The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1910-06-03
THE PULPIT.
A SCHOLARLY SUNDAY SERMON BY
REV LYNN HAROLD HOUGH.
Theme: The Theologian's Task.

every u mo Cdpll"lty W tHS
obedience Of Christ" Mr., Hough
said:
The theologian has a multitude Of
tasks. His world has room for many
a Hercules. In its vast fields there is
a summons to infinite toll and there
is opportunity for high and varied
achievement. In his hand the theolo-
gian holds a book which he is to mas
ter and to interpret. This is no SIM
pie achievement. The work enlarges
and divides itself until this book be-
comes the creator of vocations.
Sometimes the theologian is a stu
dent of detail. With the microscope
of his scholarship he applies himself
to the mastery of the words weaving
across the pages of the book. Moth
ing about their life or history is too
small to claim his attention. For this
work he needs large resources. In
the Old Testament field, all the Semi
tic languages have aid to give him.
In the New all Greek literature may
he laid under tribute. A grammarian
with eye alert for the slightest shades
of meaning, he tolls with patience
through the years. He builds libra
ries and grows gray-whole genera
IONS OF nlIl nave SIOWH Sldy-lA az
complishing this task.
Sometimes the theologian is a stu
dent of the problem of authorship.
weighing the evidenced of OF words,
of Point of view. and the historical
background pre-supposed in particu-
lar portions of the Scriptures. and so
rescuing buried documents from the
HeXateuch or discovering the I'M
-ro-- ,~onhn4 Nf 4ho Evi1o
Sometimes he is a Biblical theolo-
gian in the more formal sense, study
ing the theological outlook of differ
ent periods, and scientifically setting
forth the teaching of the various au-
thors of the book. At his summons
the prophets once more walk before
us: Amos. with his passion for right
e%ousness; Hosea, the prophet of the
suffering love of God; Isaiah. stalwart
statesman prophet in the nations cri-
sis: jeremiah, against whose bent
bare life the awful blasts beat. in
fury, ard the sunrise prophet of the
Exile, with face aglow with light and
heart athrob with His great message
Of vicarious suffering; these, with all
the other figures of that wonderful
Old Testament life, and out Of it all
1iOuy Will Itlo L "oS
tender love, engaged fer generations
in the training of a people-a great.
divinely guided history pointing nor
and more clearly forward to a Coming
One. who is to be at cnce its eyplana-
ton and it's goal. The ideas of the
various mel who spoke to the nation.
tie outlook of different periods. and
the way of looking at life and the
kls,,, - roJ prhioh IN n nanoro1 NOV
characterizes the whole Old Testa-
ment time. the Biblical ~theologian
makes clear to us.
Then All last the New Testament
life-the majestic figure Of the Spot
brother humanity. and the awesome-
ness of the divine-the great Redemp-
ton Deed. before which We hide III
faces-a deed in which infinite love,
infinite woe. infinite righteousness
and infinite hope speak forever to the
world. Following Christ, the men
with lives struck into flame from His,
their words and work as redemptive
begin their %conquests in history.
Then. ere we close the pages of the
book. a glimpse of the light never
seen on sea or land" from Jerusalem
the golden. From all this pageant of
great figures and great deeds, with its
one supreme figure and one supreme
deed. the meaning is extracted so that
the teaching about life which comes
from Jesus and which is given by the
various New Testament authors, is
set Systematically before us, and 1t
last continued in such fashion that we
come to see and appreciate the New
Testament point of view.
Sometimes the theologian is a his
tcrian tracing the life of the church
through the burden-laden years, or
the movement of its thought as it has
ceaselessly grappled with the prob
lens OF the faith. The ages become
articulate through his toll and the
past comes before us, flung warm
from his pen.
There are great and necessary
tasks, and master minds have been
devoted to them. There are great
tasks and stepping stones to a higher
the supreme task of all.
There comes n great demand to
the theologian. When the wonder of
the book Shines out and the power of
its teachings is felt-as the past be-
comes re2l-then the present stands
waiting. This past must be poured
into the life of to-day. The book
the Christ Of tue book-the faith of
the book, must be interpreted to the
life Of now.
And this Interpretation is not to be
a placing OF Christianity in some
mere section Of life. Every thought
is to be brought into captivity to the
obedience Of Christ. Christianity is
either the explanation of all life-the
key to tor it is nothing. And to
show that
The acknowledgment of God in
Christ,
Accepted by Thy reason solves for
Thee, all questions in the
earth and out of it"
to construct a vital, organic view of
life, dominated by the essentials of
Christianity, this is the superb work
to which the theoiogian is called.
We nee 10 race the fact that the
world cannot permanently accept a
roiigicn which is smaller than life.
TO refuse like the distinguished Ger
man ~tbeologian, Albrecht Ritschl, to
relate Christian truth to scientific
truth. is to sign tho death warrant of
ihe faith.
Does it seem an ambitious thing to
demand a Christ dominated and a
frcss dominated universe? Any
thing less means that when the fog
has lifted from mems thoughts there
will he a Christless universe and a
hopeless universe. To take a meta
physically divine Christ, an ~atoning
ity of rich and perfect personal God
life, an actual salvation from actual
sin: a new life for men, a great ult:-
mate goal in Christ. and with these
to unlock every door in this universe
this is the supreme task of the the
ologian.
What is to be his relation TO men?
He is to be a student of all life and
of all literature. He listens-oh. so
eagerly!-to every voice of humanity.
He studies intently its deeds in order
to understand what they all mean.
Thus he discovers that the very struc-
ture of life, as it is, demands what
Christianity offers. and that without
it, life is a hopeless enigma. His
great apologize is that the closer o