The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1910-05-12
THE PULPIT.
4 BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. E. r. SANDERSON
v:sA".c: Gods Redemptiye Power.


:. Sanderson. pastor of the Church of
he Pilgrims. preached Sunday morn.
ne on The Redemptive Power OF
God" He took his text from Nehe.
niah 9:27: I'm the time of their
trouble, when they cried unto Thee,
Tbou heardest from heaven, and ac.
cording to Thy manifold mercies
Jhou gavest them saviours." MIR.
Sanderson said:
The Jews have returned i:om cap.
tivity; they have drained the bitter
sup of national degradation; their
pride Of race has been brutally and
shamelessly tramplod upon they
have seen all that they held most
holy desecrated and despoiled but
an uncomfortable faith still flames
within them-the faith that God will
give saviours to His people. Shorn
Of all its narrowness and It's partial
isms, 1t Is the simple faith of mar
kind in the reaemptiye power OF
Sod
When we speak of that power we
are dealing with the mightiest prln.
ciple in the universe. If we had but
eyes to see it, 1t Is evidenced on every
side-a power repairing. rebuilding,
redeeming. 1t Is manifested in
lower form when you strike your AK
into the trunk of a tree and God
sends saviors those redemptive
forces in the tree itself which set up
The work OF healing-and redeem the
.ree. You see it when the germs of
disease enter the human system and
God sends as saviOrs the lencocytes
those redemptlve workers in the
blood who marshal their forces like
the knights of the Crusades. to drive
out the despoilers of the human body.
and redeem it from disease. There
are redemptiye forces in every living
creature, reclaiming the life from de-
struction and decay.
can believe that when this planet
was all afame in fervent heat, in
those days when the morning stars
6rst sang to gether, that even then
there was a picture in the divine
mind of what this round globe should
some day be, garden Of supernal
beauty. with fair cities and peonled
with a joyous multitude. | believe
that that ideal will yet be realized
and | believe that Gods redem1tive
power is at work in myriad ways
combating the forces which retard the
coming of that ideal.
would lay a continent waste and bar
rem, God sends sayiors, some form of
life which preys upon the pest and
redeems the vegetation. The process
OF redeeming this world from the
forces of destruction is never-end-
ing process. In fact. but for the
saviors in nature, the earth to-day
would be one vast temple of desola-
tion. Scientists understand this.
They are analyzing these redemptive
forces and bringing them to bear
upon afflicted districts. Thus scien-
fists become laborers together with
God for the redemption of the earth.
Through man God is reclaiming the
waste places OF the earth. Through
great irrigation systems and the
drainage of vast areas of swamp land,
the wilderness Is being redeemed
God sends saviors. God is at work
in the men in every land who are
fighting famine and plague and pow
erty and disease, fighting every form
of physical wretchedness and suffer
ing. That redemptiye force Is in
creasing with every passing year.
Everywhere men are betting their
Hives on 20 the redemptive energy of
God u redeem humanity from the
curse of an unfavorable environment
and harsh and oppressive conditions.
Never In the history of the world has
there been such Stupendious mani
feStatlon OF Gods purpose to redeem
the physical lot OF man from every
thing which debases and retards and
stuitlfes. The earth as the garden
OF God where man can grow healthy
bodies and know something of the
Joy of living. is a dream; yes, but a
dream THAI is coming true.
When we leave the plane of the
physical realm and enter that of the
moral and spiritual, we find the same
great principle at work. Here the
sphere OF its operation is enlarg I'd
for we are dealing with souls and
eternity. Here, too, we strive 70
catch Gods purpose for the race, fol
only then can we ur rlcrstand the play
OF His redemptivS forces. We be
lleye that Gods purpose-the goa
Of the universe--is an empire of life
in which the Father is King and mer
are brothers united in the eterna
quest OF the true, the good and the
beautiful. Hold that ideal and 1t will
shine like a FURNISHED lamp In your
soul. Belief in that is the Nortt
Star OF the Christian faith. We SCI
the compass Of human purpose b.
that conception of divine purpose. Il
gives uuerrlng direction TO our live!
and corrects all our wayward plans
believe that the omnipotence of Goo
Is moving the race of men TOWARD
that ideal. | believe that everything
In our civilization which antagonize:
that ideal must go.
believe that the empire of selfish
ness must crumble and the empire oi
love supplant II. The man who live:
for himself has the inyincible purpose
OF the universe against him. | be
lieve that since the days OF primordia
chaos God has been giving Himself
for the attainment OF this ideal. Al
the knowledge of the world has beer
the forthgiylng of the mind of God
dIYinely perceived at first. misinter
preted, distorted, but seen with in
creaslng clearness as the ages hay'
passed. The moral attainments o
the race reflect In the same imperfec
way the eternal Righteousness givei
out OF the great heart Of God. Tn,
spiritual life OF men Is just the FOL
lowing the CLEAN" of the soul at tn
centre OF the universe.
God Is ever giving Himself to tn
world for the achievement OF HI
idoal. but more than that. He Is tn
uncompromising antagonist OF ever
agency which would divert the rae
from the goal which He has chosen