The Penn's Grove record., 1910-06-03
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. w. L. DAWSON.
Theme: Christ's Way.

the Aew pastor of the Fleet Street NJ.
E. LsNrch, the Rev. DR.. William L..
Davisen, began his ministry there.
He was appointed from Jamaica to
replace the Rev. E. G.. Richardson,
who went to Bristol, Conn. He was
cordially received. The subject of
his sermon was "Christ's Way" The
text was taken from John 14:6: II
am the way, the truth and the life"
DR.. Dawson said:
These words were spoken to
Thomas. This man stands in the
eyes of many as the New Testament
type of the honest doubter. AS to
his doubt or his real desire to be
sure-that is a matter of viewpoint
and Interpretation. This, however, is
true-he was not of that Old Tesla
ment type represented as the fool,
saying: There is no Godi" There is
a vast difference between the man
who, in his heart, gives utterance to
such blasphemy and the man who
desires to have unimpeachable evil
dence. The one would be glad to
have Deity blotted out. The existence
of a holy God who cannot look upon
evil with any degree of allowance is
a constant reproach to his evil heart
and way, and a menace to his man
ner of life. He, therefore, would
shout for joy If emnipotent justice
could be obliterated.
Thomas, on the other hand, repre-
sents that Respondent type of intel
lectual manhood that really desires
to find solution for the fondest wish
of his heart. Therefore, when he
comes to Jesus with his q~uestionings
he comes as the type of questioner
who really wishes a solution of his
intellectual and spiritual problem.
And so I bring this text as an answer
to the man who is a seeker of the
true way of life-as to the axiom of
truth and as to the solution of any
LIES problems that may confront
his progress.
Now, we are perfectly familiar
with what Jesus meant when He said:
II am the life" We may not under
stand precisely the process of that
life that comes from Him; it is the
mystery of mysteries; it is the entire
outgiving of the regenerating life of
God, and who can enter into the
deeper ceunsels of the Most High?
Nicodemus desired to know how these
things could be-he a master in Is
rael and leader of the Jewish faith
yet Jesus Christ gave him no salts
faction. Perhaps it was because of
the limitation and poverty of the hui
man intellect.
We know something of what Jesus
meant when He said, Tam the truth"
There must be some standard, some
infallible court of appeals by which
men may judge the varying hypo-
theses that have been exploited by
the human intellect. When we come
to Jesus Christ we realize that He
Himself is the last solution of the
vexing and changing problems of all
time. So I say, we have some con-
ception of this aspect of the text.
But what did the Christ meal
when He said 81 am the way?" 1t is
here that we must recall those I'M
t~ranslatable terms of Scripture, terms
that battle the student of language as
he attempts to bring yer the full
meaning of one language to another.
For example, the Scriptures contain
words that cannot be perfectly ren-
dered in our English tongue. When,
on the morning of the resurrection,
Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, crab
boni," we must understand its his
torical setting in order to even family
grasp it's meaning, and the translaters
bring over the word bodily into our
English version.
When Jesus, in the garden. uttered
that word abba" the nearest ap-
proach we have to its pathos of mean
Ing is our tender expression papa"
and here again we have the word in
the original. The same is true of
that form Of divine despair, "Eloi.
Eloi, lama sabachthani." One of the
great works on the third person of
the blessed Trinity is entitled the
"Paraclete," and so in this category
we place this word 'the way" and
might show by numerous Scriptural
citations that it is not our English
term of the n or direction of
ones going.
In our ordinary life we say OF a
man his way is attractive or repul-
sive. We cannot further define this
attraction or repulsion. 1t is simply
that there is a somewhat about his
personality that is either good or evil
in our sight. 1t is not what we do, it
is not what we say, it is what we are
that counts nightly in our relation
to mankind. In our religious life we
are coming to the place where the
~phraseology of religious expression
Is a matter of very small moment; it
Is not creed but character that counts.
Indeed, / believe that this is but a
reversion of type, for the early Chris
tians, the primitive followers of the
Christ, were known as these of the
way" and Scripture gives US numer-
Gus expressions that might shed some
light on certain aspects of the impor-
tant truth contained in this term.
For example, There is a way that
seemeth right unto a man" 1t is
possible for US, though we may not
fully portray the majesty of meaning
contained in this title word to m
phasize certain aspects and ideals
of Him who said, 81 am the way"
Thus by studying the Christ we may
affirm that Christ's way is a pleasant
way. T shrink not from saying that
the fundamental craving of the hui
man heart is for pleasure. Not that
pleasure that tendeth unto vice.
Christ's way, If it be Gods way, must
be a way that is pleasant. 1t is true
that He was a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief, but this is
only the half truth, and the other
aspect of this way is recorded in
that Scripture, I'm Thy presence is
fullness of joy, at Thy right hand are
pleasures for evermore." We may
have much ~tribulation, we may be
born to trouble, we may confront an
tagonism and temptations severe, but
underneath all and above all is that
consciousness, that serenity of spirit,
that will glory in tribulation and
count it all joy when we are led into
divers temptations.
Did not our Saviour say in that
matchless allegory of the vine, These
things have l spoken unto o that
My joy might remain in you and that
your joy might be full?" 1t is per-
fectly apparent also that this way is
an attractive one. All the virtues of
human experience are here found.
The blossoms AID perfumes of the
best life here abound. The glorious
foliage of human heroisn and kind
ness that make beautiful the history
of the race is here discovered in pro-
fusion. Here are the philanthropies,
here are the deeds of service and sac
riflce, that gladden. the heart of man