The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1909-07-28
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. H. G. GREENSMlTH.
Theme: Limiting Jesus Christ.

Oswego, N. Yin the First pap
fist Church here, Sunday morning,
the minister, the Rev. Harry Clad
stone G~reensmith, preached on Linn
iting Jesus Christ" The sermon
touched upon what he declared to be
the Limitations of the Emmanuel
Movement. He also spoke of Chris
tian Science. The text was from Mat
thew 1853: And He did not many
mighty works there because of their
unbelief." Mr.. Greensmith said,
among other things:
! Even the Holy One of God, seem.
ingly, had limitations. He was a
prophet without honor in His own
land. In Christ we find the wisdom
of the ages, the skill Of the universe.
He was the "vis medicatrix" Of all
science, religion and medicine. Pre-
eminent over all, and yet limited.
In C~apernaum, per contrary to Naz-
areth, there seems to have been no
limit to the powers Of Jesus. There
and in adjacent places He had
wrought the 'mightiest miracles
known to the ages. No other man
has turned water into wine, or healed
a nobleman's son of palsy. None but
Jesus has cleaned out devils out Of
the temple of mans soul, or out OF
the visible temple of Gods Kingdom
on earth.
Entering into Jerusalem, His be.
loved city, the city which caused the
very nerve centres of His being to
leap with joy, or travail in anguish.
He saw a man impotent for thirty.
eight years. BY a word from thelips
Of this rejected Nazarene" the mar
takes up his bed and goes away re-
joicing. Even here we find limita.
lions. Christ could do nothing OF
Himself. II am come in My Fathers
name and We receive Me not" THE
Scriptures testify of Me, and yet ye
will not come unto Me-" And here
we see forthcoming "isms." "If an.
other come in his own name, him ye
will receive" And how wild the
world has gone v Dowie and Mrs.
Eddy. They set forth a religion in
their own name, and people have gone
wild, and Christ instead of being ex.
allied has been bowed from His
throne. Eddyism, falsely called
"Christian Science" as there is SC
little Of Christ in it, is nothing short
of idblatry, worse than Mariolatry.
and Dowieism, is fast "going unto its
own"-to it's founder. Christ's pow.
er is limited by these two fads.
Entering the. temple n Sabbath.
Jesus meets a mai whose right hand
is withered. What will He do?.'
cries the Scribes. Twill He heal
him." the Pharisees ask. And in
| spite of them, Jesus shows forth His
power and commands the man to
stand forth. Then after a quiet talk
on His sovereignty, He orders the
man to. stretch forth his hand, and he
was Immediately healed. This in
creased the anger of His a~dversaries
to madness, and they plotted how
they might destroy Him, thus limiting
again His powers.
Thus far we have seen Christ's
power over the lower limbs, in that
He caused q man to walk for the first
time in ~thirty-eight years; to another
He gives the use of an arm that was
useless; others who on the point Of
death He restores to strength. These
exemplify His powers over life, but,
entering the City of Main, He shows
Hi, power over death. The only son
Of a widowed mother Is being carried
to the grave. Jesus commands him
to arise. And the young man sits up
and speaks. To another born blind
He gives sight. Surely such miracu-
lous deeds ought to have removed all
unbelief. But. sad to relate, He could
not do in His own city any mighty
works because Of their unbelief. Even
His own disciples at times manifested
this unbelief, or lack of explicit trust.
John in prison shows this spirit in his
last message. Christ's answer was
not sufficient to remove all doubt,
ever when He said: go, tell John
what We have seen and heard: The
blind receive their sight, lame walk,
deaf hear, and the dead are raised"
etc. And all these doubts, limited the
Son Of God.
In the calling of the twelve we see
Christ's limitations. He was sub
servient to His Fathers will, and He
must have helpers with Him. Every
step He took He counseled with the
Father before taking it. "And He
continued all night in prayer to God.
And when 1t was day He appointed
twelve, that they might be with Him,
and that He might send them forth
to preach, and to have authority to
heal" cast out demons. And as He
came down from the mount a great
number Of people from all sections
came to hear Him and to be healed
Of their diseases. And the multitude
sought to touch Him, for power came
forth from Him, and He healed them
ALL" Now, this power of healing was
given to these new "'Christs," or, as
they were afterwards called, "Chris-
tians," at Antioch. These men re-
ceived their new power and went out
under orders. How we'll they obeyed
is recorded.
They were to be voices Of God.
"For it Is not We that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father that speaketh
In you" Il will give you a mouth
and wisdom, which all your adver-
saries shall not be able to Withstand
or to g~ainsay." And they went
preached, cast out devils, anointed
with oil those that were sick, healed
them all.
All power was given to them which
Christ had. 81 have given you au-
thority," He said to the seventy.
Peter was rebuked for not using au-
thority over the a " upon which he
attempted to walk. "Oh, thou of lit
tie faith, wherefore didst thou
ioubt?"
The disciples were also rebuked be-
cause their little faith prevented their
healing the demoniac boy.
Power had been given them, and