The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-09-09

The sermon IN part vas as follows
This pray~-' ~ the apostle Paul.
like all his prayers. is full Of tereen-
cy, intensity, mprehensiHeness and
energy Tell nae what man prays
for. and I VIII tell you what the man
is. A PRAYER when IL is genuine ~
the best index of character There Is
one word which occurs FIVE times in
this PRAYER Of Paul which will serve
as a clue which We MAY follow. 1t is
the word translated all ar every.
which | shall translate uniformly eN-
cry kind The thought suggested Is
the manifuidness Of grace.
First Paul prays that these Chris
ttans may have manifold wisdom, or
in his own language. every kind "t
spit.tua wisdom and insight, an9
this suggests that the Christian life Is
not rule, but "A principle. Religion
with many is like straight edge,
which you may lay down ou a HAT
SMOOTH surface and draw line. There
are religions which are mechanical
and purely formal Christianity, on
the other hand. is vital principle.
experimenting thousand details and
applicable 10 them all. We need one
kind of wisdom IN our relations to
politics and government; another in
business; another in society another
In our church relations, another in
the home. One earnest mother said
that 1t seemed To- her ali kinds of
wisdom were needed TO train up a
family OF four or five children in the
way they should go, because no two
children are alike in their needs. The
Christian life is not like the tight al
the bullet out of gun. in which
the explosion starts him towards hea-
ven and he is carried by his momen-
tum merely, inside the pearly gates.
The Christian life is rather like the
flight OF bird, which mounts upward
and sails or at an angle then circles
round and round. then drops heavily
downward, RECEIVERS himself md sails
of again, So nicely adjusted are his
wings to the atmosphere that the
slightest change in the direction or
force of the wind requires new adap-
tation in order to successfully ny.
So in our varied relations We need
every kind of spiritual wisdom and
insight a fresh adaptation of the same
great Christian law tn each new duty,
The second petition of the apostle
IS that they may walk worthily OF the
Lord unto manifold pleasing. This
means that we are To adapt ourselves
10 God as well as to conditions on
earth, that We are To obey God In an
our earthly relationships. Religions
is sphere made up of two hemi-
spheres. Love to God is one. Love to
man is the other hemisphere. These
two constitute the great command
ment Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart and thy neigh
Dor as thyself To divide this com
mandment is TO destroy both the hem
isphere OF duty. The legend tells
OF how two women came TO King
Solomon. claiming to be the mother
Of a child which attended them Sol
omou called for "a sword and propos-
ed to cut the child In two. and give
each half one woman was willing
10 have this done The other said
spare the child and let the other
woman take il, " Solomon said to her.
lyon are the true mother. take the
child" The true Christian does not
cut the command in two. II is vital
nity. Walking worthily OF the Lord
unto every kind of pleasing is possible
Through faith and prayer.
The third petition OF the apostle is
that these Christians may bear fruit
in every kind of god work. This
means that the Christian life is "A
unity, and that fruit bearing in every
way follows regeneration. if the life
liz permitted to develop normally. In
the springtime. when the ice ana
snow pass away, the principle of lie
IN the soil produces not one kind of
tree and shrub, but every kind; not
one kind OF flower or fruit, but every
kind The life principle is one. so
the Christian life tends To be fruitful
In all forms OF good work Mission
sympathy includes every kind Of mis-
sions. The graces of character are u
sisterhood, all Of whom come togeth-
ed. and it is only when we are de-
reloped In a one-sided way that all
the graces do not appear
The fourth petition of the apostle
ts one which radically grows out of
the third. II Is a petition for mani
fold power. To bear fruit in many
ways In the Christian life requires
the presence of power In many forms
30 this petition in that they may be
strengthened with every kind OF
power. The meaning is that we tend
TO lopsidedness in our Christian lire
One OF the prophets said of Ephraim:
Ephrain is "a cake unturned." mean
ting thereby, as every housekeeper
knows that Ephraim was cooked
done ON one side morally, spiritually
and raw on the other side, like an
unturned cake. Many a Christian Is
strong in his home church among
friends and weak as water away from
home on hts summer vacation. A
tree growing on the edge of an EN-
bankment may have the soil washed
away from its roots on one side, while
having strong hold on the earth on
the other side. So long as the wind
blows against the tree on it's strong
side IL stands. but Is laid low wnen
a gust strikes II from the other sice.
have seen many characters who
are Ike this tree, strong on one side
and weak on the other-able 10 re-
sist one form Of temptation, but help
less against others Now the apos-
tie petitions here that we may he
strengthened with every kind Of pow
err.
The last petition seems at first to
be an anu-climax He petitions that
they may be blessed with manifold
patience. Patience Is regarded as a
homely virtue, an humble grace, but
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