Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-10-06
Officers are Elected for the.
Coming Conference
; Year
Special Statistical Session
Called on Wednesday
Splendid Addresses by Or.
Dowg1!ey and Dr.. Ham,

| ne Methodist conference DeSaH uS
work yesterday morning at 8 o'clock in
the auditorium of the church. That
the interest in the days program was
keen was seen by the full attendance at
the opening.
Mrs. John A. Larson sang very
plea sing solo, which did her great cred
it. This was followed by the confer
ence sermon, delivered by Rev. George
II. Quigley, of Cando, N. D. Mr.. Qu'g-
ley is tall, fine appearing man, some
what past middle age, and one OF the
veterans in the service. His sermon
was forccful and brought him into close
touch at once with his audience. Few
will forget his way of bringing the gos-
pei within the meaning and reach OF
ALL
Rev. Ouigley chose for his text Ro-
mans i:lG. For | am not ashamed OF
the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is
the power of God unto salvation, to the
lew first and also to the Greek" He
said in part:
1T has occurred to me that an in
quiry into what Paul meant by the gos-
pei of Jesus Christ might be helpful
at this hour. am fully persuaded that
the defining of our terms is profitable
exercise.
What is gospel? Anyone can answer
this question. Gospel is composed OF
two words, God and SPELL Anglo,
Saxon words they are, meaning. good
tidrgs.' The Greek, of which it is
translation, is also composed OF two
Greek words, meaning glad tidmgs.
The gospel is good news. Now, that
is first and fundamental. Does it not
logically follow that nothing is the gos-
pei which is not good news:
Il am satisfied that there is a mis-
conception in the minds of some lay
men, and possibly some ministers, as
to what constitutes the gospel. | have
heard men say of certain sermons that
they were splendid gospel sermons, when
there was not a word OF gospel IN
them from beginning to end. They con.
sisted largely in the denunclatlon, OF
sins and sinners, and in exhortatlons
to flee the sins and so escape the wrath
to come. | am not here criticizing the
man who breaches that kind of a ser
mon. I am simply saying that it IS
| not a gospel sermon. / am ob)ectng
! to the classification. l believe that kind
of a sermon may, at times, be highly
necessary, that it is the only kind Of
sermon which will fit the time and
/! place. But it is not gospel sermon.
No sermon is, properly speaking, gos-
pe1 sermon which does not have some
where between the introduction and the
conclusion some glad tidings of Jesus
Christ in it. And I would like to put
here in parenthesis, that every sermon
| ought to have good news in it some
! where. In every congregation there are
the sorrowful, the despairing, the dis
couraged. the tempted. How many
heavily weighted souls there are, we
may not tell But we know some are
there. We miss or1r chance if we do
not bring the glad tidings which mean
iov in sorrow. hope in despair and
grace for temptation.
tTt has been suggested by one OF
the editors of orr religious papers. that
the law is not the gospel. Jesus Christ
= said to the lawyer who asked what is
the greatest commandment? Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart. soul and strength, and thy neigh
Dor as thvself' This is not a summary
of Christianity. but summary of Ju-
daism, and an epitome of the law, but
the law-not the gospel.
Gospel is good news It is not
GOOD news to tell man he is sim
ner. He already knows that This law,
operating in all realms. physical. mental.
moral and spiritual: this law which is
the expression of the infinite and eter-
nal nresence: man knew long before
Christ came that he had broken this
law. So it is not news. And it can
not be good news, for men are not glad
to know that they are transgressors of
the law Of God. n
"To tell men that thew will be pun
ished for violating the law of God is
not gospel. For this is not good news.
"1 think we are all agreed that there
are times and places when man ought
to preach that which cannot properly 10
called the GOSPEL
1T is important to tell men that these
laws Of God. which are the expressions
Of the viii of the Creator. as to how
this creation is to be carried on, hem
So I'm