The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1910-07-29

age, this disturbed age, this age OF
religious distraction, men want some
harbor of safety, men want some an
Choir of hope, men want some secu-
rity, that in the evening of life, when
the body is weary, they may lay their
heads on that hope. And so, as yea
succeeds year of my ministry l feel
constrained to reiterate these state
ments of my faith, first of all, with
the simplicity Of the scheme of re-
demption, with the simplicity of the
great work of Jesus Christ.
Men to-day care nothing about the
t~echnicalities Of ones creed. Mems
creed to-day is Jesus Christ and Him
cruiciied; that in Him-not in some
theory or speculation about Him, but
in Him-men may find their hope and
security. What matters it to me that
men in their speculation shall discov-
er in the confines of this book of God
the doctrine of election? That they
find there that God fixed the number
to be saved or to be lost? What mat
tiers it il men find that those that are
of the elect of God can eve fall
away? What matters it if in these
speculations men find that 1 have a
warrant of Jesus Christ, who calls me
personally to come unto Him, not
calls me in some aggregation, but
calls me personally to come unto Him
and be at rest.
Here, friends, here is a warrant for
my hope. l find warrant also in the
conversation between Christ and Mic
odemus, who comes to Him by night
to ask Him certain question, and the
answer is that God so loved the
world that He sent His only %begotten
Son. that whosoever believes in Him
shall not perish, but shall have ever
lasting life"
Let men speculate nthe cool, damp
prison of Calvinism, and l shall put
the sunshine of whatsoever opposite
1t, to say, it matters not how dis
tracted men are, I shall point them to
these placid words of Jesus Christ,
and so take Him and find peace in
Him.
l feel in coming here this morning
that it is a great privilege to stand in
this pulpit. 1t requires but little in
formation about this church to find
how matters have gone in the parish,
how men and ome have gone home
to God so thoroughly equipped and
provided for that blessed heritage
which God has promised. 1t has been
a privilege for ou men and women to
live in this blessed atmosphere, it is a
great privilege to feel that mystic
union, that spiritual relationship be-
tween those on earth and those in
that Paradise where Christ shall set
up His kingdom, and His children will
be with Him. And I want to main
tain the prestige of this pulpit. You
say that is a difficult thing to DO. 1t
ic mot difficult If T 0hfoip Tho nTa UnTc
and sympathy of those who worship
here. Christ's process is a heavenly
process, and so the process of reju-
venation is a heavenly process. /
cannot explain to you the coming to-
gether Of the people of a congrega-
ton. l cannot explain to you how in
the taking of this blessed sacrament
of the body and blood of Jesus Christ,
God invested the blessed recipient
with heavenly grace. I cannot eX-
plain to you when you are asking a
special blessing on the rector who is
ministering to you day after day.
That is a spirit-it may seem old
fashioned, but that is a spirit of aban-
don which | possess when it comes to
the things pertaining to God. Moth
ing is paradoxical, nothing is incom-
prehensible to me in the scheme of
God. | take the Bible from lid to lid.
I take the miracles set forth in the
Bible without question. I accept them
in the fulness of my heart, because
God is not God unless He puts into
these works His own power, His W
spirit, His own love.
| have seem men sent from the
transcendent heightsof splendid nan
hood down to the dismal depths of
degradation. 1 have seen a face
married with the marks of sin, and the
body heavy with the weight of sin.
And I have seer this same individual
rejuvenated with the spirit of God.
1t is transmutation of the elements of
the individual. 1t is bringing the
whole man into play, according to
Gods direction.
l believe that to-day the church
stands forth more glorious than it has
ever stood, because the Spirit has
been operating in it's own way in the
hearts of men. The Spirit now is op-
Grating more than it has since the
lays of Pentecost, and raising up de.
7out 1aymen to Il sense OF their re-
sponsibility in this matter OF mis-
lions. This is the work Of h church
If God.
You remember tnat dItSi Iiie NSi-
mans, in the war between France and
| Germany. had entered Versailles.
hey gathered in one Of the great
looms in the palace; and there on the
platform stood William, Emperor OF
Germany. his son. Frederick. and his
grandson, the present Emperor OF
| Germany: and that aggregation OF
men who assembled. men who there
contemplated the picture of the three
men who stood on the platform, the
aged William, his delicate son, and
lis grandson, found perhaps coming
! % their minds something of the his
tory of their country. They had
reached the climax, perhaps. of the
| history of their Fatherland in that
hey had invaded the country of their
enemy, and secured a great conquest.
and those mon as one man raised
heir swords above the heads OF these
three men and renewed their fidelity,
! heir service to their country.
Mr.. Gladstone went to church every
morning of every ear at I O'Clock.
because he realized how much he
needed the power OF God in the pre-
miership. So it was with the Marquis
| Of Salisbury and with DisraelL the