The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1909-05-28

10 SlAuP1y mcCuhulCdl su0r0 Lu0 reason
Is involved. There is a very close
connection between what was, accord
ing to Greek modes of thought, an
derstood by reason and what we under
stand by Spirit. They are almost
equivalent in meaning. The old Le-
vltical service might be merely me-
chanical; this service m out of
the reason. or out of the Spirit; it is
a spiritual service. present your
body"-your entire personality it
is your reasonable. or spiritual SER
vice. That is the Apostles meaning.
We are told to present our bodies
a sacrifice. Sacrifices are of two kinds.
First, the sacrifice of expiration.
We know instantly that it cannot be
here that we are to give an expiatory
sacrifice.
The other sacrifice is that of ODE
dience. This must be the sacrifice
meant here.
And now the question comes, care
we ready to give God this sacrificed"
If all of us here today could only in
deepest sincerity, deepest moral pur-
pose, in mind and will and spirit, bow
down before God and dedicate to Him
all our beings ransomed powers in a
way that we haven't even dreamed of
as yet, and as it is Gods will we
should certainly do. every of US
IN any sphere of labor to which God
IN His providence might see fit to call
us would be a living flame of Heavenly
Light.
AS I look abroad upon men and
the world l am profoundly impressed
that the dying need of the church is
not to have the horizon of thought
thrown farther away so as to have a
broader outlook; it Is not to have
ADLER ministers in the pulpit: it is
not to have a deeper philosophic in
sight into Gods eternal truth: the
dying need of the church at the pres
ent hour is an overmastering senti
ment of personal devotion to our Lord
and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Let that lesson be learned at the foot
of Calvary's tree; let it burn its way
like a fire into the deepest recesses of
his moral and spiritual being. and
then the minister will no longer be
an author dabbling IN foolish book
reviews and reading essays on ethics
from the sacred desk: he'll be a
Voice. a Fire, a Herald. a Messenger
of the Almighty, a John the Baptist
preaching in the wilderness of the
worlds woe. heralding the coming
Christ.
Let that lesson te learned at the
foot of Calvary's tree, and then the
member of the church will no longer
be satisfied with merely coming to the
church on the Sabbath Day. listening
to the proclamation of Gods truth,
and then think he has done his whole
duty in the sight of God. He'll lcok
with sublime disdain on such a pitt
full ~travesty on religion; and he'll go
out to his friends. loved ones, and
neighbors, and with cries, entreaties.
tears to save. he'll try to snatch them
from the gaping grave" That's what
we need to learn.
There are three characteristics of
this sacrifice.
(a) 1t is to be a living sacrifice.
Don't seek to crush out natural tastes.
feelings. affections, as asceticism has
sought to do. Live so that God may
breathe through you a Diviner Air,
and so elevate your character. That
is the service God asks. Live unto
righteousness. Render to God a liv-
ing sacrifice.
(b) 1t is to be a holy sacrifice.
To do this it isn't necessary that you
should render something of a minis
terial character. The commonest du
ties of your daily life. if they are on
ly performed with a sacred purpose
and in the right spirit. are as holy in
the sight of God as any service that
was aver rendered by any priest as he
knelt before the altar. or any minis
ter as from behind the sacred desk be
proclaimed ''the unsearchable riches
of Christ"
Co 1t is to be a sacrifice accept
able to God. 1t could not be anything
else. 1t is a sacrifice based on
Christ's eApiatory work, it is a living
sacrifice, a sacrifice that is holy, and
therefore it is acceptable to God.
That is the conservation the Apostle
urged.
Consider the prevailing motive.
The Apostle urges a conservation
to God; he has a reason for it. 1t
is contained in the first clause of the
text:"I beseech you therefore, brerh-
ern. by the mercies of God.' What
does he mean by "the mercies of
God?"
Read the preceding eleven chapters,