Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1910-08-18
REV.R. H. WILSON
IN THE PULPIT

Maboning Presbyterian church yester-
day morning. Naturally not only the
members of the Mahoning church, but
also our townspeople in general feel a
keen interest in Mr.. Wilson S minis
terial career. 1t is noted with pride
that he has developed into promising
pulpit orator. His sermon Sunday,
which had as its theme, 1.-THE Dying
Thief" bore the stamp of originality
and was delivered with true eloquence.
The text will be found in st. Luke
%: 43: And Jesus said Unto him,
Verify l say unto Thee, today Thou
Shalt be With me in Paradise. " Fol-
! lowing is the sermon in part:
81 may be asking hard thing of
you" the speaker began, ito come to
Calvary and not keep the eye fixed on
the Christ, but on the dying thief. But
we can do so if we remember (not
dishonoring Christi that we could see
and learn nothing but for his presence.
In his light we see light.
1.-The dying thief has played a
prominent part through the ages in
the discussion of the plan of salvation
| through Jesus Christ. He has been the
| hope of every hardened heart, the sane
tion sufficient of eleventh hour death
! bed repentance. And as men are al
| ways justly suspicious of that which
comes too easy Christ and his saliva
tion have been impeached. Men have
felt that Jesus in this instance abrog-
ated essential and eternal law to est
ablish a mere anarchy of grace.
Gods spirit may so illume, raise
and support us that we may see how
the claims of order and law are recon-
ciled with the unconditional promises
of grace. How He who declared that
not one jot or title should fail of the
law could Justly and nationally say to
the dying thief Today shalt thou be
with me in Paradise. We must ever
remind ourselves that Christ founded
His Kingdom in spirit wholly by il
lustIations drawn from the natural
and the social order. We look in vain
among his sayings for dogmas or ipse
diXits. The birds of the air, the flow
ers of the field and the incidents of
common life body forth His truth.
Beneath the various phenomena of ma
ture and society is what we call life
with its depth and mystery. All ma
ture is but the various forms of com.
mon clay. Its own life gives life to
each of their varied forms. Organic
chemistry tells how different organic
substances are due to different cryst-
alizations of the atom within the mol
ecule. The ordor of the onion and the
fragrance of the violet NAV be the same
materials differently combined Yet
all this could justly be called fancy.
No one ever saw or will see molecule
let alone an atom. But because this is
science in order to save our reputation
for enlightenment we must swallow it
, without question. Cannot Christ thus
transform the life of man. Cannot the
baser as well as the better elements
crystalize about Him when he acts up
on our lives.
In the light of these considerations
we are asked to look at the dying thief
in his relation to their eternal facts;
first to society, second to his inner
self; third, to Christ on the Cross.
Society has duty to the individu-
al as well as the individual to society.
We get more suggestive view of
the dying thief when we turn away
from the reflex influence of society on
his destiny to the fact of his real in
ner self How does he stand revealed
to the great eternal facts before Christ?
This after all is the great question.
Complaint, excuses and justifca-
! tion of wrong doing, however, refined
and rational, reveal the discouraging
fact that self is still central in the
! theme. We need not ask how or why
the dying thief could so thoroughly
deny self. Those occult powers of the
spirit come as softly and mysteriously
as the dews of heaven. The presence
of the Christ accounts for it.
How the bitter waters become
sweet and the corrosive places plain
when we acknowledge God in the
world with perfect submission and
without reservation. We cannot und-
erstand all. Our railing does no good.
| The future is an impenetrable pail.
Bitterness and railing accusation be-
set us before our triumphant surrend-
er, After all God is greater than all
evil. He abides forever as our sun and
shield.
"As to the relation of the dying
thief to Christ, surely this was not
! loveless. 1t was not caprice of grace.
st Paul has said that all Christ is
summed up in penitence to God and
faith in Christ Surely by the power of
the spirit the dying thief fulfilled the
condition perfectly. How tender and
characteristic of our Savior to honor
his faith and forgive his ignorance
He had perhaps crude idea of the
spiritual kingdom, yet the living saw
ior took, as it were this child, weary
and bruised, in his arms when he said j: