The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1910-01-05
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. l.. O. ROTENBACH.
Theme: Love of Christ.

O~mnipctence of Love-" He took as
his text, John 1894, and I. CORN
thians 1873: "a new commandment
I give unto you, that We love one an
other; even as 1 have loved you, that
We also love one another Love
never faileth.'
Mr.. Rotenbach briefly dwelt upon
the scene in the upper chamber at
Jerusalem as presented by John,
bringing out the touching contrast as
revealed on the one hand in the weak
ness and petty self-seeking Of the dis
ciples, with the strength and self-re-
nunciation of the Master. while He
girded Himself and bathed their feet;
and on the other hand, in the callous
unresponsiveness Of Judas pursuing
his sordid purpose, with the unfailing
tenderness of the Christ committed
to His passion, as He gave the sop
and Judas went out. BY the contrast
he brought out wildly the optimism
and omnipotence of the love of Christ,
and then continued:
What elements can we discover in
this love which Is prominently the
love Of Jesus? Are they not these,
namely-vision, faith, sacrifice? AS
to vision. Just recall the age or rath-
er Jesus point of contact with the
age. Through Nazareth ran one Of
the great caravan routes connecting
the great sea on the west with Dam
ascus in the east, and this was crossed
at points by the coast route to Egypt,
so that Nazareth's streets were famii-
lar with Syrian and Tyrian, Roman
and Greek, al we'll as Jew. AS a cara
a centre much that was coarse, un-
clean and degraded the detritus Of
humanity, was in evidence, to say
nothing Of the vices of the Roman
times that ever so-called culture
boosted. No wonder the exclamation,
"Can any good thing come out of MAJ
areth?" Thirty years of that unique
life were spent here. There is also
His contact with His own people, the
Jews; we'll did He know their incon-
sistency Of character, so startlingly
revealed when one day they cried.
"Hosannah, blessed is He that cometh
in the name of the Lord. and the
next with equal vehemence, Away
! with Him; cruelty HIM" And then
there is the irreligious attitude and
activity of the great leaders of relig-
ion, Pharisee, Sadducee and scribe,
whose envy and hatred bounded Him
to death, to say nothing Of the weak,
hating and vacillating character Of
those called to be His disciples.
Such was the Masters world con-
tact-His touch at different points
with the spirit and conditions Of His
age. This was what He saw; but was
this all that He saw? For this surely
no vision was needed and no man
need become a seer.
Beneath this flotsam and jetsam,
this superficial aspect Of the ebbing
and flowing tide of human life, down
in the deeps, He say with the true
seer's eye the wondrous possibilities,
human and divine, of the essential
man, inherent in all humanity. which,
If realized, would make nan in a
transcendent sense the child Of God.
Think you this was the result of OBJ
servation? Say. rather, that obser-
walton tended to confirm it. HE
knew what was in man." because He
knew what was in Himself. Exper-
fence, personal, wherein He realized
the possibilities of His own inner life.
not miraculously, but naturally, and
enabled Him to see that the true man
is within, and if realized in actual
life, would be glorious.
Then, again, the love of Jesus Is
characterized not only by vision,
which sees the best in mar and his
noblest possibilities. but also by faith
that intense life-gripping conviction
which ,,pfoItarin DIV ho1iouao RI Of thoro
cal and shall be realized in the spirit
and life of personal experience by
man, so that He shall be their living
expression. Will you say that His
own experience had nothing to do
with this faith? Then remember "He
was tempted at all points like as we
are" He knew what the power Of
sin was and He also knew that sin
could overcome by the faith and the
love Of God, and He overcame, as we
must overcome. How else His atti-
tude toward the woman of sin at His
feet in the temple when the religion
lists accused, when He said to her,
penitent, Neither do I condemn
thee" How else defend His story of
the two sons, the one the prodigal and
the other worse than prodigal for
mean and narrow selffshness, who
stayed at home? Or how understand
His potent. painstaking efforts to
teach and train, to develop and to
give character to His very imperfect
and ofttimes SHINING disciples? lie
had a profound faith in the redemp-
tive quality in man.
He believed with all the intensity
of His being that mar could become
the child Of Cod. crowned with honor
and glory.
And once more He not only saw the
vision beautiful, not only believed
that it could be realized in living hui
man expression, but He utterly aban-
doned Himself in sacrifice to it's act
ual realization. who for the joy set
before Him endured the cros:, despis-
ing the shame"
Could that superficial aspect Of hu,
mainly which He saw and came into
touch with in the spsrit and condition
of His age, that Grass superstition,
that cruelty and, lechery in high
places as we'll as low, that abandon
ment to vice which gloried in it. that
Haunting hypocrisy-could that in
spire JOY for the cross, the joy of self
sacrifice?
The vision with it's penetrating
glance into the deeps of life with their
Hondrous possibilities, which angels
might envy; the faith that believed,
yea. knew that all this could be act
ualiZed in the living experience and