Los Angeles herald., 1910-05-23
WILL YOU OPEN DOOR TO
HIM?' REV. DAYS THEME
Pastor of First Congregational
Church Takes Morning Text
from Revelation

IF Christ Is to have the supreme
place in modern life it must begin In
the individual said William Horace
Day, beginning his sermon yesterday
morning at the First Congregational
church. He spoke from the text Rev.
3:20 on the subject, 1.-THE Place OF
Christ in Modern Individual Life" He
said in part:
"The ideas Of Christ have become
universal property. Our civilization
grows more and more in conformity
to those ideas. In non-Christian lands
His thoughts are permeating the hearts
of men who never acknowledge HIS
supremacy. In our own land a multi
tude who are outside the church could
say with Paul, we have the mind of
Christ In a sense the thinker has q
real place in individual lives In wnom
his ideas are accepted and unsatd, but
the power Of impersonal ideas are far
below what would be true If the in
dividual forms a personal friendship
with the thinker. I have known the
books of certain men and have been
deeply interested, but when i'll my stu
dent days I came under these men and
learned to know them they became
dynamic forces in my life. No man
can fully know or obey the mind Of
Christ till he has learned to know
Christ. The greatest ministry which
He can render comes only through a
personal relationship.
MODERN TENDENCIES
1.-THE eighteenth century has been
called the century Of philosophy ana
the nineteenth the century Of history
The intellectual life Of each of these
has tended to dim our sense of per-
sonality. The eighteenth produced in
1Ak, Nd 6aic
The one denied God altogether or
placed Him afar off as an absent who,
having set the machine running, went
away, leaving 1t to take care of itself
In either case the sense of the person.
ality Of God was dimmed. The nine
teenth century in it's historical search
for reality often left men agnostics
or pantheists. Again personality was
lessened. The evolutionist's interest in
the process of becoming was so great
as to lessen his care for the individual
and he often looked upon the man as
tiny section of the whole whose per-
sonal worth was a negligible quantity
The sense of personality has been les
sened till men find our time in danger
of losing that stern sense of personal
responsibility to a personal God.
"Our industrial development has been
busy pushing us in the same direction.
as to obscure the person. The machine
is too big for the individual to count
Modern industry is like huge balloon
which men are trying to make dlrig-
ible. But they have so far been unable
to bring it fully under personal control
The thing is far too big for the ind1-
vidual. The only thing that can fully
make this vast, complex organism we
call modern life dirigible by the laws
~ Pa x1r11 declare
personal, individual loyalty to Him.
TRUST IN HIM
eve have lost sight of the personal
God whom Jesus called Father and OF
the personal, eternal Christ who ever
lives to declare Him. We are like
the boy wading out into the pool for
some floating object. AS he keeps feet
on the bottom he gets deeper and deep
er and he can hear the voice of his
friend on the high bank who tells him
how to proceed till the water is over
his head, then he must sacrifice his
touch with the bottom and swim for 1t
If he is to hear that voice and win
his quest Modern men will have to
miss knowing all the bottom facts and
trust the personal guidance of the
great Friend who can't help US till we
trust Him.
1.-THE personal supremacy of Christ
in individual life must be reasserted
religion. This is the greatest task OF
Christianity to modern life. Lead men
to seek the way, the truth and the life
in friendship with Christ. Men OF
every creed a great German has been
telling us, are longing for a more
active religious life and greater out
put Of religious energy And the per-
sonal relation is the fundamental one.
Men differ in intelligence. If religion
were primarily a thing of creed and
knowledge few there would be that
would find it. But any man, wise or
foolish, strong or weak, knows enough
to feel the power of personal friend
ship. That is why 'whosoever will may
come You have never attempted this
personal relation; you have tried to
have the mind of Christ and you wish
YOU could find this thing you hear 9TH
ers describe. What others say does
not convey any reality to you 1t is
very true my attempt to tell you OF
nv friendship with Him may fail, but
will you make your own attempt TO ad-
NIT Him to your life with this simple
conviction that back of His own words,
Lo, 1 am with you always back OF
the words of the text which follower
of His years after His death believed
he heard Him say, Behold, I stand al
the door and knock and those OF an
other disciple WHO WROTE, II 10 ~ ioii5
er [ that live but Christ that liveth IN
me- Will you start with this Thought
that back of these deep words is a
reality which you may share? The
test of the reality of His power by
which YOU have tried to let Him direct
vour life will be in the new power you
| will have to endure the hour of hard'
ness.
THE PROTECTOR
"The calmness with which the FRIENDS
of Christ are able to meet the shocks
of life is wonderful. certain person
has been bereaved of one after an
other in the family circle till not one
was left. Another looking on wondered
at the steadfast courage of that lIt
and said, She has something we dc
not have No less will this persona
supremacy of Christ in your life prove
itself with new power to achieve VIVA,
YOU could not have done before. Coulc
we read the story of these strong lives
here this morning, men and Wonel
who have done things and in dolhe
have been true to Him, we should nnC
that clear consciousness that In tht
hour of struggle when achievement
hung in the balance that What tne9
could not have done was wrought De-
cause the Christ-strengthenedm man car
do the impossible thing which dutS
demands. That He may save you IRON
the weakness of the old sin, from tht
guilt of the old wrong and that having
| fraad vo,, from the past He may give