The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1910-06-30
THE PULPIT.
a BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
THE REV. j. H. MELlSH
Theme: The Trinity.

VI lnt hOly TRINITY, preached SER
mon on THE Trinitarian Conception
OF God" which has attracted much
attention and the publication of
which has been requested. The text
was from st. John 1926: when
the Comforter is come, whom ! will
send unto you from the Father, even
the spirit of truth, which proceedeth
from the Father, He shall bear wit
ness Of Me-" Mr.. Melsh said:
The vital religious thinking of our
day is concerned with experience. A
creed or theology is of little value
because It is old and has the author
ity OF some council; its worth, its
truth, springs from its ability to
make articulate the facts of life.
"Does this theology" we ask. in
terpret experience or is it a mere
academic formula which a few intel
lectuals have spun for themselves?
We OF to-day have distinguished be-
tween religion and theology. Re-
ligion is the life of God in the soul
of man. Theology is the interpreta-
tion Of this life. II is therefore re-
lated to religion as botany is related
TO the flowers. A man may be re-
ligious and be entirely ignorant of
theology. He may be religious and
reject the theology of the past He
may be religious and hold the New
Theology. The theology which is of
real value, whether old or new, is
that which interprets the religious
life, which takes those experiences of
the common folk, the average man.
and tells him what they mean.
In the light of this new approach
60 theology does the Trinitarian con-
ceptlon of God mean anything? Or
Is 1t a mere dogma of the church
which some will accept out of loyalty
TO the church, and others will reject
out of loyalty to the truth and their
own intelligence? Is there any real
experience which receives interpreta-
ton from tie Trinitarian theology?
Does this Trinitarian conception of
the life divine bring to our human
life enough TO enable a man to accept
1t with loyalty and sincerity? II was
once my privilege, as university lee
turer, TO come into somewhat inti-
mate relations with some young men
who were studying to become Jewish
rabbis. What interested them was
the Christian thought of the trinity.
They wondered how any intelligent
person could believe in the Trinity,
for TO their monotheism it seemed
like deifying a man whom they
were willing to regard as second only
to Isaiah--and so denying the funda-
mental truth of their religion that
God is one 1t is only by going
deeper into life itself, by getting a
broader view of the larger human
life we call history, that we are able
10 enter deeper into God. The Trim
Harlan %
N 1t Is to be accepted with loyalty
and sincerity. must give a more IN
telligent and satisfactory interpre-
tation of life and history than the
Unitarian conception of God. AS
Gwatkin says in his book. "The
knowledge of God" 1.-The surface
drift seems Unitarian in our time,
and advanced thinkers take il for
certain that the religion of the fu-
rure will be some form of Unitarian
ism. Were the political outlook diff
ferert | might have less difficulty in
agreeing with them; but broader
view OF history seems to point an
other way"
In the New Testament there Is no
Trinitarlan theology. In fact. there
is no theology of any kind If by the
ology we mean organized knowled &c
OF religion. Even the Fourth GosDel
and st. Pauls letters, said to be the
illogical, are not theology in our mod
ern sense. Of a systematic divinity.
The New Testament is a book of re-
Hgion; II Is the record of experience; /;
H. deals with life, not the theory Of
lie There is, however, in the gos-
pels and ellstles what we may call a
Trinitarian experience. In this text,
for example, there Is reference to the
Comforter the Father and to Jesus
Himself. Father, Son and Spirit in
this and in many other passages are
spoken OF as concerned with life. the
life which men are living here on
earth. The spirit which Is to be in
men, comforting, guiding, inspiring g
them in all the yicissitudes and ef-
forts OF life. is said to bear witness
20 Jesus. 1t will take of Him HIS
truth and life, and show them unto
men. As a scholar bears witness TO
his teacher, even though he NAV 90
far beyond him, so the Spirit wit
nesses TO Jesus. On the other hand
the spirit has its orig'u in God: II
comes from the Father, from whom
Jesus Himself also came. Behind
both Jesus and the Spirit ls the Fa-
ther, who lOveth all His children.
This Is not academic language. but
the words of life, descriptions of
actual experience of Christian men
and women all through the cen.
turtles; all for whom the person oi
Jesus has deeD spiritual value and
who have confidence In the spirit OF
truth and believe in the fatherhoof
OF God have shared this three-folt
life and experience OF the men Of tht
New Testament.
II is this experience which forms
Che foundation of the Christian re
liglon. Every man who shares II be
longs 10 the church by virtue OF thi
life. II is the misfortune. nay, IN,
calamity, OF the church that IL ha
not kept this fact clearly in mind
Again and again II has substitutes
for II some theory of Organization
or doctrinal statement which imme
diateiy destroyed the church's unit
and created rivalries and separatisti
This Is the only possible basis of re
united Christendom; not the Catholi
creeds, nor the historic episcopatC
not the sacraments or any externa
bond. nothing but the three-fold III
and experience can fulfil the Master
prayer that they all may be on
even as we are one; thou In me an
4 In thee. that they may be one /
VS."
To this personal experience of IN
individual Christian we should ad
the larger experience OF the cen
turtles What witness does higtor