The man
who was once sweet tempered be-
comes a cynic, the optimist becomes a
I pessimist. These things have regis.
tered themselves as the binding pres
ence of guilt
II is the bondage of to-day that
/ CONES from yesterdays sin. We have
| got that to meet. There are men and
women who have that paralyzing
/ power OF their own yesterday from
which they cannot escape.
Still oae more enemy wa have to
meet; the tremendous impetus OF the
| the quiet habit. Everybody has cer-
tain habits which a:e determining the
trend and tendency of their lives.
/ There Ia nothing In human life which