The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-02-24
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. J. LEWIS PARKS.


BROOKLYN, n. .-lle LQlTQ duuudl
union service Of the Mems Parish
Clubs of the P. e. Church in Brook
Ign was held Sunday in st. AIMS
Church. The Rev. J. Lewis Parks,
D. D., Of Calvary P. E. Church, Man
haitian, preached the sermon. His
text was the vision of the prophet
Ezekiel and his discourse was an
earnest 'exhortation to the men Of
the church to stand fast by the faith
as it is in Jesus, and to Scripture
study. 1t received close attention
from the congregation. DR.. Parks
said:
In captivity Ezekiel sees the glori-
Gus God, the Almighty, in the like
ness Of man, seated upon His throne,
borne upon His chariot. Strange liv-
ing creatures sustain It at each cor
ner. Four faces there are The face
of q man, the face Of a lion, the face
of an eagle and the face Of an OK.
And we are warned that the human
element is the one upon which we
should fix our attention, for the SYM
Dol Is of the ideal man, with all his
rich variety Of gifts: Courage and
force, like the king of beasts; patient
in toll, like the OK; the eagles eye, to
pierce into the hidden things Of ma
ture and scan the mysteries of God.
This kind Of man, with his reason
and his conscience and his heart, this
ideal man, Is the representative Of all
humanity in all his generations; and
his business is to serve the Lord God
Almighty and to show forth His
glory. But, as the beasts in the Rev
citation of St. John lave their place in
heaven, these have theirs on earth,
and the chariot hath it's wheels,
wheels in the middle Of wheels, 80
that they 60 whithersoever they will
without turning, and they go and re-
turn as the fame Of lightning, and
the sword of the living God is in the
wheels. And all this represents u
humanity as organized. 1t has a vital
organism. 1t has a vital mechanism
men bound together for the service
of God. The Spirit moves the wheels
and moves the whole chariot; moves
the entire humanity.
In very truth the Holy Ghost is
imminent in mau In very deed the
body of Christ is the temple of the
Spirit of God in every age just as the
needs Of the time demand. He
blows, as it were, the breath of man
upon the hearts and minds Of men,
q~uickening, reviving, energizing:
throwing them collectively and
unitedly into the work of the day.
1t Is one of the most patent and
one Of the most consolatory Of his
torical phenomena, and you are in
the midst of one such great revival
of the Spirit now. Not that I forget
the wickedness of the world. That Is
the very reason that I perceive the
hour of God; the Holy Ghost fighting
against anti-Christ; and the spiritual
revival shows itself in some very Wis
ible, unmistakable signs. First,
there is the marvellous revival Of the
missionary spirit to carry the Gospel
to the four quarters of the globe.
Then there is the yearniDg for the
unity Of Christendom. Then there
Is the calling Of the multitude of
workers into the field, not clerical,
alas, but lay. Not women only; but
the Spirit of God has made man
somewhat see that he must serve and
work for God. And finally, more
strange still to anyone who has pom
dered human nature, there has taken
possession Of our time a passionate
desire to serve mankind, to better
human life, to make happier human
conditions, to plead for Justice as
Between man and mar, to teach
mercy and rejoice against judgment,
that the intolerable and individual
and unseen suffering Of the day might
little by little be done away.
But, alas, my brethren, strangely
error and disruption balk the steps
of Every light has it's shadow;
every virtue its corresponding vice;
every movement of the Spirit tempts
men to pervert and misunderstood
His works; and l think most Of you
will bear me out when I say that the
very spiritual movements Of the day
in each and all Of the tendencies
which I have pointed out tempt the
present age to deny the faith and
to belittle the body of Christ. It is
Easy to see how it should be so. Here
are men worried with sectarian the
ologies, worn out spiritually but alive
still. Men forget, in their impatien nee
and desire for unity, that all these
creeds. as we call them land falsely
called), are merely ephemeral efforts
to express the fundamental truth Of
Jesus, and, putting aside these
transient expressions, they forget the
truth as it is in Jesus. And men,
consumed as men are to-day to work
for their brothers, are ready to say
that social service is the gospel, that
1t is not only the fruit Of the gospel
but exclusively the whole of it, de-
claring that the Spirit Of Christ is
social service; that any man that
hath this spirit is a Christian, let
him call himself Jew or Agnostic or
Mohammedan or Buddhist, it matters
not, he is a Christian. Is it not easy
to see how such a condition of things
may presently lead to the pervertion
OF conduct? And men in their zeal
for men. and desire to cooperate
with all good men for all good things,
may come to think of little impor-
lance the body of Christ. And yet
not possibly could the social aim of
the day bs more injured and leopard
lied than by anything that should
forget the faith or weaken the Church
of God.
/ will not say that modern civiliza-
ton Is the product only of Chris
tianity; l will not say there are not
other factors that have made for the
present state; but I am bold to main
tain that modern civilization never
could have come to pass without the
faith of the Church of. Jesus Christ.
Look at it. Did not the great doc
trine of the incarnation bring into
the world personality, fraternity,
equality, charity? Is it not the doc
trine of democracy? The Lord took
human nature, not of any class, not OF