The Penn's Grove record., 1909-02-26
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. SPENCER S. ROCHE.
Theme: Andrew, the Middle Man.

Brooklyn, N. Y.--The Rev. spencer
S. Roche, rector of st. Marks Church,
Adelphi street, had for HIS subject
Sunday morning, Andrew, the Mid
die Man" His text was from John
1:41, "He findeth first his own
brother Simon, and saith unto him,
We have found the Messiah" Mr..
Roche said:
Here is mention of three men. 1t
is as though you were looking at a
picture in which Jesus of Nazareth
stands on the extreme right, His fig
ure glowing with celestial light. To-
ward the centre, where the bright
ness fades, stands a man clasping the
right hand of the Christ. To the left
all is dim, but you make out the form
of a third man who cannot see Christ,
can only darkly behold the middle
man. This mysterious person is
Simon. The man in the middle is
Andrew, whom the text represents as
a great discoverer. First he finds the
Christ; then he finds the man in the
dark.
/ shall regard this mediating char
acter as personating all later genera
lions of believers. Study Andrew, in
his experience and privilege and re-
sponsibility. His left hand is in
Christ's, but his right hand is out
stretched. 1t is of that mighty right
arm that / am to speak. Surely no
subject can be nor timely for a Sun
day in this beautiful season of Epi-
phany when we ought to think of the
manifestation of Christ to all peoples
o. the earth.
How rich is this first chapter of
Johns gospel In it's tribute to the
only beg0tten Son of God! 1t is like
those gold mines of which we read,
that are full of nuggets; like those
pearl fisheries where every shell con-
tains a fortune; like those Persian
rose gardens, whence the perfume ex-
hales everywhere. Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of
the world" In all the Bible there is
no sentence which in itself is so full
of meaning and which in relation to
the gospel is SO absolutely accurate
as this description.
The Lamb of God taketh away the
sins of the world. st. John has moth
ing to say about the origin of sin,
nothing to say about why God leaves
the loathsome fact with us. Christ's
purpose, His opening, His abiding,
His ultimate purpose is to take sin
away. According to Jesus, man has
no use for sin. Sin is hindrance, dis
turbance, clog, poison. 1t was not
God that sent sin; Gods relation to
sin is a sender of One to take it away.
Think what you please of the doc
| frin4 ~ fh4 Afo-1~o1-k L-4 Io1T "a
the cross. / know full well that in
me, an offender, sin works suffering;
in the cross / see that to the spotless
Son of God evil brings suffering too.
Let US accept the cross as a revela-
ton of Love, of Love Eternal and
Infinite making sacrifice, dying like
the lamb on the Jewish altar, to free
the souls that had enslaved them
selves to pride and shame. He who
hangs on yonder cross, in that He has
suffered, in that He has marked out
the way of the perfect life, in that He
touches our poor endeavors with res
direction power, purges away my
stains and leads me into the freedom
of a child of God. But the grand
thing taught by Jesus is that in each
heart sin must be abolished, must be
taken away.
But let us come to Andrew. Who
was he? He vas son to Jonas, and
appears in the narrative as the COM
panion of John, who was the son of
Zebedee. These men were fishers,
with some possessions in the form of
nets and boats. They were associated
as partners and had servants and
dwelt on the north shore of the Lake
of Galilee. Andrew would not appear
to have been a very brilliant man, not
much of a talker. There was one
glorious thing about him-he had
found Christ. But the main thought
is this disciples typal character.
What l desire to say above all other
things is, my Christian brother, that
Andrew is yourself. Two spiritual
facts ought to stand out in your con-
seriousness. The one is that you have
found the Christ. God is more to you
than the blind force that rules the
universe. God in Christ has come
into our worldly conditions and has
sympathized with US and has been not
only Father but Brother. So you can
say, Il know Him whom I have be-
lieved." And the next fact is, that if
the finding has been real, it has filled
you with ~gladness. You may not care
to speak of that blessed train of cir
cumstances that made you a child OF
God, even as this Andrew has told
the world nothing of that rapturous
conference when with John he spent
the night with Jesus and talked of
the matters that lay deepest in their
souls-there are supreme religious
experiences about which the %reverent
heart may not love to speak. But
n thing is certain, if Christ has
brought the good tidings into your
heart, you will desire to tell it
abroad. A real conversion opens a
new world. 1t rolls from the con-
science a load of guilt; it Gains the
rawlings of remorse; it excites the
purest affections; it cleanses the life;
it washes out all stains; it overcomes
all difficulties; 1t annihilates selfish
ness; it brushes passion. 1t develops
new faculties; it clothes the soul with
new powers; it awakens new forces,
even a force which achieves imposi-
bilities, because 1t feels with st. Paul
that in Christ we can do all things.
1t gives new theories of life and new
powers for success; it works such a
transformation in heart and in life, in
inward thought and in outward &C
ton, that we truly speak of the same
individual as a new creature. All
this comes about because you know
Christ.
But we are forgetting Simon. Who
is he? Simon is just any one who is
not in Christ. He is the man in the
dark, the man at a distance. Simon
is a mystery. The very word sug-
gests the pathos of his life. Simon
means the listening one. Think of
the Christless soul off in the night,
conscious of his perplexities and
doubts, and listening for any voice
that can give consolation. There is
this terrible thing about every Simon
he is far from Christ. But there is
also this encouraging thing-some
brother al stands near. Each of us