The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1909-04-23
THE PULPIT.
4 SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. ALVAH S. HOBART.
Theme: The Unlisted Asset.


manuel Baptist Church, Lafayette
avenue and st. James place. His
subject was "The Unlisted Asset, "
and his text was Matthew 22:41-44:
while the Pharisees were gathered
together Jesus asked them, saying:
What think We of Christ? Whose
son is He?' They say unto Him, The
son of David He saith unto them.
How, then, doth David in spirit call
Him Lord, saying the Lord said unto
my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
till I make thine enemies thy foot
stool. If David then call Him Lord,
how is He his SOM And no man
was able to answer Him a word,
neither burst any man from that time
forth ask Him any questions" DR..
Hobart said:
Sometimes in the summer the Their
mometer runs up into the nineties,
and we call it hot weather, but we
take off our coats and attend to our
business and say to our friends: This
is summer, but after all rather like
summer. I do not see that the sum-
mer is to be so much dreaded" And
the next day the thermometer stands
Just as it did the day before, but we
are nearly smothered. and we say:
81 cannot stand it at all. l think this
Is about the worst climate; 1t Is
enough to kill a man" What Is the
difference? The thermome does
not tell the whole story. To-day
there are only sixty degrees of hui
nudity, but yesterday there were nine
ty. There is a certain unlisted ele-
ment in the weather that the thermom-
eter does not make any account OF.
but that unlisted element makes all
the difference in the world. A man
is sick and his doctor tells that he
has an incurable disease and cannot
live, because the medical records do
not show a single case of recovery
from that particular disease. Never
theless the man RECEIVERS completely
and the only way the astonished doc
tor can account for 1t is by saying
that the man had great fund OF In.
exhaustible vitality. That vitality IL
the unlisted asset in the case.
This is the idea I have in mind
when I speak to you concerning the
unlisted asset in Jesus. These people
wanted to know certain things and
He wanted them to believe certain
things. There seemed to be some
doubt as to the Messiah, and Jesus
asked them what sort of man they
thought the Messiah was going to be.
Whose son will He be when Re
comes?" and they said. why. Da-
vid's Sod" Then He said, Have We
not read the psalm wherein David
said, The Lord said unto my Lord %
In the Jewish realm no man would
ever call his son Lord" How was
r.? They did not know. They found
in the Old Testament Scriptures that
there was an unlisted asset. Now
history presents a similar problem.
Things have happened that we cannot
account for in the ordinary way. Be-
fore, or soon after, A. D. 800, the pa.
gan kings of Rome ceased to be, and
a confessedly Christian king sat in
the centre of the Roman Empire.
Now the teachers of that gospel did
not have philosophy like the Romans
or literary culture like the people OF
Rome or Athens.
Thev suffered persecution and were
called "the ff-scouring of the world. "
They had no armies, nor temples, and
vet inside of $50 years they displaced
the Emperor on his throne by the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. How are you
going to account for that? Somehow
these unframed fishermen, and that
cast-out Pharisee of the Jewish eccle.
siastical institution, had gone ahead
with the unlisted power and won
these marvellous victories. Something
was there besides, something greater
than a son of David. A humble peas
ants son in Palestine prophesied that
His name should be above everything
Ill roofinnc of the world
should know it and bow down to It.
what do we, see to-day? Why, the
statesmen of the world are being
guided by the fundamental principles
that that peasant taught. To-day the
nhilosophers of the world are slough
ing off all the speculations that are
moi in harmony with the fundamental
conceptions and the peasants Ideas
of God. All are admitting that they
must come to the recognition of the
existence of an Infinite source and
nersonal God who controls all things
and this is the specific statement OF
Jesus when He said: pray, ouI
Father. who art in heaven" Every
statement and every theory or tne
sociologists of this time is pre-stateo
in the language OF the old JeWlsn
neasant's SON and every great princi'
ple that guides us is stated better o!
Him When you look over the world
Won find that where this Gospel has
gone the world has new conceptions
of man. Nowhere else do you inc
tae convention of man Gin the image
of God" and standing in all funda'
mental essentials on q common plat
| form. 1t has given new conceptions
| foUord God 0t hfs
| duty to his fellow man. There was
no convention of international law un
IN Christianity brought it. And this
peasants son in Palestine prophesiee
all this recognition Of these princi
ples 1900 years before. What are
we to say about that? Is He more
than a peasants son or is there some
unlisted element there?
We must look around to find the
cause of this unaccounted for phe
nomenon of history. We have ex
hausted the assets of David's son, ane
we must find something else. Som.
things. it is true, can be accounted
for as the son of David, but not all
The times and the character of jesus
will account for some, but there is I
large residue left that cannot be &C
counted for that way Some say
Jesus Ia undoubtedly the pre-emin
ent teacher of the world. Nobod,
ever equaled Him before or since O.
is ever likely to, but" they say
Shakespeare was undoubtedly tn
highest genius in his line. and b.
went so high that nobody aspires t
touch him. Socrates was philoso
pher, and in his line nobody aspire
to take away his crown. And 81
Jesus in His line was the product o
His day. He came from the Jewisl
people, most pious family, in tim
when the world was trying to be 81
wicked, and He was splendid relf'
gious genius and we bow down tt
Him pre-eminent in His sphere" VIII
it do? We will admit that the cir
oumstances and times did for Jesus
about all that could be done to make
Him pre-eminent as a moral teacher
but why did not other people-ths
martyrs, the disciples-why didn't
Paul r.se to the same pre-eminence'
No man could lay a finger on Paul!
life and say, Here is moral weak
ness that accounts for It," If Jesu:
| was no more than 4 peasants son FL