The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1910-08-05
THE PULPIT.
A BRILLIANT SUNDAY SERMON BY
DR.. C. F. J. WRlGLEY.
. Theme: The True Life.

GLlIS 1i.1o, a 1ACS "
Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
that Thou hast hid these things from
the wise and prudent, and hast re-
vealed them unto babes" DR.. Wrig-
ley said:
When a man makes up his mind
not to vegetate, not to be content
simply to exist, but to live the life;
when he realizes that he is not only
an animal, having much in common
with the animals; but also a man,
having much in common with the
world of mystery by which he is sur
rounded, there are very few ultimate
ideals to which he can turn. The
fact is, there are only two such ideals,
if we bar out that insane suggestion
of the disordered mind of Nietsche
that a man should cultivate the "wilk
to enjoy" or the will to have pow
err" which is not a philosophy of life,t
but suitably a ~fooIhardy agoism.
The mans choice really lies be-
tween a life of pessimism and agnos-
ticism, a life which gives up all the
real problems of life and settles down
into an existence Of grim despair and
apparently hopeless ignorance of all
the things which, most of all, a man
wants to know, or a life which "an-
swers the challenge of all suffering
and mystery and sin by affirming the
everlasting yea" On the n side
we have Buddha and Buddhism,
which even yet holds in its grasp In
dia and China and other Eastern
countries, and is the AUS of n I'M
progressive and despairing life of
those peoples; and, on the other
hand, we have Jesus Christ and the
confident and affirmative attitude
that He takes toward life, proclaim
ing a bold faith in a fatherly God,
who is guiding the world toward a
certain goal of goodness and perfec-
ton. He points out to us a life OF
fuller content than any of which man
had dared to dream; and He Joyfully
points it out to US, calls it His Cos
pei, and declares that it shines
through all the perplexities and
struggles of our existence-nay, that
it is the author and origin not only
of all our troubles but also Of all our
satisfactions. That it is the quality
of the everlasting, that it is Selling
hold of man and triumphantly bid
ding him to put his hand into the
hand of God, and through the mys-
teries and mists of life to trust the
L Ii III ohiy nv AihSSA
to be led, but himself to struggle up
toward the eternal.
Which of these ideals shall a mar
accept to-day? Is there any choice?
Can a man study the two for eve a
short time and still be undecided?
True, the man may not have heard
of the second ideal, and that it is
which constitutes the clarion call to
poSrcionc. hut iE Io hos hand aon
lie long question which ideal he is
to choose? Why. without thinking
a moment, an ordinary, unprecedented
man would say, as he looked upon the
two pictures Of life, l would rather
Buddha.
But, in speaking of this life, Jesus
said: 81 thank Thee, Father, that
Thou hast hid these things from the
wise and prudent, and revealed them
unto babes" What does that mean?
Surely, not that the gospel is hidden
from men of great Intellectual power
or mental acumen; not that knoWl-
edge or wisdom is a bar to the &C
ceptance of the teachings of Jesus.
This is untrue as a fact, for, since
the coming of Jesus Christ into the
world, it is safely within the limits
of truth to say that the vast majority
of the really wise and Intellectually
great men of the Christian world
have been Christians. When a man
says hat his worldwide knowledge
hinders him from accepting the mar
row revelation of Jesus, l point to
Gladstone. When a man says thai
his scientific studies are a h~indrance
to his faith, l point to Lord Kelvin,
for both Gladstone and Kelvin repre-
sent towering intellectual ability, the
one in the departments of literature
ard craftsmanship, and the other in
pure science. No, Jesus does not
mean hat wisdom prevents a man
from believing, nor does He discour-
age learning; Christ's religion, in
fact, has been the leader always in
the educational world, but He means
that no amount of learning can give
to a nan that which He comes to the
world to give. Worldly learning can
not reveal heavenly things. In other
words, worldly wisdom cannot be
substituted for revelation.
Jesus Christ came into the world
to live a life, which should be in it
self a revelation of new values. 1t
is needless to say they are opposed to
world values. For instance, Jesus
begins with life itself. 1t is the SUI
preme value, hence the horrible char
acter of murder and suicide. The
Christian world has not yet grasped
the real meaning of the value which
Jesus placed upon life; not cultivated
and refined, but just human life.
Then comes humility, the possession
of which puts a man into the right
ofifndo fnu-ord Odd ond hio Follow
a Then unselfishness, which err
ables him to shed many of the char
acteristics of the brute world. Then
obedience, which enables him to Gull
tivate the qualities of the ruler, that
he may be self-possessed and strong.
Then love, which leads to gratitude
to God, and the help of his fellow
man. These things are supreme
values in the revelation of Jesus
Christ. He has little to say about
birth. A man may have been born
in a howell, or the heir to a throne;
it matters not so as his work is we'll
done. A man may be worth much
money, or none; he may be very
wise, or not very wise; he may be cul-
tivated and refined, or coarse and
rough--none of these things are TAX
en- into consideration by Jesus, be-
cause they do not enter into His sys-
tenn Of values. They are only world
values, and have an Importance that
attaches only to the life that now is.
The question, then, is: Are these
values of Jesus real values, and il
SO why are they not universally ac-
ctpted7 The answer IS every man Is
born capable of approaching these
values, but he may lose the faculty.
and, having lost it, he finds it diff
cult to regain.
II thank Thee that Thou hast re-
vealed them to babes" What does
that mean? and why thankful that
these things were revealed to babes?
The answer is plain. He was thank
full that His message could be under
stood by anyone possessing the ordi-
nary, human receptive faculties. If